The magic of BATA

TX Poolnut

TX Poolnut

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So i see Efren practicing on table 1 at the KOH event and naturally, I decide to sit and watch him practice. The first thing I notice is that he is intentionally creating clusters by randomly putting balls on the table 4 or 5 at a time and then playing either 15 ball rotation or sometimes shooting either stripes or solids and then running the other group in numerical order and finally shooting in the eight ball after all others are gone. On one particular eight ball, he has the following shot left to clear the table.

START(
%At1\1%BB7\3%CC1\0%Dt1B6%E[5\4%F[5\7%G[4\5%HT4C9%It1\0%Jt1B6
%KB8\4%L[5\7%M[4\9%NB6\1%Ot3C1%PW9N5%QA8B0%RZ4A4%WV3D1%X[7D0
%Y\2D3%ZX3M8%]D6C9%^S5C9
)END

Jokingly, someone yells out, "Show us some magic Efren." He turns around to see who it is and I guess he didn't recognize where the request came from. Undeterred, he turns around and shoots the following shot to pocket the eight. He hit the point of pocket B perfectly and the cue ran right down the rail and the eight went all the way down the rail to the corner marked A.

The man is unbelievable. Just thought I'd share something that I probably won't ever forget.
 
Nah, of course he just tried to scratch in the middle, but he missed and lucked in the 8-ball like it was the plan in the first place... sheesh, and you bought that ? :rolleyes: :D

That man is pure magic, pure magic. Just watched him playing Jim Rempe in Legends of 9-ball semifinal from 1996. The run-out at double hill 10 a piece must be one of the most amazing run-outs I've ever seen. He gets out of line frequently but always recovers with amazing shots and the 7-ball is a pure jaw-dropper. He has a nasty little shot cueball frozen to the rail and looks imminent that he will scratch if he slow rolls it in. So at 10-10, he fires the 7-ball in like 100mph and avoids the scratch and gets slightly lucky at the position for the 8. But the shot selection and execution under serious pressure is pure magic. Here's the shot:

START(
%GQ1U5%HR4T8%Ik6F6%P^9Z8%QV1G3%Ur4H1%Vk4G8%WR5V8%X]9Z4%YC7D2
%ZP5T8%[C5X8%\G7[4%]k2H2%^C4X4%eB5`8%_H6[3%`P2X0%aQ8V5%bY0G9
%ce5G8%ds0H2
)END
 
I think I summarized my feelings about Efren's magic best in a thread called "Efren Officially out of the WPC", a thread started on July 5, 2005, when Efren was eliminated from contention. A fellow poster commented that it was sad, but preferring to look at the biger picture, I posted:

sjm said:
It's never a sad day when Efren Reyes play pool in front of the fans of the world. All of us who've been lucky enough to follow his career will be able to say that we saw the greatest ever at his craft. Whether he wins or loses, the very presence of Efren at any tournament makes the event so much more special. Of course, we'd like to see him succeed every time he plays, but he'll be back and we're assured many more portions of his unparalleled brilliance over the glorious green felt. That's something to be happy about!
Click to expand...

Didn't take Efren long to deliver, did it?
 
mjantti said:
Nah, of course he just tried to scratch in the middle, but he missed and lucked in the 8-ball like it was the plan in the first place... sheesh, and you bought that ? :rolleyes: :D

That man is pure magic, pure magic. Just watched him playing Jim Rempe in Legends of 9-ball semifinal from 1996. The run-out at double hill 10 a piece must be one of the most amazing run-outs I've ever seen. He gets out of line frequently but always recovers with amazing shots and the 7-ball is a pure jaw-dropper. He has a nasty little shot cueball frozen to the rail and looks imminent that he will scratch if he slow rolls it in. So at 10-10, he fires the 7-ball in like 100mph and avoids the scratch and gets slightly lucky at the
Click to expand...
Still one of my favorite pool videos of all time.
 
poolnut,,,i have to agree with mjantti. clearly, you missed the boat on this one. a scratch, which is what efren was trying to do, would give him an excuse with ball in hand on the 8. efren missed the scratch.
 
Is these still any doubt as to who is the best pool player who ever lived?
 
Renegade said:
Is these still any doubt as to who is the best pool player who ever lived?
Click to expand...

Did you see Mosconi in his prime? If you did there'd be no doubt whatsoever who the greatest ever was.


.
 
Mr441 said:
Did you see Mosconi in his prime? If you did there'd be no doubt whatsoever who the greatest ever was.


