Top Players Of The Game

Ralph Greenleaf (right) and, Willie Mosconi (left) are still widely considered the top players in the history of billiards. 

Billiards has been played for many many years. Going all the way back to 1893. There have also been many outstanding players through out billiards' history. Here I will tell you a little about some of the best players in the sport and I will show you my top picks for my "legends" team. Which includes a player for Pool, Carom, & Snooker.



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Pool

 

Ralph Greenleaf (1899-1950)

Ralph Greenleaf was, and still is, widely considered the single greatest player of all time. He played pool and carom billiards.  He won 20 World Pocket Billiards Championship titles from 1919 to 1937. Greenleaf also amazed audiences with his fabulous trick shots. Greenleaf died at age 50 because he lived wild, and was a big alcoholic. He was a fierce competitor. He won his first world title in 1919, he was 20 years old. Greenleaf didn't have any competitors who could really consistently beat him. The only enemy he had was alcohol. He came back and played again in 1942. He came in third place, in a three cushion match.

Here is a video highlighting Ralph Greenleaf.

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Carom

Raymond "Mr. 100" Ceulemans (1937-Present)
Ridder Raymond Ceulemans was born on July 12th, 1937. He plays three cushion billiards and is widely considered the most dominant single player in any sport. Yes any single player sport in the world. He has won 35 World Championship titles, 23 in three cushion billiards, and the rest in other carom billiards games. Ridder also has won 48 European titles, 23 in three cushion, and 61 national titles. He is nicknamed Mr 100. He was inducted into the Billiard Congress Of America's Hall Of Fame in 2001. He is one of the very few non-Americans (he was born in Belgium) to be inducted. In 2003 King Albert II of Belgium awarded Raymond Ceulemans a knighthood in recognition of his lifetime achievements.

Here is a video highlighting "Mr. 100"

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Snooker

Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan (1975-Present)
Ronnie O’Sullivan was born on December 5th, 1975 in Wordsley, West Midlands, England. He is considered the best snooker player ever. Even at a young age, he showed his talent as a Snooker player. Snooker is a billiards sport (to learn more read more of the blog!). By age 17 (1992), Ronnie turned professional and was already competing at the world level. He soon developed the nickname,The Rocket, because of his fast pace playing style. Ronnie O'Sullivan currently holds the record for the most maximums, 11 (in professional play). A maximum is when in snooker the player makes all 15 red balls, in combination with the black ball, and then makes all the colored balls in order. "The Rocket" has won numerous world championships and competitions. At the 2010 Party Casino Premier League, he became the first man to win a single professional title on nine separate occasions. O'Sullivan is the reigning World Snooker Champion. He has been the champion in, 2001, 2004, 2008, & 2012. He is second on the snooker all time prize money list, with 6 million euros. O'Sullivan has also been the world's number on player 5 different times and he has won a total of 24 titles. He is also second on the list of players making the most competitive century breaks, with 678, and holds the record for the fastest maximum break, 5 minutes & 20 seconds. Ronnie O'Sullivan is truly an amazing player. In my opinion, he is the best player ever.

Here is a great video about Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan.

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Wild Card

Willie "Mr. Pocket Billiards" Mosconi (1913-1993)

In 1924, at the age of 11, Mosconi was the juvenile straight pool champion and was regularly holding trick shot exhibitions. Willie Mosconi is one of the best players to ever play billiards. Most players back in the day, would hustle people for their money, but Willie claimed he never hustled anyone, beating everyone honestly: "I played everyone straightt," he said. Soon his performances impressed many, including the president of Brunswick. They immediately hired Mosconi. Mosconi then embarked on a hectic cross-country tour promoting Brunswick products. Mosconi was joined on the tour by his idol and World Champion Ralph Greenleaf, After  the tour Greenleaf had 57 wins and Mosconi had 50. In 1940, a tournament series was held by billiard halls. Mosconi dominated this series. He ran 125 balls in a row, five times. Only two other players in history had ever done the same. In 1956 Mosconi suffered and stroke, but by the next year was already playing back at 100%. Mosconi's biggest accomplishment came on March 19th-20th, 1954. On these days Mosconi set the world record by making 526 consecutive balls without a single miss. To this day the record hasn't been beat and will likely never be beat. Mosconi also did many other things then just billiards. In 1944, Mosconi enlisted in the Army during WWII. He also produced a movie called the Hustler , and was in many other movies as an actor. Mosconi retired from play in 1966, but remained active in promoting the game of billiards. Two years later he was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame at age 55. On September 17th, 1993 Mosconi suffered a heart attack and died.

