Reyes maybe not have so many U.S Opens or WC as Earl but he always nailed "Biggest prizepool of history tournaments" That is what Filipinos want from pool: Win money.
Reyes 3
Earl 1
SVB 1
That's a very important point. Reyes won the IPT event for $500,000 and, if memory serves, two All Japan Championships back when the first prize was about $180,000. When the big money was up for grabs, nobody was tougher to beat than Efren.
I'll add that nine ball was probably Efren's third best game behind one pocket and eight ball, but he was still good enough to beat Earl Strickland in a race to 120 in the late 1990's, when Earl was still at the very top of his game. It was also in the late 1990's that Earl ran his $1,000,000 11-pack.
I've had more than a few chats with Earl over the years, and he only spoke with reverence and awe about two players during those chats: Efren Reyes and Mike Sigel.
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