Dark Efren

TheBook said:
On the opposite end who is the worst, besides Earl? It would be a interesting poll to rank the players from the nicest to the worst.

Alrighty then; I will start this here ranking.

1. Efren
2. Tony Robles
3









63. J Wretch
64. Earl
 
breakup said:
Last January at the DCC I saw Efren play a doubles match. He pulled this move I have never seen before. He had a totally worthless partner, I mean this putz was a walking talking Budweiser cue, a carbon copy of Ruprecht (the monkey boy) in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Well his opponents were laughing so hard at this “player” they really could not focus and eventually lost the match. They never really had a chance once this dufus that was Efren’s “partner” stepped up to the table, it was really a sight to behold. Playing with someone like that as a partner was really a crafty move but I guess you have to be Efren to get away with it.

brokeback,
Huh, its funny that Efren didn't mention anything about this match to me when we were playing; I wonder who it was. It does sound pathetic though, some guys just don't have a clue.

P.S. - Good luck in next years Celebrity Doubles Tournament raffle; you are REALLY going to need it.
P.P.S. - I meant to ask you how many balls this partner of Efren's missed during the match?????
 
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Schmohawk said:
Alrighty then; I will start this here ranking.

1. Efren
2. Tony Robles
3









63. J Wretch
64. Earl

Seriously though, Efren is known all over at one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He is just a little shy. He doesn't ignore his fans either, unless his hand gets sore from signing autographs or his vision gets blinded by too much flash photography. Even then, he still signs autographs and takes pictures.

Jimmy Wetch? What's wrong with him? I met him once he seemed like a real cool guy. I've watched him in a few tournaments, he didn't do anything wrong. Whats up with him?

As for right now, I would have to put Mike Sigel near Earl, simply for the stuff he's been saying recently.

Another pool player who is known all over as a true gentleman and very polite, and never loses his temper, is Ernesto Dominguez. He is up there on Efren's level of niceness.
 
the one area i'd criticize efren the most is in racking the balls. when i played him, of course he didn't want to see my money go in on the break, right?

with that in mind, we all know he's one of the most knowledgable players on the planet, so, put the knowledge, lack of money (this was 10 years ago), and a strong will to win all together and does it surprise you he'd slug a guy who has 4 money balls racing around? it shouldn't. and, maybe i should have been more vigilant of the rack. but, don't pretty much all the top pros do things to the rack. so its had to get too mad at him. to back my opinion up further, he has given so many good players a ton of weight and won, do people really think that he doesn't have great "racking abilities" as well at this point??

the one other story i heard, and this is unconfirmed on my part so i feel bad posting this actually, but oh well. supposedly, there is a player in LA who has efren on tape taking one of his balls out of the brunswick trays and putting it in his own (playing one hole). i never saw the tape, but this is what a guy claimed. if it's true that is pretty seedy. but it could easily be a fabrication or exagerration.

in the grand scheme of things however, time has obviously shown him to be a true gentleman and a humble champion. nobody can take that away from him because its most obviously true. im glad he is and has been the one on top, he deserves it.
 
the one other story i heard, and this is unconfirmed on my part so i feel bad posting this actually, but oh well. supposedly, there is a player in LA who has efren on tape taking one of his balls out of the brunswick trays and putting it in his own (playing one hole). i never saw the tape, but this is what a guy claimed. if it's true that is pretty seedy. but it could easily be a fabrication or exagerration.

I doubt that.
That's something Hawaiian Jimmy would do.
 
Sure efren is nice when he's winning! I had him stuck playing even one pocket last year, and he wasn't too pleased. j/k :p
 
I also was way up on him, and he started sharking me...reaching for chalk when I was stroking, sudden jerks when I was about to pull the trigger...talking while I was shooting.

It bothered me enough so that he broke even, he looked at me and said...

"If you only knew the power of the dark side."

:D :D :D
 
Hahaha! All very good (and some funny) posts! I guess he really is a nice guy, after all. I wonder if he was the same during his younger days and just softened up with age. I can just imagine some filipino old-timer recounting how during his heyday, efren would pull every trick in the book to win. hehe
It seems also that Efren likes to win and hates to lose just as much as anyone. So I guess to the people who say that Earl is justified when he's being difficult because he just hates to lose so much can't use that excuse.
BTW, I watched the video with Grady and you guys are right, it didn't seem like sharking to me, too. But wouldn't it be a hoot to know that efren isn't above that sort of thing? :)
 
CrownCityCorey said:
At the 2004 WPC in Taipei, Efren and I were playing each other in the qualifying rounds (race to 5). I was ahead 3-2 and I was down on a long 8 ball shot with easy position for the 9. Efren was sitting in line with my shot and just as I was pulling the trigger, he dropped his cue to the ground!!! :eek:

Needless to say, I missed the 8.

I found it very difficult to get mad at him. I just laughed and thought "can you believe, Efren sharked me"!

