Greatest single ball potter

An oft asked question, you will agree.

What's a single ball potter anyway?

someone who pots one ball and then misses or plays safe the next?

If that's so, then I'm up there as the best

Andre147 wrote:What's a single ball potter anyway?

someone who pots one ball and then misses or plays safe the next?

If that's so, then I'm up there as the best

I've always wondered that.

It just means he can't play positional.

Hendry asked that in commentary last season. The explanation was it is when you are in a difficult position and need to make a pot to get out of trouble.

Holden Chinaski wrote:Alex Higgins, Jimmy White, Mark Williams, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O'Sullivan. Those are the ones I can think of. Luca Brecel can pot some crazy ones as well.

Yes great list. Not around my time, but I've seen many YT videos of Tony Meo and Cliff Wilson potting some crazy balls too.

Perrie Mans

Gotta be this fellow. To win the masters without making a 50...

Alex0paul wrote:Perrie Mans

gallantrabbit wrote:Gotta be this fellow. To win the masters without making a 50...

Alex0paul wrote:Perrie Mans

Not dissing the fellow but I looked at the career stats for Mans in terms of breaks...

17 50s, 18 60s, 2 70s 1 80 no 90s and 1 ton!!! Unbelievable. Must have twentied them to death!!

And he made over 10k in the 1985-6 season!!! So must have been winning some matches even then!!

Reading the nugget's autobiography at the moment and he is pretty disparaging about Mans' positional play

Not suprisingly...he played many best of 25s at Sheffield and would be lucky to make one half-century. Amazing.

Selby should be on the list. He basically won the 2016 world final because of his single ball potting.

Andre147 wrote:What's a single ball potter anyway?

someone who pots one ball and then misses or plays safe the next?

If that's so, then I'm up there as the best

As most of you will know, I rarely venture over to this side of the Island. I don't have any valid opinions on modern professionals as I rarely get much opportunity to watch the game these days though I play fairly often.

It does seem to me that Andre asked this question but no one has really been able to answer exactly what Stephen Hendry may have meant when he used the "single ball potter" phrase. While I have no valid opinion in the poll question, I believe I can answer what is meant by "single ball potter" because it is a phrase that I use quite often myself.

To explain, in my little club, trying to put my ego aside, I think I can objectively say that I am either the best overall player or at least most certainly one of the best players on any given day (understanding that at such a low level of play, on any given day, any player may win a match against any other player). I think that history shows that I consistently have likely the highest win to loss ratio of our club members.

However, I do consider myself to be one of the worst actual potters in the club. And I describe that stat in the same way as "single ball potting". So the meaning of the phrase at least the way that I use it means to imagine that you put ANY object ball into ANY pottable position, easy or difficult, and also place the cue ball anywhere such that it is possible to pot that ball. Now pit two players against each other to play that exact shot. Which of the two will more consistently pot the ball? Forget the frame score, forget match score, forget everything else.....simply place two players in the same position to pot a ball and which of those two will do it with more consistency, more bottle under pressure.

In our club, I am about the least likely to pot that ball. But I am probably the best overall player because I am by a distance the best positional player so that when I do manage to pot a first ball, there are generally at least several scoring balls for a decent break score because I place the White for quite simple pots to follow. And I can also lay a very safe White ball when necessary. My opponent is most often "one and done". True fact: I once won a frame (on the blue ball no less) despite the fact that I only potted 3 of the fifteen reds. THREE REDS! I am not proud of this tidbit as it speaks to a very low standard of play in general but it is true none the less.

Yes very good explanation there.

I'd say MJW is right up there as the best, but those that Holden mentioned are as good as him on any given day.

Robbie Williams.

TheSaviour wrote:Robbie Williams.

if you say so

TheSaviour wrote:Robbie Williams.

Jak Jones.

Stephen Hendry is the greatest single ball potter of all time.

The thing that sets him apart from the rest is the consistency of his single ball game throughout his early and middle career.

Holden Chinaski wrote:

Andy Spark wrote:Stephen Hendry is the greatest single ball potter of all time.

The thing that sets him apart from the rest is the consistency of his single ball game throughout his early and middle career.

It's hard to argue with that. When I watch matches of Hendry in his prime I'm often amazed by his potting ability. He was amazing.

I must confess that when he started missing loads of single ball pots in his later career I was delighted. These days I look back on the sharp decline of his single ball game with sadness, because it used to be tinged with genius; and I love a genius!

Andy Spark wrote:

Holden Chinaski wrote:

Andy Spark wrote:Stephen Hendry is the greatest single ball potter of all time.

The thing that sets him apart from the rest is the consistency of his single ball game throughout his early and middle career.

It's hard to argue with that. When I watch matches of Hendry in his prime I'm often amazed by his potting ability. He was amazing.

I must confess that when he started missing loads of single ball pots in his later career I was delighted. These days I look back on the sharp decline of his single ball game with sadness, because it used to be tinged with genius; and I love a genius!

Hendry's Cueball control was better than Mark Williams so Mark proberbly had to rely more on his long potting but yea Hendry was consistent in his prime and that what afected his game in latter years theres no secret his safety was not as good as Davis but when you pot like he did then he nullified players safety game but in the end his long game went and it was like cancer through rest of his game.

Also one chance snooker means just that Player breaks off you knock in a long pot from nothing and win the frame from it.

i hear comentators say after both players miss 2 long pots each its one chance when they then win a frame from a chance reality is thats not one chance its 3 chance snooker.