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Who is the Greatest Player of all time?

Ronnie O'Sullivan
20
40%
Stephen Hendry
24
48%
John Higgins
1
2%
Steve Davis
1
2%
Ray Reardon
0
No votes
Joe Davis
2
4%
other (please specify)
2
4%
 
Total votes : 50

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby vodkadiet

The most monumental moment in snooker was when Hendry won the world title in 1999. The simple reason was he broke Steve Davis's 'open era' record of 6 world titles. He was under the most extreme pressure and had to beat some extremely stiff opposition to achieve the record. This overrides all other achievements; ie century breaks, maximums, other titles won, etc.

It is nice reading contributions by others about why their particular favourite is the greatest, but until a player has faced that moment of creating history in the most high pressured surroundings and come through it, then all other achievements pale into insignificance.

O'Sullivan himself has spoken about wanting to break Hendry's record. I think you saw the first signs of the pressure he faced in this year's final. For the first time he actually felt that the record was in sight and breakable, and the pressure was too much at the end,

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Holden Chinaski

Who's the best? Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Who has the most titles? Stephen Hendry.

Who's the toughest? Steve Davis and John Higgins.

Who's the greatest? Alex "Hurricane" Higgins

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Roland

You need to add Mark Selby under who is the toughest otherwise yes. Well Alex Higggins wasn't the greatest but who am I to argue if someone claims that. He was awesome

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Wildey

Alex Higgins was not the Greatest player but for me he still is the Greatest entertainer and the most electric personality to ever grace snooker.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Holden Chinaski

Wildey wrote:Alex Higgins was not the Greatest player but for me he still is the Greatest entertainer and the most electric personality to ever grace snooker.

He really was electric. So great to watch. Everything he did was special.
I was watching the 1989 Irish Masters final where Alex beat Hendry on youtube today. Very entertaining match. Alex Higgins walking around the snooker table is like watching Elvis Presley walking around on stage. Charisma!

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Roland

Alex was someone you couldn't take your eye off when he wasn't even at the table. Ronnie has a bit of that, Tony Drago is another it's sometimes more entertaining watching them when their opponent is at the table rather than the snooker. Higgins still the king in that category.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Roland

Totally. There is footage out there of him in the 1971-73 era but few and far between. It's funny because looking back through the grainy footage of that era I know that if I was aware of that era at the time with the mindset I have now, I'd have been a John Spencer fan.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Holden Chinaski

Sonny wrote:Totally. There is footage out there of him in the 1971-73 era but few and far between. It's funny because looking back through the grainy footage of that era I know that if I was aware of that era at the time with the mindset I have now, I'd have been a John Spencer fan.

I read a lot about how Spencer was one of the first players who played a very attacking game and he was a pioneer of long screw backs and things like that. But I have yet to find footage of Spencer playing like that on youtube.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Roland

Yeah same. He was renowned for his cue power and potting and the footage I've seen of him he seems the fore bearer of the style which has produced the likes of Williams and Selby which I've always been such a fan of. I mean obviously he wouldn't have been as good but he set the standard at the time for others to be inspired much as was going on in other sports which were also being brought into the mainstream with live TV coverage at the same time.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Wildey

Holden Chinaski wrote:It's such a shame there's no footage of Alex winning his first world title...

Yea but because of him and what he brought to the game in 1972 they decided to show the final of the 1973 World Championship on the BBC.

The way i describe the way snooker has evolved.

Joe Davis built the Car but Alex Higgins was the spark plug that made it come to life.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Jester82

Holden Chinaski wrote:Who's the best? Ronnie O'Sullivan.



By what standard do you define best?
By the level of gameplay? Hard to call. ROS had undeniably brilliant matches, but so had Hendry and other serveral ranking title winners in a temporary league of their own.
By titles? clearly not. Joe Davis blasts all his contenders off by many titles.
As of the times of the modern game, Reardon, Davis and Hendry are the set hurdles to jump over.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Holden Chinaski

Jester82 wrote:
Holden Chinaski wrote:Who's the best? Ronnie O'Sullivan.



