who,s the most natural player?

[noel]

That was a few week back actually Noel.

Jimmy still got game.

TRUE!
And a damned dramatic nail-biting balls to the wall game it is!

Jimmy is a God to his followers and sponsors!


=o)

Noel

[baldblindgit]

i would say Alex Higgins is the most naturally gifted player ever, even Steve Davis said he was an authentic genius on the green baize. The break that has been mentioned against Jimmy White is frankly impossible but he did it.
Cheers BBG

[Wim]

O'Sullivan is the benchmark in snooker. Some choose Alex Higgins but this is just for sentimental reasons I guess.

[Templeton Peck]

And some choose Higgins because they remember just how good he was at his very best.

[KeithinFrance]

To be quite honest, how can any of us judge who is the most natural player when none of us saw any of them when they were learning? What we've all seen is the result of countless hours of practice, with advice from others on what to do and not to do at various stages of their development, so it's not truly natural any more, is it? It's a honed technique used by a professional. I think that it's a pointless discussion as they were all "naturals" and all we know is what we've read or heard them say about their own abilities.

[RocketRoy1983]

And some choose Higgins because they remember just how good he was at his very best.

Very good and often forgotten point here Templeton.

[KeithinFrance]

Very good and often forgotten point here Templeton.

Quite right, too!

[KeithinFrance]

Ok let me add to this.

When Jimmy White or Higgins came on the scene who coached them the shots and the technique?

No-one because they virtually invented half the shots Ronnie and others take for granted today and for that matter many other players at this time Spencer Davis Hendry etc., probably only had a table a Joe Davis manual and a cue to go by at best up untill coaches like Frank Callum came on the scene.

Ronnie had coaches (Frank A) (Del H) his own table and help. Lots of the new players have the benifit of all this knowledge and impovements in the game and stuff nowerdays and this is why the standard is better Ronnie still is natural looking though.

But it was harder to be so good at snooker before this and therefore Jimmy and Alex must have been the most natural.

Some fair points there, I have to say, but did they really "invent" shots or did they just use them differently and more aggressively than the old guard? I agree it was harder to be good at snooker before because of readily available coaching etc, but not everyone gets coaching, now do they? I know lots of guys, here and in the UK, who've never had any coaching and yet can play to a pro standard. No-one ever "coached" them, yet they still learned how to play.

I'm not really sure that Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis were contemporaries of John Spencer and I'm pretty sure that Spencer never read the Joe Davis manual either. Fact is, if you're good, you're good and sometimes you can be lucky and have someone show you the ropes and sometimes not. But lots of people don't need to be shown the ropes as they're "naturals".

Oh, one other thing, before snooker was seen as a bad thing, only bad guys played snooker in dingy snooker halls and it was a sign of a misspent youth! Now, youngsters are encouraged to spend all their free time playing and parents spend £££s on coaching because there's money in the game, so that's why the standard is better. Those youngsters have always been there, it's just that now they're being encouraged not discouraged.

[wildJONESEYE]

I highly doubt that. Jimmy is only 3 years older than Tony, so I'm not sure about the hero thing either. Tony said in a number of interviews that he didn't like to take his time over the shots because he than started to see problems, which weren't there. It is also somewhat misleading to say he missed shots because he played too fast, as he played every shot very fast and every player misses eventually. Saying he missed many crucial shots because he was awful with the rest would have been a lot more accurate. Also not sure about how missing 'some' shots makes one less natural, it's more a case of lack of concentration/bottle. Like with the infamous black Jimmy missed against Hendry in the WC final.

So, apart from the obvious choices already listed what about Cliff Wilson? I think he's right up there as well.

might be only 3 years difference in age but when youre a young aspiering player in the mid 80s in which Drago turned pro in the summer of 85 jimmy white was the player everyone wanted to be.

the legend of jimmy white did the rounds before he turned pro in 81 and young people knew who he was and wanted to be him. Remember Hendry turned pro same season as Drago and Jimmy was Stephen's Hero.

[attilahun]

Who is the most natural talent ?
John Pulman said this about Jimmy, Jimmy said it about Ronnie....and others said it about Alex.....

For sentimental reasons, because ive seen his amazing shots and yes, because he didnt have the facilities others had to learn the game, i will say Jimmy, but Ronnie is right there.

I can not speak about Alex as i didnt seen him play alot.....

[Templeton Peck]

I've given this a lot of thought and was favouring Higgins, but after a rethink I think Ron's ambidextrous skill seals it. He's pro standard with both hands. You could coach all the other players in the game to play with their other hand and they wouldn't get anywhere near that standard. It's just there in Ronnie.

[daoc2006]

Alex Higgins, Jimmy White, extremely talented players, but not on the same level as O'Sullivan. No where near.

No one makes the game as easy as Ronnie O'Sullivan, he is the best positional shot maker, if you see him play on TV, you watch him and he very rarely loses position of the cue ball, and that makes every shot alot easier.

O'Sullivan has turned snooker into an art form, but Only when he plays. The way he goes about a break and the way he just does it, IT IS just better than any other player.

And then there is century breaks left handed to round it off. Who else can do such a thing? And also picking up a brand new cue and makes almost no difference and new tips on cues, makes no difference.

O'Sullivan can play shots no one else can, and he has the best cue action when he really is on top form. Evidence of that is how little power he needs to strike to get a very large reaction on the cue ball.

[João]

I guess Ronnie is getting most of the votes because he is still playing at high level.

If he was the one playing back in the 70's and 80's I'm not so sure he would get so many mentions.

[wildJONESEYE]

O'Sullivan is the benchmark in snooker. Some choose Alex Higgins but this is just for sentimental reasons I guess.

Stephen Hendry is the Benchmark in Snooker.

Everything players does is mesured against what he did.

[ADR147]

Stephen Hendry is the Benchmark in Snooker.

Everything players does is mesured against what he did.

agreed also who cares about nature - in the end its results that count. as for nature maybe quinten hann or mark williams should be considered.