.
Click to expand...
Mosconi's prime.... have u seen Efren in his prime,,,thats the question??? :)
 
Better yet?

janhenzon said:
Mosconi's prime.... have u seen Efren in his prime,,,thats the question??? :)
Click to expand...

Do you think Efren would have even had a prime if he got paid
what Mosconi got paid in those days? 2 of the greatest, no doubt
bout it ...
 
I have never seen Musconi play or even seen video of his matches in the past but I've seen Efren played (on video) the bests in the US during the 80's. His pool skills was literally way way ahead of his opponents during that time. No disrespect meant to other pool legends but I think Efren is by far the best pool player who ever lived.

Unlike the players of today, Efren never had the chance to see and study the game of other good players around the world especially in America during his earlier days.
 
TX Poolnut said:
START(
%At1\1%BB7\3%CC1\0%Dt1B6%E[5\4%F[5\7%G[4\5%HT4C9%It1\0%Jt1B6
%KB8\4%L[5\7%M[4\9%NB6\1%Ot3C1%PW9N5%QA8B0%RZ4A4%WV3D1%X[7D0
%Y\2D3%ZX3M8%]D6C9%^S5C9
)END

QUOTE]

Anyone w/the RSB table willing to post a jpeg of this shot?

It would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
Did Mosconi play all games like Efren? Nope. How can being a master at one game make you a better player than a master at so many games?
 
You know you just cant compare the 2.
I have seen both players up close and personal and they are, both the greatest at pool.Trying to compare them is just a waste of time.Its just supposition with no definitive answer.You can argue the point all your life and still not come up with a winner.
 
NaClBandit said:
TX Poolnut said:
START(
%At1\1%BB7\3%CC1\0%Dt1B6%E[5\4%F[5\7%G[4\5%HT4C9%It1\0%Jt1B6
%KB8\4%L[5\7%M[4\9%NB6\1%Ot3C1%PW9N5%QA8B0%RZ4A4%WV3D1%X[7D0
%Y\2D3%ZX3M8%]D6C9%^S5C9
)END

QUOTE]

Anyone w/the RSB table willing to post a jpeg of this shot?

It would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Here you go....

efren.JPG

-djb
Click to expand...
 
bobroberts said:
You know you just cant compare the 2.
I have seen both players up close and personal and they are, both the greatest at pool.Trying to compare them is just a waste of time.Its just supposition with no definitive answer.You can argue the point all your life and still not come up with a winner.
Click to expand...


Boy, these debates go on forever. Mosconi was the greatest of his time at the game he chose to compete in, 14.1. At that game he was the best. We won't ever know how good he could have been in the other games because he chose not to compete in them.

Efren has chosen to compete in various popular disciplines and has proven that he excels in all of them. Comparing just how each of them stack up against their contemporaries I would say that Efren gets the nod even though he has not won as many world titles in any single discipline, he has won enough in all of them to say he is the greatest player so far, using that criteria.

I would bet that if hte dominant pro game had remained 14.1 then Efren would have excelled at that game as well. Look at Manalo, winning the NJ Straight Pool event without having even played straight pool until a week or so before the event.

John - still likes Buddy Hall for the greatest nine ball player honors though.
 
cuetechasaurus said:
Did Mosconi play all games like Efren? Nope. How can being a master at one game make you a better player than a master at so many games?
Click to expand...

I agree completely. Also the quality of competition Mosconi faced during his day as compared to what Efren is facing today should be considered.
 
Last edited:
sonnynav said:
I agree completely. Also the quality of competition Mosconi faced during his day as compared to what Efren is facing today should be considered.
Click to expand...


Are you implying that the competition wasn't as
strong in Mosconi's day? If so, what are you
basing this on?
If I had to put my whole life savings on a
match between Mosconi and Reyes in their prime,
I would put it all on Mosconi in a heartbeat
regardless ofthe game played.
 
Bobby said:
If I had to put my whole life savings on a
match between Mosconi and Reyes in their prime,
I would put it all on Mosconi in a heartbeat
regardless ofthe game played.
Click to expand...
You're on! The first match will be in one-pocket. Then I'll bet you double or nothing on rotation. :D

Now...I just have to finish my time machine. Isn't the flux-capacitor just an inductor?
 
jsp said:
You're on! The first match will be in one-pocket. Then I'll bet you double or nothing on rotation. :D

Now...I just have to finish my time machine. Isn't the flux-capacitor just an inductor?
Click to expand...

Maybe you could bring back Greenleaf while
you're at it :)
 
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