Reyes Teaches! Top Hat Gameroom Hosts Predator Pro School in FL

Charlie William's Predator Pro Pool School

I ATTENDED THIS SCHOOL AND HAVE NOTHING BUT THE HIGHEST PRAISE FOR ALL INVOLVED; CHARLIE, EFREN, "BUSTY", "TOASTIE", AND THE "SILENT ASSASSIN" WERE ALL GREAT. STAN, THE PROPRIETER, WAS ALSO SUPER AS WERE HIS EMPLOYEES. IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPERATE THE INSTRUCTORS BY TEACHING SKILL BUT I THINK MOST STUDENTS ENJOYED THE LESSONS FROM EFREN THE MOST. HE OVERCAME ANY LANGUAGE ISSUES WITH HUMOR AND POINTING WHEN NECESSARY. 2 OF THE OTHER INSTRUCTORS MENTIONED TO ME THEY WISH THEY COULD HAVE BEEN STUDENTS WITH EFREN AS HE TAUGHT ALL SO MUCH. IN ADDITION, SHANELLE LORRAINE SHOWED UP AS SHE CONTINUES TO STALK ME FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY; I KEEP WALKING SLOWER BUT SHE NEVER SEEMS TO CATCH ME. SHE WAS GREAT IN EVERY WAY AND IS A FINE ADDITION TO DRAGON PROMOTIONS. BEYOND THE LESSONS, LUNCHES, PRODUCTS TO TRY, PICTURES, TOURNAMENT, Q & A SESIONS, AND THE BAR-B-QUE AT THORSTEN HOHMANN'S HOME, "THE CRAZY HOUSE" WHERE "TOASTIE" COOKED ALL A WONDERFUL DINNER AT THE CRAZY HOUSE. THE PRICE WAS A STEAL AS THESE CHAMPIONS MAY NEVER BE TOGETHER AGAIN BUT ALL INDIVIDUALLY TAUGHT THIS GUY THINGS I WILL NEVER FORGET.

THANKS CHARLIE AND TEAM FOR AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE; HAVE ANOTHER ONE? COUNT ME IN!!!!!!!!!!!
 
PETARD said:
I ATTENDED THIS SCHOOL AND HAVE NOTHING BUT THE HIGHEST PRAISE FOR ALL INVOLVED; CHARLIE, EFREN, "BUSTY", "TOASTIE", AND THE "SILENT ASSASSIN" WERE ALL GREAT. STAN, THE PROPRIETER, WAS ALSO SUPER AS WERE HIS EMPLOYEES. IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPERATE THE INSTRUCTORS BY TEACHING SKILL BUT I THINK MOST STUDENTS ENJOYED THE LESSONS FROM EFREN THE MOST. HE OVERCAME ANY LANGUAGE ISSUES WITH HUMOR AND POINTING WHEN NECESSARY. 2 OF THE OTHER INSTRUCTORS MENTIONED TO ME THEY WISH THEY COULD HAVE BEEN STUDENTS WITH EFREN AS HE TAUGHT ALL SO MUCH. IN ADDITION, SHANELLE LORRAINE SHOWED UP AS SHE CONTINUES TO STALK ME FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY; I KEEP WALKING SLOWER BUT SHE NEVER SEEMS TO CATCH ME. SHE WAS GREAT IN EVERY WAY AND IS A FINE ADDITION TO DRAGON PROMOTIONS. BEYOND THE LESSONS, LUNCHES, PRODUCTS TO TRY, PICTURES, TOURNAMENT, Q & A SESIONS, AND THE BAR-B-QUE AT THORSTEN HOHMANN'S HOME, "THE CRAZY HOUSE" WHERE "TOASTIE" COOKED ALL A WONDERFUL DINNER AT THE CRAZY HOUSE. THE PRICE WAS A STEAL AS THESE CHAMPIONS MAY NEVER BE TOGETHER AGAIN BUT ALL INDIVIDUALLY TAUGHT THIS GUY THINGS I WILL NEVER FORGET.

THANKS CHARLIE AND TEAM FOR AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE; HAVE ANOTHER ONE? COUNT ME IN!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I was hoping a few of the students would post. I'm glad you had a good time. I also hope some of the students will share a "secret" or two with the AZers here on the Main Forum. :)

JoeyA
 
Well, especially since someone asked, I'll post a summary of the class, trying to condense 2 days into one post - good thing I type fast...

I signed up for the school pretty early in the process, pretty much a no-brainer for me, as I live in Jacksonville and am a regular at the room where the event was held. It was pretty much what I expected, which was good. Hanging out with Efren, Francisco, Tony, Thorsten, Charlie, and the other students was great, nothing like immersing yourself in pool for 2 days straight. I was hoping this would spur me on to really dig in and get my game back from 5 years ago, and I think it did that, time will tell. Haven't had a chance to practice yet, but that will come very soon. I was actually very tired Thursday night, didn't even want to play pool - for a day at least, then I was itching to get back to the tables, but like Tony Robles said, sometimes life gets in the way...

