earl & efren at their times. 1988

I know Earl's looks have changed over the years, but I don't remember him ever looking like that much like Mike Sigel...or arbitrarily switching to lefty. LOL

OK OK, just having fun...I saw Earl towards the end.

EDIT: I believe this is the Peter Vitale tournament (hence the tuxedos). Jay Helfret could elaborate.
 
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mosconiac said:
I know Earl's looks have changed over the years, but I don't remember him ever looking like that much like Mike Sigel...or arbitrarily switching to lefty. LOL

OK OK, just having fun...I saw Earl towards the end.

EDIT: I believe this is the Peter Vitale tournament (hence the tuxedos). Jay Helfret could elaborate.
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For a while Earl was wearing Sigels vest that he got from Bernies Carpet world. ( quote from a pool comentator when he first started wearing this vest)
 
This video is gold. Thanks for posting.

This is the earliest video by far of Efren I've ever seen. He looks so skinny.

And man, was that cloth slow or what? And do you think it was necessary for the referee to yell out each ball that goes in? Sheesh.
 
dabarbr said:
For a while Earl was wearing Sigels vest that he got from Bernies Carpet world. ( quote from a pool comentator when he first started wearing this vest)
Click to expand...


Jay shopped there too, didn't he?????????:confused:
 
I don't think this is the Peter Vitalie tournament from 87--the tables were different. It looks like Sigel is playing Earl, and we never really see who Efren is playing. His cueball control is pretty sweet though.

I have two tapes of Efren from 1988. One from June of '88 against Danny Medina at the Sands Regency Open that goes hill-hill in a race to 11, and one from April of '88 against Earl in the finals of the Tara Open in Atlanta that goes hill-hill in a race to 15. Earl and Efren both play like gods in that match--some of the most incredible pool I've ever seen in my life.
 
3 things come to mind:

1. Earl was still pissed off 19 years ago.

2. I wish I had the whole tape, not a 5 minute tease

3. With the slow cloth, which I have played many years on, I wonder of all the deflection, squirt , things i refuse to learn about(i dont need any more things to clutter my brain) mattered then?
 
I believe that this footage is from the World Pro Open held in Japan - I believe that Jose Parica won that event. If you watch closely at the beginning of the video you can see Jose racking for Efren. When Efren shoots the 8, you can see Jose sitting in the chair behind him. I believe that this was the semi-finals. Earl and Mike are playing - the matches are going on simultaneously and you can see Jose examining the table as Earl is flying around at light speed. I believe that Jose beat Mike Sigel in the final.
 
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If you watch closely - Efren has one of those plastic slip-on tip-ferrule combos on his cue. ROTFLMAO. That is probably one of the reasons why he lost that match, but it doesn't look like it's bothering him at all. It's just funny to see that.
:p

For those that said Mike was playing Efren, watch and listen closely and you will see that Mike breaks, comes up dry, and he and Earl are conversing about the table conditions. Earl is talking to Mike when got a little funny on the 7. Their matches were exciting not only for the play, but their conversations also.
:p

This was one of the biggest purses in the history of pool (I believe first place took $20,000 - I may be wrong about that) but it was the highest prize offered up to that point. IIRC, this event was held in February of 1988, just prior to the McDermott Masters tournament that was held in Detroit where Efren beat Mike Sigel in the finals.
 
Awesome vid. I think i like watching the old school pool playing more then the pool matches of today.
 
Cinfirming my earlier posts...

By looking back through my stuff, I have been able to confirm that this is the semifinals -

Jose Parica d. Efren Reyes

Mike Sigel d. Earl Strickland (Earl was having trouble with the table - that is what he and Mike are talking about)

In the finals, Jose Parica defealted Mike Sigel.

... and yes... that is a plastic slip on tip/ferrule combo on the end of Efren's cue. lol

466159d.jpg
 
asbani said:
Some people might saw this already but its newly posted in youtube and I liked it alot, and i thought that people would love these days aswell. so here it is sharing it with you people :D

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1UK4Mt14Eek
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Efren's stroke looks the same. Earl's bridge was shorter than now. He told me in the 90's that he had lengthened his bridge after watching the Filipinos and you can see that in this video.

I also noticed that Earl hits the 3 rail first to get on the 4 nearly perfectly. This shows that trying to control the speed and angle of a draw shot is often difficult enough to warrant a different approach using inside and or in this case rail first to control the cueball more easily from a distance.

unknownpro
 
Blackjack said:
Cinfirming my earlier posts...

By looking back through my stuff, I have been able to confirm that this is the semifinals -

Jose Parica d. Efren Reyes

Mike Sigel d. Earl Strickland (Earl was having trouble with the table - that is what he and Mike are talking about)

In the finals, Jose Parica defealted Mike Sigel.

... and yes... that is a plastic slip on tip/ferrule combo on the end of Efren's cue. lol

466159d.jpg
Click to expand...
Blackjack you are correct when Efren first came to the states he played with a $15 cue (no lie!) And he liked it!!!! Do I sound like Dana Carvey? We all thought it was so funny that this great champion played with a piece of firewood.
 
philw said:
Blackjack you are correct when Efren first came to the states he played with a $15 cue (no lie!) And he liked it!!!! Do I sound like Dana Carvey? We all thought it was so funny that this great champion played with a piece of firewood.
Click to expand...

Phil

I think there is a lot to be learned from that. Here is a guy that has played his heart out for over 40 years playing a game that he loves. The cue never mattered, just his determination and his desire to be the best.

In this video he is playing with a cue that anybody could have bought at K-Mart. He doesn't even have a quality tip on his cue - but there he is - running out and keeping Parica in the chair. This tells me that the only thing that matters is "how bad you want it".

FWIW, I have never seen anybody play in a tournament with a press on plastic ferrule/tip - and I doubt we'll ever see that again. With that tip, I wouldn't have been able to get half the action Efren was getting on the cue ball - especially on the draw shots. The man is incredible!
 
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