Best Pool Players of All Time: The Greatest in Billiards

The best pool players of all time are led by Efren Reyes, the Filipino “Magician” who was the first to win WPA world titles in two disciplines, alongside five-time U.S. Open champions Earl Strickland and Shane Van Boening and straight-pool record-holder Ralph Greenleaf. As of July 2026, Fedor Gorst tops the modern game as world number one.

What makes a pool player all-time great?

Greatness in pool is measured by world title count, longevity, and adaptability across formats — 9-ball, 8-ball, 10-ball, and straight pool (14.1 continuous). The very best win across disciplines rather than mastering just one. Consistency over decades matters as much as peak brilliance, because the professional calendar rewards players who stay near the top through changing eras, equipment, and rule sets. The players below set that standard for their generations.

The greatest pool players of all time

Efren Reyes – “The Magician”

Reyes, from the Philippines, tops most serious lists of the greatest to ever play. He won the 1999 WPA World Nine-ball Championship and is a four-time World Eight-ball champion; his 2004 WPA World Eight-ball win, taken 11-8 against Marlon Manalo after trailing 0-4, made him the first player to hold WPA world titles in two disciplines. He won the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship once, in 1994, beating Nick Varner to become the first non-American champion, and he took the Derby City Classic overall title six times. He is known for defensive play built on reading the table several moves ahead. Born in 1954, Reyes has stepped back from full-time competition and appears mainly in exhibitions as of 2026.

Earl Strickland – “The Pearl”

Strickland, from the United States, is one of the most decorated 9-ball players in history. A three-time WPA World Nine-ball Champion (1990, 1991, 2002), he also won five U.S. Open Nine-ball titles — 1984, 1987, 1993, 1997 and 2000, a record he shares with Shane Van Boening — and holds the record for the most Mosconi Cup wins, with nine as part of Team USA. His aggressive style and famously combustible temperament made him one of the sport’s most talked-about figures as well as one of its best shot-makers.

Ralph Greenleaf

Active in the early 20th century, Greenleaf dominated straight pool (14.1 continuous), winning the World Straight Pool Championship 19 times between 1919 and 1937 — a haul no one in the discipline has approached since. He was American billiards’ first true superstar, setting a bar for professional play decades before television existed to broadcast it.

Shane Van Boening

Van Boening is the most accomplished American pool player of the current era. His five U.S. Open Nine-ball titles (2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016) tie Strickland’s record, and he added the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 2022 and the WPA World Eight-ball Championship in 2023 — making him, like Reyes, a two-discipline world champion. He was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 2024 and remains active in 2026, taking the Derby City Classic Master of the Table title that year.

Francisco Bustamante

Bustamante, another Filipino great, was a fixture at the top of the 9-ball and 10-ball world for two decades. He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in 2010, the World Pool League in 2004, and back-to-back World Cup of Pool titles with Reyes in 2006 and 2009. His power break and clutch potting made him a perennial contender at every major, and together the two headlined a long era of Philippine dominance.

All-time greats at a glance

Player	Country	Notable Discipline	Era	Signature honour
Efren Reyes	Philippines	9-Ball, 8-Ball	1980s–2010s	First two-discipline WPA world champion
Earl Strickland	USA	9-Ball	1980s–2010s	3× world 9-ball; 5 U.S. Opens; 9 Mosconi Cup wins
Ralph Greenleaf	USA	Straight Pool (14.1)	1910s–1930s	19 world straight pool titles (1919–1937)
Shane Van Boening	USA	9-Ball, 10-Ball	2000s–present	5 U.S. Opens; world 9-ball (2022) and 8-ball (2023)
Francisco Bustamante	Philippines	9-Ball, 10-Ball	1990s–2010s	World 9-ball champion (2010)
Fedor Gorst	USA (born Russia)	9-Ball	2010s–present	2024 World Championship, Masters and U.S. Open sweep

The best pool players in 2026

The modern game is led by Fedor Gorst, who tops the World Nineball Tour ranking as of July 2026 and is the longest-reigning world number one in the tour’s history. In 2024 he became the first player to win the World Pool Championship, World Pool Masters, and U.S. Open in a single calendar year. He reached the 2025 U.S. Open final as defending champion before losing 13-11 to Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City; Matchroom’s report on that final notes Yapp became the first player to win three consecutive Matchroom majors, having already taken the UK Open and Florida Open that year.

Beyond those two, the elite tier is strikingly international. Taiwan’s Ko brothers, Poland’s top players, and Austria’s Albin Ouschan remain regular major contenders, while Van Boening carries the American flag. The depth of the field reflects how far pool has globalized: the standard at the top has risen sharply, and titles are now spread across more nations than at any point in the sport’s history.

The Philippines’ dominance in modern pool

One of cue sports’ more remarkable stories is how much talent came out of the Philippines in the late 20th century. Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante turned the country into one of the sport’s most dominant nations relative to its size, producing far more world-class competitors than population alone would predict. That legacy still shapes the game, inspiring a pipeline of Filipino professionals who continue to reach world finals.

How pool greatness is officially recognized

The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) governs the sport internationally and sanctions its world championships, and titles won at WPA-recognized events count as the gold standard for professional achievement. Matchroom promotes most of that calendar through the World Nineball Tour, including the World Pool Championship — which is the WPA world nine-ball title under a commercial name — the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship, and the Mosconi Cup team event. A player’s placement in the all-time debate ultimately rests on how many of these marquee titles they collected, and how long they stayed at the top.