When Did You First Hear of Efren Reyes?
- Thread starter Cornerman
- Start date
Lets seeMid to late 80's in Colorado springs. Now my memory is quite fuzzy from those days....lol If i remember right he was putting on a some kind of charity exhibition and i think he played a set against Laura Smith for the show. I seem to remember he was also with Parica or maybe just the guy he traveled with. I remember at the time when he and the guy he was with walked by me that he didn't look like nothing special! I don't know if Island Drive was there. Maybe he will chime in if he was.
I'm thinking 1982 this pic was taken, I also heard (I was in action all the time at this event) about some guy drilled Medina, and after beatin' everyone he tried to play Buddy well worn, didn't work out very well for the tired player.
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I can see why you were in action, looks like you were even woofing in the picture...lol
Back in 1984, I first read about Efren Reyes from John Grissim's book "Billiards". At that time, my pool book library consisted of four books; Grissim's Billiards, Byrne's and two of Mosconi's books (red cover Mosconi on Pocket Billiards and Winning Pocket Billiards).
I used to live across the street from a gaming supply store, V. Loria & sons, and used to go there once a month for my pool fix (billiard supplies and magazine).
Don't laugh, up until a few years ago I thought you when you put english on the ball, it would curve the cueball path just like the pictures in Mosconi's book. So for years I stuck to top/follow or center ball.
Back I was so addicted to pool, I got kicked out of college twice. My GPA was so low, people assumed it was my zip code. Once I quit pool, I found the time to have a girlfriend and graduate from college.
I used to live across the street from a gaming supply store, V. Loria & sons, and used to go there once a month for my pool fix (billiard supplies and magazine).
Don't laugh, up until a few years ago I thought you when you put english on the ball, it would curve the cueball path just like the pictures in Mosconi's book. So for years I stuck to top/follow or center ball.
Back I was so addicted to pool, I got kicked out of college twice. My GPA was so low, people assumed it was my zip code. Once I quit pool, I found the time to have a girlfriend and graduate from college.
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Anyone ever hear of Efren playing one handed 9 ball with "Little Sergio" in Anaheim, CA (Orange County Sports Arena, Ronnie Allen resident "house pro.") in early 1985? JAM should ask Keith about it as I think he'd know. Had you ever heard of this Jay?
Martin
Martin
In 1977, while I was working as a cashier in a casino, there was a Filipino employee that claimed there was a player in his country that could beat anyone in the states. I refused to believe him. Two years later I bought a copy of John Grissim's book, "Billiards". John writes about getting beat by a kid named Efren Reyes while visiting the Philippines. The book was published in 1979......
I'm sitting on the base now(well I'm actually at Starbucks near the main gate.) Where was the pool hall back when the base was here?
Even before I moved here I knew the name Efren Reyes. I guess his name is just associated with pool like Michael Jordan is with basketball.
In 92 or so, a friend told me there was to be a big matchup between efren and one of the Boggs brothers in glen burnie, md.
We went up and I got to see 1p played by pros for the first time.
iirc, efren was giving up 11/7- 12/7 and he ran so many 8, 9...+, I then realized pool was easy
I still recall with amazement that he shot a shot over and over again that I have only been able to execute a few times to date: he would shoot a ball into his hole, cb to bottom rail an then to opponent's side rail, bumping a ball from that rail toward the center of the table, to shoot next.
Pretty sure he knows what he's doing.
We went up and I got to see 1p played by pros for the first time.
iirc, efren was giving up 11/7- 12/7 and he ran so many 8, 9...+, I then realized pool was easy
I still recall with amazement that he shot a shot over and over again that I have only been able to execute a few times to date: he would shoot a ball into his hole, cb to bottom rail an then to opponent's side rail, bumping a ball from that rail toward the center of the table, to shoot next.
Pretty sure he knows what he's doing.
Big Bill, always talking!
With him is Country Calvin, Mike Massey and that looks like Jerry Brunstetter. Howard Vickery is in back.
