In Efren's interviews in several occation he mentions that he was at his best from 1975 to 1979 nearly 6 yrs before he came to America. IF there is ANYONE here who has seen or know of and discussed with people who saw Reyes play in 1975 to 1979 and likewise have seen his games on video or in person in USA from the year 1986 to early 2000 , what exactly was lacking in Efrens game after 1979 ? Was it the power of his break that he lost after 1979 that lead him to say 1980 onwards was not his prime/best years/best form ? Maybe its something that those who get to see Efren can ask him I have yet to hear his own explanation as to why he says 1975 to 1979 was his prime He came to the USA in 1986 where he was only 32 yrs old . Could it be 1980 onward he already started feeling the arthritis on his right elbow ? Thank you
DIFFERENCE Efren's prime ( 1975 to 1979) vs ( 1985 to 2000ish)
- Thread starter mcc23
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ER's 9b break was never that of his peers. He just got older man, had some eye issues but got that fixed. I don't think you can point at any one thing. Just the aging process takes its toll in gradual/subtle ways. Just no definitive answer to this. He can still gin it playing 1p.
could be the eyesignt or maybe his elbow I mean he started playing at 8 yrs old and before coming to america at 31 he had at least 15 yrs where he played gambled long hrs daily that his elbow arthrirtis may have already started by age 32 .
There's never one answer to why an athlete's game fades. Mostly its just called 'aging'. You're not going to find one thing here. You could 'could-might-maybe-possibly' this question TO DEATH and still not have an answer. BTW, he played STUPIDLY high-gear pool when he came over here. I don't think much was bothering him for the first 10yrs or so in the US. I saw him at Derby in '07 and i still thought what he could do bordered on black-magic. I've watched Filipino streams in the last yr. or so and he still plays hi-level pool, when you figured in the age its unreal.
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While Efren may have enjoyed his best execution skills early in his career, his conceptualization skills grew considerably in the 1990s as he began to embrace the fringe games, especially one pocket and eight ball, but also bank pool and straight pool.
In my opinion, he was a much better pool player in the late 1990s than in the late 1980s.
At rotation pool, he never had a great break and the advantage he enjoyed as the world's best kicker was reduced by the advent of the jump cue. By the late 1990s, almost everyone carried one.
Any suggestion that Efren's prime ended in 1985 is, to me, absolutely ridiculous.
In my opinion, he was a much better pool player in the late 1990s than in the late 1980s.
At rotation pool, he never had a great break and the advantage he enjoyed as the world's best kicker was reduced by the advent of the jump cue. By the late 1990s, almost everyone carried one.
Any suggestion that Efren's prime ended in 1985 is, to me, absolutely ridiculous.
I just got a mesage responce from a trusted member here JoeyInCali . Thank you Sir for sharing he says
He was playing a lot of straight rail billiards then.
The people who saw him play rotation also claim he was at his best before he came to the US. Efren feels his cue ball control was at his best then. (end quote )
So 1975 to 1979 could possibly those years efren mentioend he stopped playing pocket billiards as no one wanted to play him for money so he started playing straight rail billairds which is most demanding of cue bal.l control along with using the rails .So what he means when he says his best was 75 to 79 is after 1979 his cue ball control though still great was not at the level it was from 75 to 79 as he stopped playing straight rail billiards and went back to pocket billiards.
He was playing a lot of straight rail billiards then.
The people who saw him play rotation also claim he was at his best before he came to the US. Efren feels his cue ball control was at his best then. (end quote )
So 1975 to 1979 could possibly those years efren mentioend he stopped playing pocket billiards as no one wanted to play him for money so he started playing straight rail billairds which is most demanding of cue bal.l control along with using the rails .So what he means when he says his best was 75 to 79 is after 1979 his cue ball control though still great was not at the level it was from 75 to 79 as he stopped playing straight rail billiards and went back to pocket billiards.
you keep saying 'possibly/maybe' and you're correct. anything that anyone says about this is nothing but pure conjecture. why is it so important? look dude, age takes its toll and its usually so subtle there's no way to nail a specific time frame.
I suspect it was not straight rail billiards. I think Efren's carom games were more likely balkline -- he won an exhibition against Raymond Ceulemans -- or cushion caroms. Efren's control was much too good for straight rail to be interesting for him.
Straight rail.
The tables they were playing on had no squares.
He won the bronze medal in carom in Asian games a few years back.
He was a decent 3 cushion player. And was a very good balkline player.
Last time I saw him play that was in 1997 upstairs at Hollywood Billiards.
He used his Meucci cue and beat a guy 35-32.
Sadly, carom is not played much in the Philippines now.
It remains popular in Vietnam and Thailand though.
True in 9ball, but as an all-around player, he was at his best later on, winning five DCC Master of the Table titles from 1999-2010.
it's huge in south korea. torbjörn blomdahl is completely unknown by the general public here in sweden. when he's in korea they stop him on the streets for autographs.
straight rail can be fun for a numpty like me but it's probably the most boring to watch cue sport discipline. english billiards is second.
Efren never stopped getting smarter. He was and I assume still is always watching and learning. At one time he said his best playing years were in his teens. Might have been some of his most accurate shooting, but I think greater skills and knowledge more than offset the tiny bit of accuracy that might have been lost.
I have a feeling that playing his best and most successful aren't the same thing in Efren's mind. He is almost certainly right.
Hu
I have a feeling that playing his best and most successful aren't the same thing in Efren's mind. He is almost certainly right.
Hu
He personally told me when he played rotation, you better get to 21 by making balls 1 to 6. You had to make the 6 because when you left him 10 balls to run-out , he was out . He said after the first 5 balls are gone, the traffic was much easier .
That's why he spotted strong players 100-20. Really strong players had to get to 27 . He still robbed then.
Those were his best years in the Philippines playing rotation .
he did get better all around later on by playing one pocket.
his break held him back a tiny bit in earlier years.
but after mechanical type racks , fast cloth, air conditioning and whatever else that made the balls move apart more and faster his break caught up to the others as power wasn't important as much on most tables. and the hit became the prime thing.
his break held him back a tiny bit in earlier years.
but after mechanical type racks , fast cloth, air conditioning and whatever else that made the balls move apart more and faster his break caught up to the others as power wasn't important as much on most tables. and the hit became the prime thing.
I saw him once in 91 or 92 I did not know who he was but many players in Rizal memorial near DLSU taft stopped playing and was watching him play when I entered the pool room So I watched as well. Saw him played same rotation ran 3 straight racks and 2 of them were not easy racks. Then he proceeded to play snooker and he hardly missed using a house snooker cue. All this time he was smoking too . Then the attention of the crowd shifted to the next table where 2 very amateur players started playing the reason one of them was TETCHIE AGBAYANI . She actually talked a bit to Efren later on . Smoking hot talaga pre wow ang lakas nang sex appeal hehe
I agree sir that age does take its toll, what I was curious on why he would say his best was while age 25 to 29 ONLY One would think that if you continously play pool regulary your peak will (at least phsically ) will reach around mid 30's barring injury ailments while the mental aspect and knowledge of the game continue to grow along . Efren was the one who Nailed and spoke of the specific time frame (1975 to 79 ) Now there is some clarity that it the reason is he says that it is his cue ball control he feels was at his best during that time as he was playing straight rail pool