By what standard do you define best?
By the level of gameplay? Hard to call. ROS had undeniably brilliant matches, but so had Hendry and other serveral ranking title winners in a temporary league of their own.
By titles? clearly not. Joe Davis blasts all his contenders off by many titles.
As of the times of the modern game, Reardon, Davis and Hendry are the set hurdles to jump over.

I call ROS the best because I've seen him do things on a snooker table I have yet to see another player do on the same level. I know Ronnie isn't the most consistant,and I know he doesn't have the most titles, but I've seen him play the game on the highest level of brilliance I've ever seen.
It's totally personal and debatable, but Reardon, Davis and Hendry have said this as well.

There is no correct answer to this question. Like I said, Hendry, Joe Davis and Steve Davis have the most titles. But Alex Higgins is the greatest for me because he was electric. And Ronnie is the best in my eyes because I've seen him make impossible clearances and he does things nobody else can do.

Everybody wants to play like Ronnie. Because he's the best.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby TheSaviour

Hi everyone! Been monitoring these topics for a while, and I decided to have a go with a this one.
I voted John Higgins.
I think that safety-department is where John clearly tops the players like Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O´Sullivan, Ding Junhui, or even Mark Selby. John´s just awesome safety player regarding both the sheer quality of a single safety shots, and his patience, appetite and tenacity for the safety playing is an absolute first class stuff. Probably only Peter Ebdon is on a par with John there. Peter´s also got some impressive title haul, as well as being a great break-builder also. Regarding break-building, I just think John´s even better, and /or at least more consistent than Peter.

I really appreciate how people like Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, or Tony Drago or Alan McManus has retained their games and styles of a play for a long, long periods. I think that´s a very important part of the snooker, also. Looking some of those clips from the 90´s, one can tell that Ronnie O´Sullivan and John Higgins been a quite incredible flair break-builders, and since then their games matured a much. I see that only as a strenght, there´s no any weaknesses with that.

John´s the one who has been able to stop Ronnie when he has claimed to be unstoppable. And those have been big matches. A few years ago Ronnie himself also thought that John Higgins is the greatest player ever. Whereas Jimmy White for example thought it´s a complete no brainer; it must be Ronnie.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Jester82

Holden Chinaski wrote:
Jester82 wrote:
Holden Chinaski wrote:Who's the best? Ronnie O'Sullivan.



By what standard do you define best?
By the level of gameplay? Hard to call. ROS had undeniably brilliant matches, but so had Hendry and other serveral ranking title winners in a temporary league of their own.
By titles? clearly not. Joe Davis blasts all his contenders off by many titles.
As of the times of the modern game, Reardon, Davis and Hendry are the set hurdles to jump over.

I call ROS the best because I've seen him do things on a snooker table I have yet to see another player do on the same level. I know Ronnie isn't the most consistant,and I know he doesn't have the most titles, but I've seen him play the game on the highest level of brilliance I've ever seen.
It's totally personal and debatable, but Reardon, Davis and Hendry have said this as well.

There is no correct answer to this question. Like I said, Hendry, Joe Davis and Steve Davis have the most titles. But Alex Higgins is the greatest for me because he was electric. And Ronnie is the best in my eyes because I've seen him make impossible clearances and he does things nobody else can do.

Everybody wants to play like Ronnie. Because he's the best.


And what particular breaks do you have in mind? Any footage?

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby vodkadiet

Breaks are just one part of snooker.

I could just as easily show a safety shot montage of a certain player. Safety is just as important.

The point about big breaks are that once a frame is safe, the rest of the break is just for entertainment purposes.

Better to make 5 breaks of 80 in a best of nine, than 4 centuries

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Holden Chinaski

vodkadiet wrote:Breaks are just one part of snooker.

I could just as easily show a safety shot montage of a certain player. Safety is just as important.

