When we talk about cue sports and athletes who can dominate the table in such a way that their calculated shot will form the perfect angle needed to hit the right ball in the right pocket, we are talking about masters.
Since Louis XIV first played billiards in the late 1600s, cue sports have evolved into a full range of sophisticated tactile derivative sports, with international championships and true masters taking pride in playing this table game. Among the first people to come to prominence in the cue sport, Sir Jacob Schaefer was a dominant pool player during the 19th century, though many more influential people spread pool around the world. Pool, carom billiards, English billiards, snooker and many other billiards games have their own masters and winners, and various international competitions are held in many parts of the world every year.
Among the masters of direct billiards, William Joseph Masconi surely stands out. Between 1941 and 1957, he won fifteen unrivaled titles in the World Straight Pool Championship, and his name went down in history as a pioneer and master of various billiard tricks, and several world competitions bear his name.
Another sportsman who led the way and set a famous example, as far as English billiards is concerned, is Walter Lindrum, who held the title of the World Professional Billiards Championship for seventeen years in a row, until 1951, when he retired. He was one of the most successful snooker players of all time, with 57 world titles to his name and one of the most highly regarded Australian sportsmen in history.
In snooker, Joe Davis was the first World Champion, in 1927, and still holds the world record for most titles won, 15 in a row. Next in line is Stephen Henry, with 7 token wins during the ’90s, and holding the world record for most titles won at the Crucible Theatre, followed shortly by Steve Davis, who dominated the ’80s with six world titles. Other billiards masters worth mentioning include Graeme Dott, John Parrot, Neil Robertson, the first Australian to win the world championship in 2010, and Ronnie O’Sullivan, the only player to never lose a World Championship final round. He also holds the record for the most maximum breaks, 11. The current master of snooker is John Higgins, with four world titles under his belt.
As you can see, being a master of these cue games really means years of dedication, not just one quick winning hit. And the world record winners are remembered by history especially for their own contribution to the evolution of these games and for their incredible techniques that kept them as world champions for more than a decade in a row.