I bought my first personal cue stick at V. Lorio & Sons. A plain Mali from the Trophy Series. And supposedly, it was still made in Massachusetts.
Freddie <~~~ misses that cue
Sergio won that match up! No one could beat Little Sergio one handed up in the air back then except Ronnie at One Pocket. Keith tried to give Efren the eight ball the first time he saw him at the Sports Arena. Keith gave all Mexican players the eight ball and he thought Efren was from Mexico.
Hey Fred- 'Loria' i think-we had one in Yonkers
Big Bill, always talking!
With him is Country Calvin, Mike Massey and that looks like Jerry Brunstetter. Howard Vickery is in back.
Tell bustie and the boys Hi. Last time ''the shot'' was running those guyz around 20 yrs ago, they woke me up, I played Busty four sets astarting at 10pm, I woke up by the third set and broke even.....''you play good, you should play on Pro tour'' commented Busty....I've heard that before., Also played Luat 1am/Split, and Effie drilled me in the exhibition the following day. 11-6, I know I dogged two balls:grin-square:
This above statement probably sounds familiar eh
Tell bustie and the boys Hi. Last time ''the shot'' was running those guyz around 20 yrs ago, they woke me up, I played Busty four sets astarting at 10pm, I woke up by the third set and broke even.....''you play good, you should play on Pro tour'' commented Busty....I've heard that before., Also played Luat 1am/Split, and Effie drilled me in the exhibition the following day. 11-6, I know I dogged two balls:grin-square:
This above statement probably sounds familiar eh
You were super tough action playing five ahead for 50 or a 100. Remember I ducked you in Long Beach when I was the house pro there. I was playing good then and beating just about everybody around. I only turned down a couple of guys and you were one of them. I knew the best I could hope for was to split a couple of sets and I didn't want to torture myself that way.
You're right Dave. It's definitely V. Loria. My fingers have a mind of their own.
In my job i use to have to buy Trophies among 600 other things. Loria won the bid many times.
My real point in replying is to let people know in case they dont, that if they are not getting at LEAST 50-60% off list price on trophies they are getting robbed. Trophies are just one of those items with the rip off list price a la some car parts, V-Belts, light bulbs and many more. Im pretty sure we got close to 80% off and we probably only bought $2k/yr on them
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Does anyone remember what the pool hall was called in Olongapo near the roundabout on Magsaysay Drive?
I apologize for jacking this thread but I just wanted to know.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
I apologize for jacking this thread but I just wanted to know.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
I played in a Bar League in the late 80's. To me it was just a night out to drink. One night I was sitting in the cocktail lounge when a few of the teams players came in. Turns out they had gone to either LA or Burbank to watch a tournament and all they could talk about was this guy Efren Reyes. The guys absolutely raved about Efrens cue ball control. This must have 86 or 87 because I don't think that Hard Times had opened yet. I didn't go to HT until 89 as I hadn't played but a few games on a 9 footer. What an absolutely wild experience that was! It was a "Wild West" show. Guys coming in with their cases followed by their stakehorse, usually with a bodyguard. Talk about a subterranean culture. Money seemed to be on every light. That discovery was topped only by my luck that Efren and the rest of the Filipinos had chosen Hard Times to be their home away from home. I have had the good fortune to watch Efren in more matches than I can count and when Keith was still in town that was just pure fun!!
People just don't know that when Efren comes over from the Philippines(16-18 hr flight) he is almost always in non stop action getting little rest, much less sleep, for days before flying or sometimes being driven to his prearranged match.
People just don't know that when Efren comes over from the Philippines(16-18 hr flight) he is almost always in non stop action getting little rest, much less sleep, for days before flying or sometimes being driven to his prearranged match.
Thanks. I sweated some of the match but got bored and did something else. The call had come into Bob's Billiards and a group of us including Keith went over there. This was before the Red's tournament, I believe, and I'm thinking Efren and his crew must have landed in the LA area to start with. I didn't realize this was Efren until many years later.
Martin