The point about big breaks are that once a frame is safe, the rest of the break is just for entertainment purposes.

Better to make 5 breaks of 80 in a best of nine, than 4 centuries

I know. The first 3 vids I posted are about positional play and clever cue ball controll, not about big breaks.
I agree that safety is important. Ronnie is a brilliant safety player when he wants to.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Jester82



And the 5min break against Price is very nice as well. He killed it there, no doubt about him and these marvellous footages.
But I'd say a typical Hendry... ;-)
Just watch some of the bits from the 93 final I think it was.
Last edited by Jester82 on 29 May 2014, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Jester82

Holden Chinaski wrote:
vodkadiet wrote:Breaks are just one part of snooker.

I could just as easily show a safety shot montage of a certain player. Safety is just as important.

The point about big breaks are that once a frame is safe, the rest of the break is just for entertainment purposes.

Better to make 5 breaks of 80 in a best of nine, than 4 centuries

I know. The first 3 vids I posted are about positional play and clever cue ball controll, not about big breaks.
I agree that safety is important. Ronnie is a brilliant safety player when he wants to.


It's very arrogant to say ''when he wants to'' as if there is no opponent to play safe against and make it work....

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby TheSaviour

Wildey wrote:Ronnie actually named Hendry the greatest.


Yes, he has done that many times.. But he named John Higgins the greatest a few years ago pre-worlds interview. I saw and experienced that the most convincing since Ronnie himself was playing so good prior during that time. And if I remember it right, John beat Ronnie there something like 13-9 or 13-10, which were quite an incredible standards in that match.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby sesha1961

Ronnie has to be the most gifted talent ever, if not the greatest- He himself says, "to be the greatest of all time, I need to win the world championship at least 7 times". His gift is quite out of the ordinary- how can one even imagine playing snooker (which requires thankless precision all the time) with either hand in serious competitions! I think he is the most gifted sportsperson in our times!!

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Wildey

i wander where is the guy that started this thread got to? last post was a picture of a Valum container for Selby fans on may the 4th.

and they accuse GJ of vanishing when Robbo loses lol

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby Clara8633

Wildey wrote:i wander where is the guy that started this thread got to? last post was a picture of a Valum container for Selby fans on may the 4th.

and they accuse GJ of vanishing when Robbo loses lol


I assume ROS was the one taking the diazepam?

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby TheSaviour

I see Ben Woollaston as a great shot-maker. If he only can find a bit more consistency and so on, then.. Like this match http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhVNR5OYsMM I remember watching that and still remember that as one of the greatest match I have ever see. Where he dispatched one the greatest player of all time, Ronnie O´Sullivan.

Re: Who is the Greatest Player of all Time?

Postby SnookerFan

TheSaviour wrote:Hi everyone! Been monitoring these topics for a while, and I decided to have a go with a this one.
I voted John Higgins.
I think that safety-department is where John clearly tops the players like Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O´Sullivan, Ding Junhui, or even Mark Selby. John´s just awesome safety player regarding both the sheer quality of a single safety shots, and his patience, appetite and tenacity for the safety playing is an absolute first class stuff. Probably only Peter Ebdon is on a par with John there. Peter´s also got some impressive title haul, as well as being a great break-builder also. Regarding break-building, I just think John´s even better, and /or at least more consistent than Peter.

I really appreciate how people like Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, or Tony Drago or Alan McManus has retained their games and styles of a play for a long, long periods. I think that´s a very important part of the snooker, also. Looking some of those clips from the 90´s, one can tell that Ronnie O´Sullivan and John Higgins been a quite incredible flair break-builders, and since then their games matured a much. I see that only as a strenght, there´s no any weaknesses with that.

John´s the one who has been able to stop Ronnie when he has claimed to be unstoppable. And those have been big matches. A few years ago Ronnie himself also thought that John Higgins is the greatest player ever. Whereas Jimmy White for example thought it´s a complete no brainer; it must be Ronnie.



:chin:


Saviour's first ever post.


   

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