Efren's luck

Facts vs. fiction/prejudice

Facts: Rodney scratch ed 3 times(Pro's normally makes adjusments;top players also consider scratching more than twice a MISTAKE.

Facts: Even if Rodney did not scratched,there's no guaranty that he will run-out.

Facts: Efren handed Rodney 2-8 balls(how is that for being lucky??

Facts: How many world 8- ball title Rodney has???Zero

Facts: How many World 8-ball Efren has?? at least 4

Would any of us here -under the pressure(pressure that no pool palyer has ever been playing for $ .5M) would play better that Reyes did in the Finals or anybody for that matter.

Facts: It's known.everytime Reyes wins, he always says he got lucky.If you don't know Reyes by now,,you would never know him..The man is extremely HUMBLE.You would never hear him brag about his win and had never caught on camera or record complaining when he lost-Unlike other players out there.

Fiction or prejudice: Efren being lucky all these years???!!! You be the judge.
 
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I don't think anybody in the world want to play Reyes for all a lot of money even.Not even Bustamante who set IPT record for straight wins would.He already admitted that Reyes is on a diffrent level in 8- ball.
 
mikepage said:
On another note, what is the *real* evidence thet Efren played better twenty years ago than he does now? Seems to me people sort of assume that at 52 he *must* be on the downhill side and that it's just a matter of where in the past the top was. Is it not possible he's playing the best pool of his life right now? Rather than apply our preconceived notions about the life-path of pool performance to Efren, perhaps we should be use Efren to modify our notions about the life-path of pool performance?

Efren himself said he felt he was the best in the world when he was about 20 years old. He made this comment after he travelled outside the Philippines and was able to see the caliber and play against the best in the world. Efren started his U.S. campaign in 1985 when he was already about 30. When he made that comment, he was measuring himself in retrospect as a 20-year old against the world's best. Please note that he did not say he was the best at the time he said it. Too bad we didn't see a younger Efren on the world stage and find out how true what he said about himself. But seeing how he still is at 52, I'll take his word for it.
 
the only time a player is considered lucky is when they win. nobody remembers when the losing player lucked in a few
 
One of the best rolls I've ever gotten has been having the opportunity to watch this master craftsmen at his trade so many times over the years.

Efren lucky? Not really. I'm the lucky one.
 
In pool, luck is really skill that one does not understand yet. In Efren's case, he is probably unaware that he has the particular skill that brings what he calls luck.

I'm sure Efren thinks of himself as a nice, humble, non-threatening guy. But he scares the crap out of opponents, and that skill of intimidation is what brings him the "luck" of 3 scratched breaks and so on.
 
In almost every interview that Efren gives after winning a tournament, he always says that he just got lucky. I think that this is just Efren's way of reacting when people praise him for winning a tournament. I think he reacts this way because of Efren being humble and softspoken and he does not want to glorify himself.
 
ajrack said:
Have you ever noticed that a player is "lucky" at the end of a match...but no one remembers about the "lucky" breaks that happen in the beginning of the match.
Remember the last seconds of a football game when the player catching the ball runs into the ref, 14 yards from the end zone, and drops the ball with only 20 seconds to play. But back in the first quarter, the same receiver wasn't flagged for a push off in the end zone!

I saw that game!
 
bobson_215 said:
PROOF:

when you get lucky, you get more money...

thus money is proportional to luck.

So the higher the money on the line... efren has more luck.

So with more luck = higher chance of winning.

win = more money which leads back to...

luck is proportional to money.

FWIW, the inference to line 3 is invalid.
 
In reality, Efren doesn't believe in luck! He once mentioned so in one of our conversations that on the pool table if you're good any outcome is your own doing. His saying that he just got lucky is the best way to not get the people upset with him by thinking that he's snooty. Snooty can get you in trouble in the money game circles here no matter who you are.
 
Me too. Nearly every pool player I know is quick to point out how lucky they are right after taking home the cash.

Efren gets lucky the same way that Tiger gets lucky. He's the best in the world, and anyone who plays against him knows they can't afford to screw up. So naturally they do.
 
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