Mike Sigel

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American pool player (born 1953)

title: "Mike Sigel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-pool-players", "sportspeople-from-rochester,-new-york", "living-people", "1953-births", "jewish-american-sportspeople", "21st-century-american-jews", "straight-pool-world-champions"] description: "American pool player (born 1953)" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Sigel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American pool player (born 1953) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox pool player"]

FieldValue
nameMike Sigel
imageMike Sigel.jpg
alt
captionSigel at the 2003 US Open
birth_date
birth_placeRochester, New York, U.S.
death_date
sport_country
nickname"Captain Hook", "Mr. Finals"
professional1973
other_wins100
world_champStraight Pool (1979, 1981, 1988)
website
::

| name = Mike Sigel | honorific_suffix = | image = Mike Sigel.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Sigel at the 2003 US Open | birth_date = | birth_place = Rochester, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | sport_country = | nickname = "Captain Hook", "Mr. Finals" | professional = 1973 | game = | best_finish = | major_wins = | minor_wins = | other_wins = 100 | world_champ = Straight Pool (1979, 1981, 1988) | website = | medaltemplates =

Michael Sigel (born July 11, 1953) is an American professional pool player nicknamed "Captain Hook." He earned the nickname from his ability to hook his opponents with safety plays. Sigel was dominant during the 1980s in 9-Ball and Straight Pool and has a high run of 339 balls in Straight Pool. Mike Sigel is widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. In the year 2000, Sigel was voted "Greatest Living Player of the Century" by Billiards Digest Magazine.

Early life

Sigel is Jewish, and was born in Rochester, New York. His mother Ruth was aggravated with him at times, because as she said "he wouldn't go to Hebrew school because he was too tired from playing pool nights."

Professional career

Sigel has won over 100 professional pool tournaments in his career, making him one of the most successful players of all time, winning multiple major titles in Straight pool and Nine-ball. Including 3 World Straight Pool Championship titles, 3 U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship titles and the BCA U.S. Open Straight Pool Championship.

Sigel turned pro in 1973 at the age of 21 years old. A few years later, Sigel continued the reputation as one of the best 9-Ball players in the country.

By 1986, Sigel had won 63 out of the 68 professional tournament finals he had reached, earning himself the infamous nickname, "Mr. Finals".

He played himself in the movie Baltimore Bullet in 1980. He was also the technical advisor, instructor, and sports choreographer for most of the shots made by Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in the Academy Award-winning film The Color of Money in 1986. Sigel was a dominant player in the 1980s and has been on the cover of numerous trade magazines such as Billiards Digest, Pool and Billiards, InsidePOOL, Billiard News, and Bike Week. He has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Life, People, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Playboy, Parade, Baltimore Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, Silver Screen, and Cigar Aficionado.

Sigel was named "Player of the Year" three times in 1981, 1983 and 1986 by Billiards Digest and Pool and Billiards Magazine.

In 2005, Sigel won the IPT 8-ball Exhibition Match, between him and Loree Jon Jones. The victory earned him $150,000.{{cite web |url = http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?id=2949 |title = Sigel wins IPT 8-Ball Championship |publisher = AzBilliards.com |date = August 21, 2005 |access-date = October 1, 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110613203128/http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?id=2949 |archive-date = June 13, 2011 |url = http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?id=3244 |title = Reyes crowned King of the Hill |publisher = AzBilliards.com |date = December 4, 2005 |access-date = October 1, 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110613203148/http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?id=3244 |archive-date = June 13, 2011

Sigel maintains an official website, www.mikesigel.com.

Accolades

Sigel won the largest first place prize in a pool tournament at the time on three separate occasions, winning $25,000 in 1979, $30,000 in 1981 and $40,000 in 1986. The only player to superseded this feat since in the modern era is Efren Reyes.

In 1987, Sigel became the first player to earn over $100,000 in prize winnings in single year on the pro tour. In 1989, He became the youngest male to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame, at the age of 35. In 1994, Sigel won the Super Billiards Expo Players Championship to win his 100th professional tournament, at the age of 41, before retiring from the tour.

Titles and achievements

Filmography

References

References

  1. Dawn Meurin. (1993). "Billiards: Official Rules & Records Book". SP Books.
  2. (1952-07-11). "Michael Sigel". Jewishsports.net.
  3. [http://billiards.about.com/od/halloffamegreats/p/04_08sigel.htm "Mike Sigel aka Captain Hook"] {{Webarchive. link. (January 12, 2012 , ''www.Billiards.About.com'', Retrieved December 11, 2011.)
  4. [http://www.bca-pool.com/industry/hof/ind85-91.shtml BCA Hall of Fame] {{webarchive. link. (2007-11-18 , ''BCA-POOL.com''. Retrieved June 17, 2007)
  5. "Mike Sigel". Rochester Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
  6. "The Poet of Pool | Celebrities". Cigar Aficionado.
  7. [http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Profiles/People_Profile/0,2540,95,00.html "The Poet of Pool"], by Kenneth Shouler, ''Cigar Aficionado Magazine''. Retrieved June 17, 2007
  8. "Sigel's web site". Mikesigelbilliards.com.
  9. {{usurped

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

american-pool-playerssportspeople-from-rochester,-new-yorkliving-people1953-birthsjewish-american-sportspeople21st-century-american-jewsstraight-pool-world-champions