As long as we are talking Efren, his skills are amazing.
Rotation for years for breakfast, navigating the table with precision. When he couldn't get played in his 20's because he was so good, he took up billiards on the tables with no pockets.
His favorite game reputedly was balkline, a straight carom game that you don't see many play nowadays. I can only think of one player locally who I have watched, and the game is amazing, delicate spins and gentle masse strokes, herding the balls around the table, then a gather shot driving one ball 18 feet uptable and back and the other straight across table and back, both balls ending within inches of each other for the next sequence to be worked around the edges of the table once again. Once in a while you see Efren hoist his cue for a masse, you know where he perfected this skill.
He also plays good 3-cushion, about a 28 handicap in 25 strokes so no slouch, but not quite there for world-class competition. This game is all about the cueball and spin/stroke blends, caroming off a ball and driving 3-4-5-6-7 or more rails possibly over 40 feet to finally baby up to the last ball and touch it for the point. He knows the tracks and spins, so he kicks like a frickin' mule. And his speed control is amazing. Leave him close to an object ball in one-pocket, and he can hide that cueball anywhere on the table with devastating accuracy.
14-1. He can play the game. He doesn't miss, his position and speed control are good, he can nudge clusters open with perfect control, go two cushions and bump balls into almost perfect break position... it isn't classic take no chances style, occasionally he has brain farts and misses position by a smidge, but he then has the skills and guts to pull his chestnuts out of the fire by taking on a much more difficult thin cut shot and take the cueball around the table to get back in line, or a kiss or carom or bank that better straights players wouldn't normally have to shoot.
Pocket games of rotation and one-pocket really fit his skill set of shooting accuracy and position play, and his offensive style in finding two-way shots and odd banks that with his speed control abilities just time after time "magically" end up hidden behind blockers if he misses, and the cueball is always perfectly positioned for the next ball on should it drop.
If he has weaknesses, it has been said his 9-ball break is one, and he occasionally lacks patience in long safety battles. Oh well, nobody is perfect, yet.
Rotation for years for breakfast, navigating the table with precision. When he couldn't get played in his 20's because he was so good, he took up billiards on the tables with no pockets.
His favorite game reputedly was balkline, a straight carom game that you don't see many play nowadays. I can only think of one player locally who I have watched, and the game is amazing, delicate spins and gentle masse strokes, herding the balls around the table, then a gather shot driving one ball 18 feet uptable and back and the other straight across table and back, both balls ending within inches of each other for the next sequence to be worked around the edges of the table once again. Once in a while you see Efren hoist his cue for a masse, you know where he perfected this skill.
He also plays good 3-cushion, about a 28 handicap in 25 strokes so no slouch, but not quite there for world-class competition. This game is all about the cueball and spin/stroke blends, caroming off a ball and driving 3-4-5-6-7 or more rails possibly over 40 feet to finally baby up to the last ball and touch it for the point. He knows the tracks and spins, so he kicks like a frickin' mule. And his speed control is amazing. Leave him close to an object ball in one-pocket, and he can hide that cueball anywhere on the table with devastating accuracy.
14-1. He can play the game. He doesn't miss, his position and speed control are good, he can nudge clusters open with perfect control, go two cushions and bump balls into almost perfect break position... it isn't classic take no chances style, occasionally he has brain farts and misses position by a smidge, but he then has the skills and guts to pull his chestnuts out of the fire by taking on a much more difficult thin cut shot and take the cueball around the table to get back in line, or a kiss or carom or bank that better straights players wouldn't normally have to shoot.
Pocket games of rotation and one-pocket really fit his skill set of shooting accuracy and position play, and his offensive style in finding two-way shots and odd banks that with his speed control abilities just time after time "magically" end up hidden behind blockers if he misses, and the cueball is always perfectly positioned for the next ball on should it drop.
If he has weaknesses, it has been said his 9-ball break is one, and he occasionally lacks patience in long safety battles. Oh well, nobody is perfect, yet.