“Jimmy, I’ve seen everybody play, from Ponzi to today, can’t none of ‘em carry your cue playing that nine ball”. Luther (Wimpy) Lassiter, Los Angeles, CA. 1970.
“Diamond” Jimmy Reid was born August 23rd, 1946, and as a youngster grew up in Gloucester, Massachusetts – an old New England fishing port and an unlikely town for a top pool player. However, Boston and the Olympia Billiard Room, better known as The Mines, weren’t too far away, and there lurked ‘Boston Shorty’, Bob Ingersol, ‘Cuban Joe’ Valdez and other veterans of pool action.
Jimmy Reid – Pool Player
Jimmy was gifted with a potent combination of talent, determination, and the confidence to be the best. Jimmy hit the road while he was still a teenager and began to work his way up the food chain among the great young pool players of the time, with names like Sigel, Hall and Rempe. By the time he entered his first Johnston City, Illinois, tournament, he was playing championship level pool. In 1972, Reid stood at the top of the leader board in both the 9-Ball and One Pocket divisions in Johnston City, at the moment it was raided by the FBI. As one of the detained players, that raid cost him the chance to win the One Pocket crown that his good friend Jimmy Fusco ended up winning.
Conrad Burkman presents a trophy to Reid at a tournament a few years back. Photo courtesy Conrad Burkman
Jimmy Reid is a past US Open 9-Ball Champion, and winner of numerous other professional tournaments, yet he considers ring games and after-hours action to be where he played his best pool. His best games were 9-Ball, and especially 10-Ball, but Jimmy was a fearsome One Pocket player, with an explosive offensive style of play.
In recent years Jimmy has inspired a whole new generation of players to both play their best, and bring their best attitude to the table, through his popular videos and his website, Free Pool Lessons dot com. Jimmy credits his father for both his natural athleticism, and his positive attitude; his Dad having been a champion boxer before he was seriously wounded during WWII.
Jimmy Reid, Professional Pool Player and Holder of More Than 40 Billiards Titles. Here are a few of his accomplishments:
- 1974 – Southwestern Open 9 Ball Champion, Corpus Christi, TX. Gave the call 8 ball handicap to the whole field.
- 1977 – World Convention 9 Ball Champion, Lansing, MI
- 1977 – Only American invited into the World’s International Snooker Championships, finished 3rd, but won an extra 1000 pounds for having the High Break (highest run) of the tournament, Oak Park, MI
- 1979 – BCA National 8 Ball Champion, regulation tables, 4,300 entries. Louisville, KY
- 1980 – World Classic 8 Ball Champion, $25,000 1st. Tropicana Hotel, Las Vegas, NV
- 1985 – US OPEN 9 Ball Champion, Shooting the highest accu-stat match of the entire tournament in the finals.
- 1988 – ‘King Of The Ring’ 9 Ball Champion, Aspen, CO. Shown on ESPN.
- Won 6 International Open 9 Ball Championships.
- Won The Annual European Open 8 Ball Championship, Back to Back in 1992 and 1993.
“In 1994 at the men’s pro billiards tour, ‘Lexington All Star 9 Ball Championship’ on the last night before the finals, unbeknownst to me, at the urging of the audience a large group of my peers had gotten together to vote on who they thought was the best money player. Almost all of the top ranked pool players over the previous 5 to 25 years were there, Johnny Archer, Francesco Bustamante, Wade Crane, Kim Davenport, Roger Griffis, Buddy Hall, Allen Hopkins, Bob Ogburn, Efren Reyes, Mike Sigel, Earl Strickland, Nick Varner, and C. J. Wiley just to name a few. At the time they without a doubt a group of the best and most respected pocket billiard players in the world. They voted yours truly, Jimmy Reid, The Best Money Player In The World For The Previous 25 Years, From 1969 – 1994. Buddy Hall Said To Me The Next Day, ‘That’s Over A Quarter Of A century Man’ “Of All Things, This, I Am Most Proud” Jimmy Reid
