Ok now, all of you Efren fans, don't misinterpret this post and think that I'm knocking Efrens game - I'm definitely not, and having been fortunate enough to have seen him play in person about twenty times, I also think he's the best all-around pool player in the world, and has been for a long time.....That said, the bracket results don't tell you exactly what went down, so to give a fuller picture, for the people who, sadly, couldn't be at the DCC, I'm just going to report a little about Efrens play being 'human' in some of his matches, which resulted in his coming extremely close to not winning the one pocket division.
First off let me say that in the 9 ball division he was at the top of his game and played superb, making everything, and winning that division decidedly.
But for some reason his one pocket tournament play was a different story - he uncharacteristically was missing shots and several times lost control of 'whitey' resulting in scratches or selling out. These mistakes were a big part of the reason that amazingly, he was down 2 games to 0 in his match with Andreas Roschkowsky ( who was traveling with Ralf Souquet ) and he was down 2 games to 0 in his match with David Matlock. In the next three games, both Andreas and Matlock had chances to win these matches and couldn't close the deal, letting Efren eventually come back to win.
Then in the semifinals Efran had a match with Tony Chohan. Tony was playing great against Efran and the scene at the end was 2 games to 2, and 6 balls to 6 in the final game......Needless to say all three of these matches provided the best sweating the crowd could ever hope to have......Well at this point, the crowd gasps, as Efren hits a ball horrible and leaves Tony along the long rail halfway between the bottom rail and the side pocket facing his own pocket with his two winning balls right in front of him, a couple of inches off of the rail and just past the side pocket. All he has to do is shoot one of the balls straight down the rail into his hole, ( a medium length shot, not a long or a short shot ) and draw back about 7 inches for a simple shot at the match winning ball. As anybody who has ever seen him play knows, Tony has an extremely smooth, sure, and powerful stroke...Well, he shoots in the first ball, attempts to draw the cueball back 7 inches and the cueball just sticks right there without drawing back at all...Everybody in the crowd looks at each other in disbelief and Tony looks like he wants to break his cue ( I know I'd want to break mine )....This shakes up Tony enough that on his next shot he attempts to play a safety, hits it bad and sells out, and Efran proceeds to run the two balls he needs and wins the match.
After it was over a few of us were talking and we decided that Efran has a great two-way thing going for him...not only does he have the most talent, but also just because they are playing against him, seasoned top players will often dog a key shot against him that they probably wouldn't have against anybody else.
First off let me say that in the 9 ball division he was at the top of his game and played superb, making everything, and winning that division decidedly.
But for some reason his one pocket tournament play was a different story - he uncharacteristically was missing shots and several times lost control of 'whitey' resulting in scratches or selling out. These mistakes were a big part of the reason that amazingly, he was down 2 games to 0 in his match with Andreas Roschkowsky ( who was traveling with Ralf Souquet ) and he was down 2 games to 0 in his match with David Matlock. In the next three games, both Andreas and Matlock had chances to win these matches and couldn't close the deal, letting Efren eventually come back to win.
Then in the semifinals Efran had a match with Tony Chohan. Tony was playing great against Efran and the scene at the end was 2 games to 2, and 6 balls to 6 in the final game......Needless to say all three of these matches provided the best sweating the crowd could ever hope to have......Well at this point, the crowd gasps, as Efren hits a ball horrible and leaves Tony along the long rail halfway between the bottom rail and the side pocket facing his own pocket with his two winning balls right in front of him, a couple of inches off of the rail and just past the side pocket. All he has to do is shoot one of the balls straight down the rail into his hole, ( a medium length shot, not a long or a short shot ) and draw back about 7 inches for a simple shot at the match winning ball. As anybody who has ever seen him play knows, Tony has an extremely smooth, sure, and powerful stroke...Well, he shoots in the first ball, attempts to draw the cueball back 7 inches and the cueball just sticks right there without drawing back at all...Everybody in the crowd looks at each other in disbelief and Tony looks like he wants to break his cue ( I know I'd want to break mine )....This shakes up Tony enough that on his next shot he attempts to play a safety, hits it bad and sells out, and Efran proceeds to run the two balls he needs and wins the match.
After it was over a few of us were talking and we decided that Efran has a great two-way thing going for him...not only does he have the most talent, but also just because they are playing against him, seasoned top players will often dog a key shot against him that they probably wouldn't have against anybody else.
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