Efren and a Meucci
Those of you who play with a Meucci may find this interesting. Back in the mid-eighties I had a room in south Florida. A friend of mine, Carlos V. of Conn., would come down each summer and stay about a month, playing anyone who wanted to play. It just so happened that one summer Efren was in town when Carlos arrived. Efren had been coming in for about four days in a row and would practice for a coulple of hours each day. (Watching how Efren practiced was an education, but that's another story.) Now, with both players in town, there were some from each camp who wanted to see a money match-up. We all wound up at what was then Gold Crown Billiards in Hollywood. After some discussion the group that was backing Carlos came to me to see what I thought of the offer from Efren"s group. They were offering to spot Carlos the call seven, the wild eight, and the break. Now these were not the kind of people you would want to give bad advice to (if you know what I mean), but I told them quickly that it wasn't going to get any better than this and that the other group must not know how good Carlos plays. So the match was on, a race to 25 for 5k.
Carlos came out of the gate red hot. Of the first ten games Carlos came up dry on the break only twice, and of course Efren ran out both times. When the score reached eight to two Efren asked for a break in the match. (This is where it gets good for you Meucci fans) Efren had been at a tournament in Miami just the day before and naturally had won. First place paid some cash along with a new Meucci cue. Having no need for the Meucci he put it in the trunck of the car.
To my surprise when Efren took the time-out he went out to the car and brought in the Meucci, still in the plastic bag. Since he was giving up the break as part of the spot, he didn't need a break cue, and he had run out the only two times he had gotten to the table, so I thought this was all simply a ploy to break the rythem of the match which wasn't going his way.
I watched in disbelief as Efren put away his Gina cue, tore open the plastic bag, sanded the tip, chalked up, and said "lets play". I remember thinking ' He's got to be kidding, he's going to be missing balls and probaly have no idea of why he missed'... I was wrong, way wrong. Those that were lucky enough to be there that day witnessed perfect pool. Efren never missed a ball that he was attempting to pocket, never even whobbled one in (and this was a thight pocket table). And his safety play was amazing as usual.
It wasn't like there was no heat on Efren either. Carlos missed only one ball that he was attempting to pocket during the entire match. In what has to be one of the best played matches ever, Efren won 25 to 23. I have seen this match mentioned in the forums before as the best match that poster had ever seen, but I'm not sure if that poster was aware that Efren won 23 of his 25 games with a cue he had never hit a ball with, a Meucci at that ...
JK
