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 world titles in two disciplines, alongside five-time U.S. Open champions Earl Strickland and Shane Van Boening and straight-pool legend Ralph Greenleaf. As of 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 9-Ball Championship and four World 8-Ball Championships, becoming the first player to hold world titles in two disciplines. Add three U.S. Open 9-Ball crowns and a record run at the Derby City Classic, and his résumé is among the deepest in cue sports. He is known for defensive play built on reading the table several moves ahead. Now in his early seventies, 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 9-Ball Champion, he also won five U.S. Open 9-Ball titles — a record he shares with Shane Van Boening — and represented the U.S. at nine Mosconi Cups. 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) and won the World Straight Pool Championship repeatedly. He was American billiards’ first true superstar, setting a bar for professional play decades before television existed to broadcast it. His run of world titles in the 1920s remains a benchmark for the discipline.

Shane Van Boening

Van Boening is the most accomplished American pool player of the current era. His five U.S. Open 9-Ball titles (2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016) tie Strickland’s record, and peers regard him as one of the most technically complete players in the game. As of 2026 he continues to compete on the World Nineball Tour, reaching the latter stages of the 2025 U.S. Open before elimination.

Francisco Bustamante

Bustamante, another Filipino great, was a fixture at the top of the 9-ball and 10-ball world for two decades. A World 8-Ball champion and a mainstay of the international circuit, he formed half of one of the sport’s most feared eras of Philippine dominance alongside Reyes. His power break and clutch potting made him a perennial contender at every major.

All-time greats at a glance

Player	Country	Notable Discipline	Era
Efren Reyes	Philippines	9-Ball, 8-Ball	1980s–2010s
Earl Strickland	USA	9-Ball	1980s–2010s
Ralph Greenleaf	USA	Straight Pool (14.1)	1910s–1930s
Shane Van Boening	USA	9-Ball, 10-Ball	2000s–present
Francisco Bustamante	Philippines	9-Ball, 10-Ball	1990s–2010s
Fedor Gorst	Russia/USA	9-Ball	2010s–present

The best pool players in 2026

The modern game is led by Fedor Gorst, who sits at world number one on the World Nineball Tour as of 2026. In 2024 he became the first player ever to win the World Pool Championship, World Pool Masters, and U.S. Open in a single calendar year — a “Grand Slam” no one had previously completed. He reached the 2025 U.S. Open final as defending champion before losing 13-11 to Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp, whose victory capped a run of three majors in four months and marked him as one of the sport’s fastest-rising stars.

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 arguably the sport’s most dominant nation 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. Alongside them, the Matchroom-run World Nineball Tour, the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship, and the Mosconi Cup team event round out the calendar’s premier competitions. 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.