Here is a video highlighting some of Mosconi's play.

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Other Equipment

Chalk and the mechanical bridge are always used in pool. The mechanical bridge is used for tough shots, where the player needs extra length. Chalk is rubbed on the top of the cue stick to provide grip.

Mechanical Bridge

The mechanical bridge is used to extend a player's reach on a shot. It is a stick with a grooved metal, or sometimes plastic, head in which the cue stick sits on. It is sometimes referred to as the rake, bridge stick, or bridge. In Europe a rest is used. The head of the bridge can vary in design. In Italy, players use a longer thicker cue stick instead of a mechanical bridge. In snooker mechanical bridges come in three different forms. They depend on the players style. The spider bridge has a raised arch that goes out about 12 cm, and three grooves for the cue stick. The standard cross is the standard bridge. The giraffe has a raised arch that goes out about 15 cm and has one groove.You can also use screw on cue stick extensions.

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Chalk

Chalk is used in all billiards style games. Its main purpose is to provide the player more grip on the ball. You rub chalk on the tip of the cue stick, and that allows the player more grip on non center shots, and is used to put spin or curl on the ball. Chalk that is used isn't real blackboard chalk, it is a different kind. Chalkboard chalk is calcite, and Pool chalk is silicate. Cue tip chalk was invented in 1897, by pool player Will Spinks, and chemist Will Hoskins. The chalk is made by crushing silica and aloxite into a powder and glued together. Harder, dryer chalks are the best.When chalk was first introduced to American players, it was called "putting English on the ball." 

There is also another type of chalk, hand chalk. Hand chalk is used to provide the player with a more smoother stroke on a shot. Many players nowadays prefer to used a pool glove instead of hand chalk, due to the messy mess the chalk can make. The buildup of the chalk particles on the table cloth can result in affecting ball movement. Some players use the lubrication method. Which is when a player mixes the hand chalk with saliva, to create a chalky paste which is a lubricant for the cue stick. This method was invented by professional pool player, Hal "Spitty-Smitty" Smith.

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Here is an article with much more info on certain chalks.

Here is a video that shows you how to put on pool chalk.

Billiards Rack

The billiards rack may seem pointless but is important for billiards. There are a few different shapes the racks come in but they all are used the same, to set up various types of billiards games. For example, theres the eight ball triangle, the nine ball diamond, and the snooker triangle as well as others.

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Eight Ball Triangle

In the game eight ball, 15 balls are used. The balls are set up as:

• The corner balls must be a solid and striped
• 8 ball is placed in the center 
• 1 ball is at the front
• Balls should be tightly packed

For amateur eight ball play the balls are set up like:

• The outer edge of the triangle must be pattern of solid, stripe, solid, stripe.
• Sometimes balls can be placed in numerical order.

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The Snooker Triangle/Setup

When playing snooker, you use 21 balls. 15 of the balls are red and are placed in a triangle, and six colour balls are placed in different spots on the table. The balls are set up as shown:

Colour Balls:

• Blue ball is placed at the center of the table.
• The green ball is placed at the right spot on the baulk line
• The brown ball is placed between the yellow and green balls 
• The yellow ball is placed on the left spot on the baulk line.
• The black ball is placed at the bottom part of the table, centered behind the red balls.
• The pink ball is placed in front of the tip of the triangle.

Red Balls:

• Placed in a triangle in between the pink and black balls, the tip is touching the pink ball.

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The Nine Ball Diamond

In nine ball the 1 through 9 balls are used. To start the balls are placed in a diamond shape.

They set up like this:

• 1 ball is placed at the front of the diamond
• Balls must be hit by lowest number first.
• 8 ball is at the back of the rack.
• 9 Ball is in the center.

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Here is an article about how to properly rack billiards balls.

