Ive Never Heard Efren Reyes Give a Testimonial For a Pool Cue Before.

Fatboy said:
This is a great question, been asked many times. And has had as many opinions and answers. However I never really went in-depth on MY opinion of what I’ve seen on this question.

Clearly Efren is in the conversation of the greatest ever within my lifetime. I’m 55 fwiw.

The first time I ever saw him was in Reno at the Sands tourney. I believe it was in 86. He was getting 3/2 or $75/$50 to break and run out a rack of rotation. The pockets were huge, super easy equipment. He got BIH after the break. He mopped up all the money. I had never seen anyone run out 15 balls in rotation so frequently. Hmmmm

Then I saw him around the pool rooms in LA and NorCal in the late 80’s here and there. And at some tourneys. His break was pretty weak, everything else was amazing. I knew I was watching someone very gifted and special.

One night in Hardtimes Bellflower in around 89-90 he was giving a guy who was a solid 1P player 11-5 which was a TON considering who he was playing(I can’t recall who anymore). They were playing $300/rack paying after each game. There was loads of action that day and this was off to the side-not on one of the main action table. Nobody but me sweating it. One rack Efren got his shot ran 11, the guy went to go get $ to keep in action. Efren ran the last 4 balls-15 & out when nobody was looking but me. They weren’t throw in’s he had his work cut out. Few minutes later guy came paid him and they continued to play until 3-4am. I left the pool room when they did. Efren got into a old POS Mustang with some guy and a girl I’d never seen. I always wondered about that.

Nobody was really paying much mind to him, I knew there was something special going on and it was clear as day to me.

Fast forward 10 years. I get back into the pool world. My absence wasn’t 100% as I had a table and played at home and watched pool on TV etc. But I wasn’t around the tourneys much or often just a little. No internet yet. So if you weren’t at the pool room what you could hear about was limited. I always read the magazines/ anyways when I jumped back into pool. Efren had a cult following. Tee shirts WWED? All sorts of stuff. Droves of people following him at the derby to watch him play.

While I was away from pool, Efren was doing his thing and the world woke up and realized there’s something else happening there.

His ability to find shots in any game especially 1P is possibly the greatest ever, same for 9B anything creative IMO there’s nobody else like him.

About 9-10 years ago in LA at the pool room he’s playing 1P he shot a shot, I said to a guy on the rail “looks like he shit it in”. He heard me. Million to 1 fluke the same shot came up again-he shot it and just looked over and winked at me and smiled. I can’t remember the shot, but it was beyond amazing to even see it let alone execute it. I wish I had that on video. Wow!

He’s the best ever at finding things where there is nothing and executing it. I’ve been lucky enough to watch him more hours live in the pool room and tourneys.

Is he the greatest?

“The balls roll funny for everyone”

Best
Fatboy 🤠
Click to expand...
I wish I could travel back in time and experience stuff like that 🥺 I wasn't even born yet
 
First time I have ever seen him use a CF shaft. I know for a fact that in the past he has been very particular about his cues as I know a couple of cue makers who worked with him on custom cues. Bottom line is that he dould beat most using the worst house cue in the room.

We see many athletes do things when they are past their prime such as endorsements. I am pretty sure that the cue is very good or he wouldn't have endorsed it but I am also pretty sure he wouldn't have endorsed any cue publicly.
 
I own that specific model J Flowers cue Efren was shooting with there. I wanted to try a carbon fiber shaft for a discount. Overall I like it a lot and think it's a good deal. I don't have much experience, but I liked the feel fine.
 
GaryB said:
First time I have ever seen him use a CF shaft. I know for a fact that in the past he has been very particular about his cues as I know a couple of cue makers who worked with him on custom cues. Bottom line is that he dould beat most using the worst house cue in the room.

We see many athletes do things when they are past their prime such as endorsements. I am pretty sure that the cue is very good or he wouldn't have endorsed it but I am also pretty sure he wouldn't have endorsed any cue publicly.
Click to expand...
Idiot Savant said:
I own that specific model J Flowers cue Efren was shooting with there. I wanted to try a carbon fiber shaft for a discount. Overall I like it a lot and think it's a good deal. I don't have much experience, but I liked the feel fine.
Click to expand...
The part that impressed me was he said he liked the "feel". I dont think he would have said it if he didnt mean it.
 
All Efren proves beyond a shadow of a doubt is that cues are an affectation. They may be works of art, perfectly balanced, beautiful and all that other great shit we all talk about and love but when it comes down to it with a Dufferin house cue he could spot most, if not all of us, anything we asked for and still crush us. The chalk argument is the same: do you think Efren gives a damn about whether he's using Kamui or Triangle or Master or some other either expensive or cheap chalk. Hell no. He's still going to win.
 
Efren used a Judd Fuller JT-1 for a long time in the 90s, with his custom long and straight taper.

Totally has nothing to do with why I picked one of those up :whistle:

It's a great cue, but it takes a while to get used to a shaft with that kind of taper.
 
dnschmidt said:
All Efren proves beyond a shadow of a doubt is that cues are an affectation. They may be works of art, perfectly balanced, beautiful and all that other great shit we all talk about and love but when it comes down to it with a Dufferin house cue he could spot most, if not all of us, anything we asked for and still crush us. The chalk argument is the same: do you think Efren gives a damn about whether he's using Kamui or Triangle or Master or some other either expensive or cheap chalk. Hell no. He's still going to win.
Click to expand...
Hello dnschmidt:

I have to note the fact that when a reasonable reader compares two excerpts from your paragraph, what *they* ironically do prove, is that cues are definitely not an affectation:

"All Efren proves beyond a shadow of a doubt is that cues are an affectation . . . he could spot most, if not all of us . . . "

If any cue consistently has elevated not only the confidence of us mere mortals (compared to Efren) in our game (and thereby the use of our skills), our skills themselves incrementally -- even radically -- are on an enhanced path toward noticeable improvement.