I lost the match 3-5.

Haha! I wonder if everyone would feel the same way you did! I guess just by being Efren, he can get away with anything!

I've heard people say that one reason Efren wins as often as he does is because players are just so terrified/amused/star-struck/tickled pink they're playing against him that they can't keep their game straight!
 
Schmohawk said:
Alrighty then; I will start this here ranking.

1. Efren
2. Tony Robles
3









63. J Wretch
64. Earl

Last. Jack Hines (Earl's not even close)

As for Efren, let's just say that when you play him he doesn't mind letting you know who you're playing.
 
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cuetechasaurus said:
Jimmy Wetch? What's wrong with him? I met him once he seemed like a real cool guy. I've watched him in a few tournaments, he didn't do anything wrong. Whats up with him?


yeah jimmy's a pretty nice guy in my book too...
 
I've seen the tapes

Southpaw said:
All I know is if you ever get the chance to watch the race to 120 between Efren and Earl in Japan...do so. Besides some of the best run-out pool you ever see, you can also see how easy going and professional Efren is. This match lasted about a week I think and Earl is a complete ASS the whole time. Efren never says a word...just lets his cue do the talking for him.

Southpaw
If you watch really close, on one of the tapes, Earl actually says something to the effect "that Efren is the only person in the world who plays good enough to beat him." I don't recall exactly what was said, but it was nice for Earl to acknowledge Efren's ability. Sam
 
Schmohawk said:
Alrighty then; I will start this here ranking.

1. Efren
2. Tony Robles
3









63. J Wretch
64. Earl
In my limited experience, I would put Mike Davis near the top of this list.
 
satman said:
If you watch really close, on one of the tapes, Earl actually says something to the effect "that Efren is the only person in the world who plays good enough to beat him." I don't recall exactly what was said, but it was nice for Earl to acknowledge Efren's ability. Sam

After Earl won the WPC in Cardiff-he bought a bottle of champagne (with a lil prompting from Alex). Busta who finished 2nd was there, Efren, Jennifer Barretta. some other Filipinos and some others im forgetting. Anyway

He poured the first glass and said "This one is for Efren because he taught us all". Im no Earl fan but that's the way it was.
 
enzo said:
the one area i'd criticize efren the most is in racking the balls. when i played him, of course he didn't want to see my money go in on the break, right?

with that in mind, we all know he's one of the most knowledgable players on the planet, so, put the knowledge, lack of money (this was 10 years ago), and a strong will to win all together and does it surprise you he'd slug a guy who has 4 money balls racing around? it shouldn't. and, maybe i should have been more vigilant of the rack. but, don't pretty much all the top pros do things to the rack. so its had to get too mad at him. to back my opinion up further, he has given so many good players a ton of weight and won, do people really think that he doesn't have great "racking abilities" as well at this point??

the one other story i heard, and this is unconfirmed on my part so i feel bad posting this actually, but oh well. supposedly, there is a player in LA who has efren on tape taking one of his balls out of the brunswick trays and putting it in his own (playing one hole). i never saw the tape, but this is what a guy claimed. if it's true that is pretty seedy. but it could easily be a fabrication or exagerration.

in the grand scheme of things however, time has obviously shown him to be a true gentleman and a humble champion. nobody can take that away from him because its most obviously true. im glad he is and has been the one on top, he deserves it.

One of the one-hole matches I saw recently on Accu-stats had something similar, and two of the three I borrowed were matches including Efren. I think it happened with Efren, but can't remember for sure. The catch was that he had accidentally put a ball in the wrong tray, then realized his error and went and put it in the correct tray. If the tape was judiciously edited, it could appear that he had just cheated and moved a ball.

Cheers,
RC
 
Nostroke said:
After Earl won the WPC in Cardiff-he bought a bottle of champagne (with a lil prompting from Alex). Busta who finished 2nd was there, Efren, Jennifer Barretta. some other Filipinos and some others im forgetting. Anyway

He poured the first glass and said "This one is for Efren because he taught us all". Im no Earl fan but that's the way it was.

Now that was really nice of Earl. It changes my whole opinion of the guy. Although actually, in hindsight, I notice that Earl has always been nice to Efren. Maybe it's because Efren doesn't react to his antics.....
 
Danny Harriman

ScottR said:
In my limited experience, I would put Mike Davis near the top of this list.
Please include Danny Harriman at the top side of the list and Fast Larry at the bottom.--Leonard
 
enzo said:
the one area i'd criticize efren the most is in racking the balls. when i played him, of course he didn't want to see my money go in on the break, right?

Oh no surprise there:p I played him once with him giving me the 5 out and the breaks. The balls hardly moved, and we were playing in front of packed bleacher with him beating me 9-6. Afterward, a friend joked to him that I would be doing my own racking next time. Hey, I was just tickled to share a table with Efren:D
 
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