How 'bout them Filipinos!

[jay helfert]

One good player learns from another. Your only going to be as good as your competition is. You have a town full of 400 fargo players your probably not going to get an 800 out of that town. No matter how much natural talent you have.

This is correct. These guys are constantly playing each other. They have a Tier system of rating players over here, and all of them aspire to be in the Top Tier. To do that you must beat Tier One players in competition, usually in the form of money games. To be Tier One is the goal they all hope to achieve, to gain the respect of their peers.

The pool world in the Philippines is an insular one that doesn't consider foreigners to be a part of it. As a group their goal is to win money from foreigners both at home and abroad and inject it back into the local economy. When they travel abroad they in effect become OFW (overseas foreign workers) for the Philippine economy.

As a sidenote there are more overseas workers from the Philippines (five million plus) than from any other country.

 

[JoeyInCali]

Actually $2,000,000 US is equal at todays rates to 108,000,000 Pesos. Millions not billions!

Duh! My math's horrible.
Efren's has made nowhere near $20M for sure.
And knowing how generous he is from his hangers on when he's here, he'd be lucky to take home 50% of his gross.
Saw his $2500 envelope get passed around at Shooters', Riverside . It became a lot thinner when it made it to him.
I believed you played in that tournament.
You lost to Alex L. Efren played that Russian kid in the finals.

 

[JoeyInCali]

This is correct. These guys are constantly playing each other. They have a Tier system of rating players over here, and all of them aspire to be in the Top Tier. To do that you must beat Tier One players in competition, usually in the form of money games. To be Tier One is the goal they all hope to achieve, to gain the respect of their peers.

The pool world in the Philippines is an insular one that doesn't consider foreigners to be a part of it. As a group their goal is to win money from foreigners both at home and abroad and inject it back into the local economy. When they travel abroad they in effect become OFW (overseas foreign workers) for the Philippine economy.

As a sidenote there are more overseas workers from the Philippines (five million plus) than from any other country.

The three tiers being pamprimera, panigunda and panirsera.
Primera, segunda and tercera in Spanish.
Conjugated into Tagalog.
First tier, second tier and third tier.
Also good for shift gears for us old folks.
Efren plays the third tier guys even now.
Or with a spot if he's the visitor.

 

[jay helfert]

Duh! My math's horrible.
Efren's has made nowhere near $20M for sure.
And knowing how generous he is from his hangers on when he's here, he'd be lucky to take home 50% of his gross.
Saw his $2500 envelope get passed around at Shooters', Riverside . It became a lot thinner when it made it to him.
I believed you played in that tournament.
You lost to Alex L. Efren played that Russian kid in the finals.

Damn, good memory you have. Alex Laoingo is a Filipino import who made his success owning pool rooms, most notably Stix in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. He also happened to be a high level shortstop who was never afraid to bet it up.

He and I did some pool table business over the years. In fact I supplied him with four bar tables at Stix. We also gambled at One Pocket a couple of times, maybe 50 a game.

My best memory of our match was when he put me on the end rail with no shot, and he had two balls near his hole. Efren was watching as I kicked two rails out of the corner and into the bottom of the pack. Two balls went to my pocket (one in the jaws) and I locked up the cue ball in the pack. People clapped for that shot and Efren blurted out " Quit showing off Jay!" One of my proudest moments, being complimented by the great Efren.

 

[trob]

That chart explains why there's no team from the Philippines invited to the Mosconi cup.

Why would they be? It’s America vs the uk. you do know where the Philippines are right?

 

[King T]

P156,000.does not go a long way in the Philippines.
Inflation has been really bad there.
After expenses, Efren is not left a lot.
I just spent 3 weeks there.
Efren is still playing P20,000-P30,000 sets almost daily . It's still worth his time..
$1 is P55+. Not P52.

I spent some time there this year as well and P156,000 goes a long way for the already established and Efren didn't just get started. he also gets a much better cut than a tier1 player. Him playing for P20,000-30,000 doesn't indicate his financial standings, why wouldn't he play for that rather than sit around all day a pretend to happily retired.

 

[skogstokig]

This is correct. These guys are constantly playing each other. They have a Tier system of rating players over here, and all of them aspire to be in the Top Tier. To do that you must beat Tier One players in competition, usually in the form of money games. To be Tier One is the goal they all hope to achieve, to gain the respect of their peers.

The pool world in the Philippines is an insular one that doesn't consider foreigners to be a part of it. As a group their goal is to win money from foreigners both at home and abroad and inject it back into the local economy. When they travel abroad they in effect become OFW (overseas foreign workers) for the Philippine economy.

As a sidenote there are more overseas workers from the Philippines (five million plus) than from any other country.

and about half a million of the OFW are sailors. biggest number of seamen in the world.

i think a huge factor in their strength of depth in pool is the sheer numbers of players, on 9ft tables, taking it seriously. add the aspiration and incentive you speak of, and i doubt any western country will overtake them anytime soon in

 

[jay helfert]

and about half a million of the OFW are sailors. biggest number of seamen in the world.

i think a huge factor in their strength of depth in pool is the sheer numbers of players, on 9ft tables, taking it seriously. add the aspiration and incentive you speak of, and i doubt any western country will overtake them anytime soon in

You will never see a bar table in the Philippines! Almost every bar has a 9' table.

 

[jtompilot]

Let’s make it 32 out of 100. Mike left of Alex Pagulayan off the PHI list

 

[sjm]

How many world-class players can an island country of a hundred million produce? Apparently, a lot.
Visionary efforts of Sharks Billiard League are beginning to make that clear as they've hosted the first international pool event in the Phiippines in a decade, There now are 31 Filipino players amongst the world's top 100.

Special note of Michael Feliciano (790), who had a great tournament losing in the finals to Taiwanese phenom Ko Ping Chung (826). We also note Oliver Villafuerte (824), rated amongst the most elite despite -so far as we know--not competing outside of southeast Asia. And fast-rising Kyle Amoroto (811), who we believe turns 21 this summer.View attachment 711525

This is just a reminder of how many great players there really are, and most of the ones in the Philippines don't compete. I've suggested before that the number of players over 700+ Fargo speed in the world is over 1,000, and I do believe this. Many of them won't play in a single tournament in their lives.