Pool, Billiards and Snooker Masters

When we talk about cue sports and sportspeople that can dominate the table in such a manner that their calculated shot will make the perfect angle needed to strike the right ball into the right pocket, we are talking about masters.

Ever since Louis the XIV first played billiards in the late 1600’s, cue sports have evolved into an entire range of sophisticated tactile derivative sports, with international championships and real masters that take pride in playing this table game. Among the first people to stand apart at this cue sport, sir Jacob Schaefer was a dominant billiards player, during the 19th century, though many more influential people spread billiard all over the world. Pool, carom billiards, English billiard, snooker, and many other billiards games have their own masters and winners, with several international competitions taking place each year, in many parts of the world.

Among the masters of straight pool-billiard, William Joseph Masconi surely stands apart. Between 1941 and 1957, he has won an unmatched fifteen titles in the World Straight Pool Championship, and his name went down in history as a pioneer and master of several pool tricks, several world-wide competitions being named after him.

Another sports-man that led the way and set a famous example, as far as English billiards is concerned, is Walter Lindrum, holding the World Professional Billiards Championship title for seventeen years in a row, till 1951, when he retired. He was one of the most successful billiards player of all times, with 57 world titles to his name and one of the most appreciated Australian sportspeople ever.

In snooker, Joe Davis was the first World Champion, in 1927, and he still holds the world record for most titles won, 15 in a row. The next one in line is Stephen Henry, with 7 tiles won during the 90’s, and with the world record for most titles won at the Crucible Theatre, followed shortly by Steve Davis, that dominated the 80’s with six world titles. Other snooker masters worth mentioning are Graeme Dott, John Parrot, Neil Robertson, the first Australian to won the world championship in 2010, and Ronnie O’ Sullivan, the only player that has never lost a final round of World Championship. He also holds the record for most maximum breaks, 11. The current master of snooker is John Higgins, with four world titles under his belt.

So you see, being a master of these cue games really means years of dedication, not only a fast winning strike. And winners of world records are remembered by history especially because of their own contribution to the evolution of these games, and because of their unbelievable techniques that kept them world champions for more than a decade in a row.