For those who've never seen E. Stalev play, enjoy. This cat goes thru the cueball as good as it gets. He doesn't play a whole lot anymore since he opened his room in Moscow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDLrWv0X28
Great match, great stroke..............
- Thread starter garczar
- Start date
No fear in that cat, for sure.
He developed that monster stroke playing Pyramid. When he was over here playing 9ball he made the cueball do things the others just stared at. He always used one of those candy-cane striped heavy a^* pyramid cues. Here he is runnin 225 on Mike Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pq8v1ZDpDA
…… "ya, but he had all easy shots" ……. lol
Am i the only one who doesn't like this kinda stroke? Too much up and down for me... I don't see anything special about his stroke...
Wow. Whatever. I'm sure you'd have nit-picked Picasso as he was layin' down paint.
Seriously, a LOT of greats have some(or a lot) of up-down action. Very few consistently go thru the ball as well as this guy. I've seen him live and believe me he moves the ball around with what looks like zero effort.
Ya Busti and his lousy stroke as well !!!
No kiddin. Just horrible. How could the poor guy ever make a ball that way?? How did these guys ever learn to play without video or someone constantly tweakin' their action???
And Efren. One of the players at Red's tourney in 85 asked Rempe who was this skinny little guy from the Philippines and Rempe said "No Worries, he's got a pump-house stroke."
Yup... pump-house. That pretty much summed it up. No worries...
Reminds me of a funny deal. Me and a buddy were watching Efren on the tube yrs back and as Efren was bar-b-q'ng some guy my friend said " You know this guy shoots good but i don't like the way he chalks his cue." I had no response. I just looked at him and shook my head. There you have it, the GOAT is a short-stop chalker.
Personally, I've never cared for the way he gets out of his chair during matches. It's realllyyyyyyy annoying to me. First he slowly sets his feet on the floor. Then he shifts his weight forward, Then he stands up. It's like, the same thing, over and over and over and over. I'm like, dude, srsly? You can't do things a little differently once in a freaking while? Wow... But, whattevverrrrrrrrrrr. He plays pretty good once in a while, so... I suppose I should count my blessings, speaking strictly from a rail-bird POV.
Last edited:
I know, right. His breathing could use a little work too. That same old "inhale/exhale repeat" just doesn't quite do it for me. While i'm on a roll i'd be amiss not to mention his shoelace tension. I think those Filipino guys could really amp-up their game if they'd just tie their shoes tighter. How they play so well with all these "flaws" is just amazing.
That's funny as hell.
I don't think I've ever told anyone this, but you mentioning the laces thing just brought this back like it happened yesterday. @ 86 or so, I was playing in a tourney at Baker's in Tampa. Efren wasn't there but Parica was. I'm hitting balls by myself, getting loose for my next match and all the sudden, out of nowhere, Parica is standing right next to the table. And he looks me right in the eye and says in a really funny, low kind of voice, "Make your laces tight..." And know what? I had NO F**KING IDEA what he was talking about. Until just now... talk about an epiphany! So, yeah, laces... obviously Mr. Godfather-of-Filipino-Pool knew something that never got passed down to the younger players. Or forgotten... As for me? Even though I had no clue what he was talking about? I never tied my shoes loose after that. Did I play better? Maybe... but I gotta confess, if I did play better, I was too stoned back then to have even noticed.
Efren has long been know for his poor chalking habits, but whaddya gonna say to the Man?
My *gramma* chalked better than that! Hayzeus, Efren... a little self respect, please?
So, i guess all you gotta do is: 1.Breathe properly 2.Get out of your chair correctly 3.Tie your shoes super-snug 4.Use proper chalking technique. 5. Run out. Nothin' to it.
And you'll play JUST LIKE EFREN!!!
( and, yeah, ok... 3 or 4 hits of Orange Barrel Sunshine probably won't hurt either )