Efren Lucky? I think not.

sixpack

sixpack

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Okay, so I was watching the IPT match between Manalo and Efren this morning. Efren played this shot
Click for the cuetable diagram, but the shot was banking the 13 cross corner into the back of the 1 ball and towards the pocket.

Mike thought it was a fortunate shot and that Efren had missed his shot badly enough that he got lucky to block the pocket. I saw it differently.

This is a fairly standard 1p shot, if you've watched any of Efren's 1p matches, he plays this shot a lot, off the stack, off a ball whenever it comes up. I think he played it like a 1p shot and left the CB in a place where almost all balls would have had to go in that pocket. The 13 bank does not go because of the 5-ball. That might not be clear in my diagram, but it was clear on TV.

What do you think?
 
Last edited:
JoeyInCali said:
I can't see the diagram.
Click to expand...

Patience...:) I am trying to post it. Don't know why I bother trying to use cuetable...doesn't seem to work very well.

Cheers,
RC
 

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Seems logical to me ...

Seems logical to me. Efren probably thought the 5 would stun off the 1 more and the 13 would reach the pocket first.

When you soar with eagles, it's hard to walk with gophers.

Efren ability to analyse possible shots is beyond the normal pool player, and just so happens he has the expertise to pull off most of the shots, but I have no doubt that he, too, does get lucky sometimes, but for the most part, his accuracy for shots is more finite than the average pro player.
 
Snapshot9 said:
Seems logical to me. Efren probably thought the 5 would stun off the 1 more and the 13 would reach the pocket first.

Efren ability to analyse possible shots is beyond the normal pool player, and just so happens he has the expertise to pull off most of the shots, but I have no doubt that he, too, does get lucky sometimes, but for the most part, his accuracy for shots is more finite than the average pro player.
Click to expand...

Coincidentally, I was recently watching an Efren vs. Billy Palmer 1-pocket DVD, and the cross-side bank shot comes up all the time...so it shouldn't be a surprise that he used it in this 8-ball game.

Efren's superior shot-making skills allow him to visualize and make shots that other people might consider to be lucky.
 
sixpack said:
Okay, so I was watching the IPT match between Manalo and Efren this morning. Efren played this shot
Click for the cuetable diagram, but the shot was banking the 13 cross corner into the back of the 1 ball and towards the pocket.

Mike thought it was a fortunate shot and that Efren had missed his shot badly enough that he got lucky to block the pocket. I saw it differently.

This is a fairly standard 1p shot, if you've watched any of Efren's 1p matches, he plays this shot a lot, off the stack, off a ball whenever it comes up. I think he played it like a 1p shot and left the CB in a place where almost all balls would have had to go in that pocket. The 13 bank does not go because of the 5-ball. That might not be clear in my diagram, but it was clear on TV.

What do you think?
Click to expand...
What do I think? I think exactly the same as you.

When I first saw that shot, I was dumbfounded by the fact that he missed the bank by that wide a margin. When I saw the replay, I realized that caroming off the 1 is exactly what he was intending, because the straight bank didn't go because of the 5.

This is Efren Reyes we're talking about. The same Efren Reyes that came up with the two remarkable shots in this video...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HIS4rcTNHaM (again, courtesy of muffindingles)

In the first rack, check out how he goes three rails to bump out the 7, such that he can be straight in on the 5. He was basically playing 3C billiards on that shot. And in the second rack, who else would have thought to double bank the 1 ball? Also notice how for both of those spectacular shots, he imagined them immediately when coming to the table each time.

So again, I don't doubt at all that he was trying to do exactly what sixpack described. Cuz he's Efren Reyes. ;)
 
well that is pure genius
sigel coudn't even pathom efren's depth of planning

he was able to free up the stripe, use as a blocker and at teh same time placed closes to the pocket and nudging the solids tighter.

and executing it efren's way..

if only there could be an efren's documentary highlighting his remarkable shots..defensively and offensively.
 
sixpack said:
This is a fairly standard 1p shot, if you've watched any of Efren's 1p matches, he plays this shot a lot, off the stack, off a ball whenever it comes up. I think he played it like a 1p shot and left the CB in a place where almost all balls would have had to go in that pocket.
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought too.
 
Sometimes I think that when Efren feels comfortable enough he can beat his opponent he goes into showtime mode to give the audience something...well, magical. But when it's a tighter race he's all business.
 
We, the fans, are lucky, for having had the privilege of watching Efren all these years.
 
jsp said:
What do I think? I think exactly the same as you.

When I first saw that shot, I was dumbfounded by the fact that he missed the bank by that wide a margin. When I saw the replay, I realized that caroming off the 1 is exactly what he was intending, because the straight bank didn't go because of the 5.

This is Efren Reyes we're talking about. The same Efren Reyes that came up with the two remarkable shots in this video...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HIS4rcTNHaM (again, courtesy of muffindingles)

In the first rack, check out how he goes three rails to bump out the 7, such that he can be straight in on the 5. He was basically playing 3C billiards on that shot. And in the second rack, who else would have thought to double bank the 1 ball? Also notice how for both of those spectacular shots, he imagined them immediately when coming to the table each time.

So again, I don't doubt at all that he was trying to do exactly what sixpack described. Cuz he's Efren Reyes. ;)
Click to expand...

One also has to check how beautiful Michaela Tabb is, after all these years :) sigh....
 
sjm said:
We, the fans, are lucky, for having had the privilege of watching Efren all these years.
Click to expand...

I never got to see Michael Jordan in his time and didn't realize that I would regret it until later. When he came back, I watched him every chance I got. I feel the same way about Efren and I really want to see him play in person sometime soon. I feel blessed to live in the times where I have seen Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, John Elway and Efren perform magic in their chosen fields. I still have to see Efren play live, but I will soon. Hopefully later this month.

I know people could argue who should/shouldn't be on this list, but those are the ones I really appreciate.

After watching the entire tournament, I noticed that throughout the whole tournament, Efren was hooking people after the break with the CB in the same place, almost frozen to a ball. If he made a ball, there seemed to usually be a shot, however.

IMO it happened a little bit too much to dismiss it as luck during the finals as the commentators did. Perhaps he didn't even understand how he was doing it, but he definitely seemed to be doing it an awful lot. At the very least he noticed a pattern and kept hitting them the same.

Cheers,
RC
 
I will not mention the player's name as not to start a shit storm, but efren was referred to as the luckiest pool player who ever lived or something to that effect.

I say bullshit. If he pulled off a seemingly impossible shot on occasion I would say yeah its luck. I have seen a ton of shots that he has pulled off. After a while I stopped calling it luck and started calling what it is: "GENIUS". When his ability is second guessed all it amounts to is jealousy.
 
One thing I have noticed about being around pros in a pool hall compared to on TV is they often pull some crazy stuff off in the pool hall. Many have been on pool tables so long they have done stuff like that before. It is very logical that Efren with all his table time has done that exact shot before.

I didn't think much about it before but I think Efren halfway planned it. As in he thought that would happen. But also figured in if he didn't do it he'd still leave the 13 close to where he needed to be.
 
I agree, I've had this type of shot played on me too many times in one pocket to doubt that's what Efren intended.
 
This reminds me of a quote from the great Ben Hogan. He said: "Golf is a game of luck. The more I practice, the luckier I get."
 
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