Tony was my favorite teacher, I wish he lived closer, I would definitely spend the money to learn from him. I'm confident he could help me take my game where I want it to go. I've only had one other lesson before, and that was with Jerry Briesath, and he was in the same category - knowledgeable, friendly, and conveyed a been there / done that attitude where you just knew they could help you with any question you had. Not only was the class time with Tony great, but I sat next to him at lunch and talked to him a bit after class, he was phenomenal there as well, just easy to talk to, nice guy. You can tell he has a passion for teaching, really enjoys it.

Thorsten was also a good teacher, a little more rigid than Tony - that's actually probably a good thing if you want results. Think a nicer version of a drill instructor. He is definitely all about the training, both at and away from the pool table, drills, and mental toughness, that's what makes him such a great player. Unfortunately, I had recently encountered the PAT (Playing Ability Test) on the internet, and spent a fair amount of time reading all of the manuals and copying down and trying a bunch of information from those tests, and that was a good section of what Thorsten also talked about. So it was more review for me than something new. However, I still was able to do some of the drills with him watching, got pointers on how often and how long to do the drills, realized I wasn't focusing as long or as hard when I did the drills, etc., so the session was still good. He also showed us some drills he works on with his coach, just brutal - if I couldn't quit a practice session until I completed them, which is what he does, I'd be practicing for a very long time... As with Tony, more time with him would have been nice, I could learn a lot from him.

As for Efren and Francisco, what can you say? They are even more awesome to watch in person than on tape, and believe me, I must own 30 - 40 of their matches and have probably seen more on TV or the internet. Effortless, and with an intelligence to their play and shot selection what was even more than what I expected. I used to use a lot of spin in my game, some would have said too much, and over the years had backed away from it. If nothing else, I learned that I think I went too far the other way, as all the stuff I learned from them by watching matches made perfect sense to reincorporate into my game, in small amounts at least. Learned some break techniques and some good aiming / position shots from Francisco, as well as a few kicking systems and other little tricky shots from Efren. Their teaching was much less structured than the other instructors, but that was expected. And the language barrier wasn't an issue at all - Francisco did fine all on his own, and Efren got his point across, using the interpreter to convey more complex topics.

As a bonus, I met some really nice fellow students, including strong players from all over the world. The way they split the class by skill level into groups of 5 really helped, that meant people in your group were pretty close to the same speed and able to ask the same types of questions etc. In my group I had Ricardo Torres, former Mexico national champion, at 26 years old a solid player and aspiring pro. Mike from Alabama (?), another solid regional player who does well in the Southeastern area tournaments. Also a guy named Cary (sp?), big stroke and good player. We had some strong philosophical conversations, which is good, I can tell he's done his research like I have. I was still right, though... :D Then John, sorry never did catch your last name, but a poster here I believe. Great guy, says he used to play stronger but plays pretty darn good now. We weren't the prettiest group of the 4 - I'll leave that to the groups that had Yu Ram (cute and a heck of a player) and Shanelle Loraine (gorgeous in every way and plays well too) in them. The BBQ Wednesday night at Thorsten's house was great, got to mingle with some of the people in the other groups, overall everyone was great, had a really great time. I'll post a few pics below, enjoy.

Thanks Charlie for an awesome event, I would definitely do it again!


The infamous "Group 2" - John, Mike, Cary, myself, and Ricardo:
group2es9.jpg


Efren telling us what to do:
efrenandmikeut6.jpg


Gratuitous picture of Shanelle and me:
shanellelorainepq8.jpg


Not so gratuituous picture of Efren and me:
efrenandmeka3.jpg
 
scottjen26 said:
Well, especially since someone asked, I'll post a summary of the class, trying to condense 2 days into one post - good thing I type fast...

I signed up for the school pretty early in the process, pretty much a no-brainer for me, as I live in Jacksonville and am a regular at the room where the event was held. It was pretty much what I expected, which was good. Hanging out with Efren, Francisco, Tony, Thorsten, Charlie, and the other students was great, nothing like immersing yourself in pool for 2 days straight. I was hoping this would spur me on to really dig in and get my game back from 5 years ago, and I think it did that, time will tell. Haven't had a chance to practice yet, but that will come very soon. I was actually very tired Thursday night, didn't even want to play pool - for a day at least, then I was itching to get back to the tables, but like Tony Robles said, sometimes life gets in the way...