Here is a video that shows how to make CUSTOM billiards racks.

The Billiards Table

There are many types of billiards tables used in billiards sports. There is the billiard table, pool table,snooker table, carom and more.

   

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The Carom Billiards Table

   The carom billiards table is used for carom, or carambole, style games. Such as three cushion billiards, cushion caroms,straight rail, balkline, and artistic billiards. It is the only table with no pockets. It is made out of slate, and is covered with cloth. The whole table is also surrounded by rubber cushions. Regulation tables are 10ft x 5ft, and the height is 25-30 inches. The bed of the table, is a piece of slate and usually is heated to about 9 degrees F. Heating tables is an old practice. Queen Victoria of England, had a table that was heated, in 1819-1901. This was one of the first known heated tables, then electricity came into play. The first time electricity was used to heat tables was during the Balkline Tournament in December of 1927. 

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The Pool Table

A pool/pocket billiards table is used for modern billiards/cue sports. It has six pockets, two at each midpoint and one at each corner. Older pool tables sometimes only had four pockets. Pool tables come in different sizes, but for official  play there are only two sizes. Which are 9ft x 8.5ft, or 8ft x 7ft. For a 9ft table there is a 100 inch playing surface,and for 8ft tables there is a 92 inch playing surface. The bed of a pool table is  made of slate. The slate is 1 inch thick. The pockets of the table have something to catch the balls. The can have cloth bags, wire racks, or plastic cups. Tables found in public areas, when you need to pay to play, have channels for the balls to fall through. Pool tables are a great work of craftsmanship.

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The Snooker Table

The snooker table is unique compared to other tables. It is used in the game of snooker, and other English billiards games. A snooker table is the biggest size table. It is 12ft x 6ft. There is also a smaller snooker table that is 10ft x 5ft. The height of the table is about 3ft. There are cushions, or rails, that are the same as pool and carom tables. The pockets of the snooker table are aligned the same as a pool table, two in the midpoint and one at each corner. On snooker tables the pockets are rounded unlike the knuckle shape of other billiards tables. This affects the difficulty of the player's shot. Another thing that makes the table unique is it's markings. There is a line, called the baulk line, that marks the baulk area. A semicircle is centered on the baulk line with a radius of 11.5 inches. This forms a D shape. This D area is used for scratched shots, to break, or if the cue ball is shot of the table. There is a blue spot that is marked in the center of the table, the black spot is measured 11 3/4 inches from the bottom of the table, the pink spot is measured 27 inches from the bottom, the brown spot is marked at the center of the baulk line, and the green and yellow spots are marked at the left and right parts where the D shape hits the baulk line. (the picture  The bed of a snooker table is made of slate, like other tables, and is covered by cloth. The traditional color of the cloth is green, but many other colors are modernly available. The snooker table is a very unique table.

Markings on a Snooker table are as shown.

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The Novelty Table(s)

There are many different, sometimes crazy,novelty tables. These tables are mostly used for Pool. They can come in all shapes and sizes. They can be circular, zig zag, hexagonal, and more. Many makers of these tables make some tables with removable tops which can then be used for pool, table tennis, air hockey, and even Foosball.  These are very unique tables as well.

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Here are some of the nicest & craziest tables!

Here is how the tables are made!

The Cue Stick

There are many types of Cue Sticks. There are Pool, Carom, Snooker, and Specialty sticks. They all are unique in their own way.

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Pool Sticks

    A pool stick, used for pocket billiards, it is usually made mostly of maple wood, and it is mixed with fiberglass. Sometimes it is also two pieces that screw together. There are also steel collars, and a pin. Normal Pool sticks are about 58 inches long. They are also available in 17-21 ounces. 19 ounces is the most common. There are many custom sticks. Recently, pool sticks are becoming more technological. They are using  materials like fiberglass, carbon fiber, aluminum, etc., for shafts and butts. There has been some experimenting with rubber, memory foam and other soft wraps.