I've personally seen this psychological-transitioning-to-actual effect for decades . . . regularly occurring not only in my own playing, and my experiments with newly-purchased cues, but with hundreds -- even thousands -- of other players I've known.

Can't usefully compare what effect a cue's nature has on players like Efren with his unearthly talents & inherent table navigation genius, against the potentially positive effect that a change of cues often measurably and observably has on -- again -- us mere mortals.

Arnaldo ~ Try different cues, shafts, tips -- you can quite reasonably expect positive results, and greatly enjoy the process of doing so, and being pleasurably far better informed about the physics of the game. As Mosconi once so-aptly stated: "Pool is physics learned by trial and error."
 
Efren is also the greatest ever dealing with the heat and pressure of the moment. He handles his mistakes better than anyone ever.

Those are 2 take aways we should all learn and do like Efren.

I was so happy to see him come to America this year, I’ve seen him play a zillion times and I never get tired of it.

I remember one time at the derby at the EW in 07 I’d guess, he was just tossing the balls out on the table-all of them and instead of scattering them around nice and open to run off off easy. He was making clusters and putting a cluster of 2 on a rail-making it worse for himself. And he still managed to run 15 & out more often than not. He did that for 20-30 minutes waiting for his match. When his match started a ton of people came to watch. I left I saw the real show. Was amazing. I’ll never forget that one.

I’m sure sorry I was sick this year and missed the derby. Next time. Efren is something special and will always be in the conversation of greatest ever. A question that is really impossible to answer. However for finding impossible to find shots-he is #1 at that.

Fun thread, amazing even his threads are cool. Would be sad and in Efren like to argue while speaking of him 🙏🏼

Best
Fatboy😀😀
 
efren never really took advantage of endorsements. maybe partly because of his limited amount of english speaking.

now he is retired and money is going opposite instead of coming in. reaping something from his fame is logical.

sponsors really missed the boat years back by not signing him up in a way he could advertise for them.
 
Efren was not "endorsing" that cue imo. Most likely someone walked up to him, handed it to him, and asked what he thought of it. Then gave him a free shirt and Efren was probably happy as pie with the shirt.

People have done this with him before, and taken it way out of context. I recall one cuemaker made a cue for Efren years ago, and stated Efren would be playing his cues from now on. There was a picture of them together, and Efren holding the cue. Efren never used the cue once as far as I recall. Probably gave it away. I think the cue maker mistook gifting Efren a cue with Efren using it professionally.
 
iusedtoberich said:
Efren was not "endorsing" that cue imo. Most likely someone walked up to him, handed it to him, and asked what he thought of it. Then gave him a free shirt and Efren was probably happy as pie with the shirt.

People have done this with him before, and taken it way out of context. I recall one cuemaker made a cue for Efren years ago, and stated Efren would be playing his cues from now on. There was a picture of them together, and Efren holding the cue. Efren never used the cue once as far as I recall. Probably gave it away. I think the cue maker mistook gifting Efren a cue with Efren using it professionally.
Click to expand...
He said he liked the balance and feel. Was Efren lying?
 
buckshotshoey said:
He said he liked the balance and feel. Was Efren lying?
Click to expand...
No. But its not like he was endorsing the cue so others would buy it. Like a legit commercial. He was being nice. The person who did the video is the one who staged this whole thing and made it look like Efren was in a commercial.
 
iusedtoberich said:
No. But its not like he was endorsing the cue so others would buy it. Like a legit commercial. He was being nice. The person who did the video is the one who staged this whole thing and made it look like Efren was in a commercial.
Click to expand...
Some people might think that. But I'm not that gullible. It was more like a cell phone video made by an average person.

I think he truly liked the feel and balance of it. Would he use it in competition? Probably not. But I have heard people in here give it praise. Such as...."very nice shooting cue for the money".

At that price point, I am inclined to try one.
 
He is very particular in his cue preference especially with the taper. I was fortunate enough to watch him for many years at Hard Times in Bellflower, Ca. During the time that Kenny owned it and his daughter Brook watched over the room the Filipino's made it their base when they came over to the US. Efren was the first person to make me wish I had a DVR in my head. Watching him play 1 Hole was mind boggling as he would make a shot and a move no one saw coming and you would just think "What the hell just happened?" His cue ball control was absolutely precise down to a quarter revolution. He was the first person I watched run 3 racks of rotation in a row. I would later see Rafael Martinez and Dennis Orcullo do the same. Efren's love of pool was and is unsurpassed. He would fly 18 hours and then play all comers very cheap sets, often giving 15/3, for the next 8-12 hours after arriving. He is very "Special."

Sorry to run on so much but once I get started reminiscing I sometimes get carried away.
 
buckshotshoey said:
Some people might think that. But I'm not that gullible. It was more like a cell phone video made by an average person.

I think he truly liked the feel and balance of it. Would he use it in competition? Probably not. But I have heard people in here give it praise. Such as...."very nice shooting cue for the money".

At that price point, I am inclined to try one.
Click to expand...

He’s not saying it’s a commercial. He’s saying whoever filmed the video is presenting it as one (of sorts). Nor is he saying Efren is lying, just that it’s not an “endorsement” in that sense that Efren is officially endorsing the product.

Efren seems like the nicest dude around. If someone walked up to him with their cue and asked him for his opinion, can you imagine him saying it’s shit? He’d probably tell you your Players kids cue hits nice, then run a 4 pack with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top