Tony was my favorite teacher, I wish he lived closer, I would definitely spend the money to learn from him. I'm confident he could help me take my game where I want it to go. I've only had one other lesson before, and that was with Jerry Briesath, and he was in the same category - knowledgeable, friendly, and conveyed a been there / done that attitude where you just knew they could help you with any question you had. Not only was the class time with Tony great, but I sat next to him at lunch and talked to him a bit after class, he was phenomenal there as well, just easy to talk to, nice guy. You can tell he has a passion for teaching, really enjoys it.

Thorsten was also a good teacher, a little more rigid than Tony - that's actually probably a good thing if you want results. Think a nicer version of a drill instructor. He is definitely all about the training, both at and away from the pool table, drills, and mental toughness, that's what makes him such a great player. Unfortunately, I had recently encountered the PAT (Playing Ability Test) on the internet, and spent a fair amount of time reading all of the manuals and copying down and trying a bunch of information from those tests, and that was a good section of what Thorsten also talked about. So it was more review for me than something new. However, I still was able to do some of the drills with him watching, got pointers on how often and how long to do the drills, realized I wasn't focusing as long or as hard when I did the drills, etc., so the session was still good. He also showed us some drills he works on with his coach, just brutal - if I couldn't quit a practice session until I completed them, which is what he does, I'd be practicing for a very long time... As with Tony, more time with him would have been nice, I could learn a lot from him.

As for Efren and Francisco, what can you say? They are even more awesome to watch in person than on tape, and believe me, I must own 30 - 40 of their matches and have probably seen more on TV or the internet. Effortless, and with an intelligence to their play and shot selection what was even more than what I expected. I used to use a lot of spin in my game, some would have said too much, and over the years had backed away from it. If nothing else, I learned that I think I went too far the other way, as all the stuff I learned from them by watching matches made perfect sense to reincorporate into my game, in small amounts at least. Learned some break techniques and some good aiming / position shots from Francisco, as well as a few kicking systems and other little tricky shots from Efren. Their teaching was much less structured than the other instructors, but that was expected. And the language barrier wasn't an issue at all - Francisco did fine all on his own, and Efren got his point across, using the interpreter to convey more complex topics.

As a bonus, I met some really nice fellow students, including strong players from all over the world. The way they split the class by skill level into groups of 5 really helped, that meant people in your group were pretty close to the same speed and able to ask the same types of questions etc. In my group I had Ricardo Torres, former Mexico national champion, at 26 years old a solid player and aspiring pro. Mike from Alabama (?), another solid regional player who does well in the Southeastern area tournaments. Also a guy named Cary (sp?), big stroke and good player. We had some strong philosophical conversations, which is good, I can tell he's done his research like I have. I was still right, though... :D Then John, sorry never did catch your last name, but a poster here I believe. Great guy, says he used to play stronger but plays pretty darn good now. We weren't the prettiest group of the 4 - I'll leave that to the groups that had Yu Ram (cute and a heck of a player) and Shanelle Loraine (gorgeous in every way and plays well too) in them. The BBQ Wednesday night at Thorsten's house was great, got to mingle with some of the people in the other groups, overall everyone was great, had a really great time. I'll post a few pics below, enjoy.

Thanks Charlie for an awesome event, I would definitely do it again!


QUOTE]

Scott,
Your report on the school is sincerely appreciated. Your comments about Tony Robles mirrors everything that I have heard about him.

Tony Robles has now been moved to the top of my list for pool instruction.

Thanks for the report.
JoeyA
Click to expand...
 
JoeyA said:
Scott,
Your report on the school is sincerely appreciated. Your comments about Tony Robles mirrors everything that I have heard about him.

Tony Robles has now been moved to the top of my list for pool instruction.

Thanks for the report.
JoeyA
Click to expand...


Scott, you're report rocked!!! thanks for giving the updates. I hope more of your fellow classmates give us their experiences so to help get the word out on these instructors!!
 
Spotter

AuntyDan said:
There's also a report about it on the inimitable Fast Mikie's pool blog here:

http://poolshooter.blogspot.com/
Click to expand...

FAST MIKIE is Da MAN!
When he does a drill, he has a guy waiting at the table to re-spot the main ball all during the drill so he can concentrate on shooting rather than re-spotting any needed balls. :D

He's got a pretty smooth stroke, too. :cool:

JoeyA
 
JoeyA said:
FAST MIKIE is Da MAN!
When he does a drill, he has a guy waiting at the table to re-spot the main ball all during the drill so he can concentrate on shooting rather than re-spotting any needed balls. :D

He's got a pretty smooth stroke, too. :cool:

JoeyA
Click to expand...

He sure does shoots nice, although I'm still just about managing to beat him at Straight Pool |-).

Yes, he has someone spotting balls for him, he's REAL serious about his practice. Read down through his blog, he has spreadsheets of his sessions and a bunch of different drills to torture himself with.
 
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