Efren Warming up with Billiards at US Open

Templar

Templar

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I was at the US Open yesterday and I saw Efren Reyes warming up at one of the tables. As usual, a small crowd gathered nearby because this is when you can sit up close and watch what he does. He usually throws nine balls on the table and then takes cue ball in hand and runs the rack...rack after rack...
But this time it was different. He had just the cue ball, one ball and three ball on the table and at first we thought he was playing himself safe shot after shot. He wasn't pocketing anything. Then it dawned on me that he was playing billiards. Not three cushion but just simple billiards. I had heard that he is an excellent billiards player and after yesterday I can see why. He didn't miss many and it was amazing to watch his control of the balls. Watching him do this was soothing and I guess it has a calming effect on him as well. Sometimes he would send the cue ball around the table and sometimes it would be a simple billiard but, as mentioned before, he didn't miss very often.
 
Perfect sense to me ...

If you are going up against opponents of equal skill offensively
that you have, then one of the best ways to defeat them is
to not let them use their offense to any great extent. And how
do you do that .... by defense, good defense.
It is pretty well established and accepted, that when 2 well
matched teams come up against each other, that the one
that will win is the one with the best defense.
I tell young upcoming players all the time that when they play
someone that is better than them, the only way to really beat
them is by using good defense, or in their case, good safeties,
because good safeties usually end up giving them another opportunity
to use their offense, or run out.
And if your defense is good enough, even a jumpstick won't help them.
 
Snapshot9 said:
If you are going up against opponents of equal skill offensively
that you have, then one of the best ways to defeat them is
to not let them use their offense to any great extent. And how
do you do that .... by defense, good defense.
It is pretty well established and accepted, that when 2 well
matched teams come up against each other, that the one
that will win is the one with the best defense.
I tell young upcoming players all the time that when they play
someone that is better than them, the only way to really beat
them is by using good defense, or in their case, good safeties,
because good safeties usually end up giving them another opportunity
to use their offense, or run out.
And if your defense is good enough, even a jumpstick won't help them.
Click to expand...

Better than well said!!! Tap, Tap, Tap!!! I recall reading an article where Johnny Archer talked about pro players (he didn't mention any names) of lesser ability playing him safe, safe, safe until he wanted to pull his hair out. A few of them were quite successful against the Scorpion using that strategy!
 
Most of us mortal poolplayer are only able to control either the cueball or the object ball with pinpoint accuracy. I've heard stories of shots which Efren had showed to other top players with jaw-dropping consequences. The shots were mostly timeshots with the cueball and the object ball meeting again somewhere on the table to have a desired effect. Bata is just pure magic !
 
this is why efern is great. he embraces all the disciplines.

but "great" is a relative term. he is great in billiarding compared to other POOL PLAYERS. the kind of billiards you're talking about, balk line and straight rail,,,,,there are pros who runs HUNDREDS, and group the 3 balls into clusters.
 
Warming up with Billiards? Maybe that's why he won't be in the finals this year.
 
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