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Carom Sticks

Carom cue sticks are similar to pool sticks, but are shorter and lighter. They also can come in two pieces. They are normally 54-56 inches long, and weights 16.5-18.5 ounces. The tip is also 11-12 mm in diameter. The difference in the Pool and the Carom sticks, is the Carom sticks are stiffer. Which is because of the heavier billiards balls. They also reduce the amount of deflection. Caroms sticks are made widely of wood, and the best sticks are handmade.

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Snooker Sticks

   These cue sticks are designed for the game, snooker. They are normally 55 inches long, and they have a 6 inch extension piece that makes the stick longer. The tips are normally 8.5-10.5 mm in diameter. They provide more accuracy and finesse, because of snooker balls being smaller then pool and carom balls. Snooker butts are flat on one side. This is so the stick can be laid flat on the table. The flat part helps make the players shots more precise.

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Specialty Sticks

   

Some Cue Stick makers, make a variety of special sticks made for specific shots. There are Pool break sticks are made from a very hard leather, this avoids excessive wear and tear on tips. Jump sticks are shorter and lighter then other sticks, and a very hard tip. It makes the jump shot easier. Some standard cue sticks have a two piece stick, which allows a player to create a jump cue stick. People who play artistic pool, sometimes have 20 or more cue sticks. They are each used for a specific shot. A high quality two piece cue stick that has a nearly invisible wood to wood joint is called a sneaky pete. These sticks look like cheap one piece sticks. Hustlers liked to use these sticks.

Here is a  video showing how cue sticks are made.

(if you want to learn about maintaining your cue stick properly click here)

Billiards Balls

   The billiards balls of today are very unique. There are training balls, novalty balls, carom balls, international balls, and snooker balls. All of these balls, exept snooker balls, are used in the game of pool.

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International (Pool) Balls

Pool balls are used in many different pocket billiards games. Like eight ball, nine ball, and one pocket. These balls are mostly called billiard balls in America, and in Europe they are called kelly pool or American balls. Pool balls are used throughout the world. They are also the most commonly used balls. The balls are numbered and colored as shown(9-15 are stripes):

1. Yellow                   5. Orange                          9. Yellow & White             13. Orange & White
2. Blue                       6. Green                          10. Blue & White                 14. Green & White
3. Red                        7. Brown or Burgundy  11. Red & White                  15. Brown & White
4. Purple                   8. Black                           12. Purple & White             

(the cue ball is also included)

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Carom Balls

Carom balls are used to play straight rail, three cushion, and other pocketless billiardgames. There are 3 balls. The colored ball (typically red/maroon) is the object ball, the whiteball with a dot (sometimes yellow) is  player two's cue ball, and the final ball is the cue ball for player one. These balls are not numbered and are larger then regular pool balls.

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The Training Ball
Training billiards balls are used to help beginers get familiar with the game. The balls have targets on them to help make shots. The cue ball, is marked with rings and targets. This is so the practicing player can better decide how much spin to put on the ball. Some sets of training balls come with just a speacil cue ball and others include an object ball marked for aiming practice.


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Novelty Balls
Novalty balls are very unique. People nowadays are very interested in speacil cue balls and even entire ball sets. The balls feature sports team logos, cartoon characters, animal print, and many others. Many investors also have a variety of novelty billiard games with unique rules and balls. For example, playing card markings, others with stars and stripes, and yet others in sets of more than thirty balls in several card suits. There are some marbled looking balls from a home table, and there are even blacklight ball sets so you can play in the dark. There are also jokecues. Which are 8 balls with off center weights so that makes there paths curve and wobble. Another set is the miniature pool set. These are intended for under sized toy tables. Some egg cue ball shape has been made. Such as the bobble ball and tag ball.


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Snooker Balls

The snooker balls are very cultural. They are American and British based. There are twenty twon balls in a snooker game. There are 15 unmarked red balls, 6 colour balls, and 1 white cue ball. The balls are sometimes numbered with their point values. The numbers are:

• Yellow 2
• Green 3
• Brown 4
• Blue    5
• Pink   6
• Black 7

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Here is an article about the evolution of pool!

Here is a creaive video, check it out!

Perfect Match

Ronnie o'Sullivan vs Mark Williams

This match of Ronnie o'Sullivan vs Mark williams, is one of the greatest games in history. It was the single fastest 147 game ever at 5 minutes and 20 seconds.