The Young Efren

The book!

Efren is coming out with a book SOON!

Hopefully, it will contain some of the stories found here in this thread.

How did the world ever create such a competitive champion of his caliber with such a kind demeanor and easy-going way?

Not only are we alive to witness his unequaled greatness at the table but we can also testify to his sportsmanship and kindness to his fellow man.

It is a great time to be alive in the sport of pocket billiards. I missed Willie Mosconi but I'll be damned if I am going to miss any more of Efren.

For the very reasons Roy mentioned, we will never see another champion with his all around skills.

JoeyA
 
JoeyA said:
Efren is coming out with a book SOON!

Hopefully, it will contain some of the stories found here in this thread.

How did the world ever create such a competitive champion of his caliber with such a kind demeanor and easy-going way?

Not only are we alive to witness his unequaled greatness at the table but we can also testify to his sportsmanship and kindness to his fellow man.

It is a great time to be alive in the sport of pocket billiards. I missed Willie Mosconi but I'll be damned if I am going to miss any more of Efren.

For the very reasons Roy mentioned, we will never see another champion with his all around skills.

JoeyA
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Great post Joey! I agree...we missed Ralph Greenleaf & Willie, but we were very fortunate to see the likes of Bata. In fact, throw Earl in there as well. Another once in our life-time talent.

A book on Efren Reyes? Wow! Yesterday, you wrote about being an adreneline junky who only gets his heart racing when on a treadmill. You just spiked my heartbeat! Hopefully, it's written by a quality author, such as Ted Lerner. If it's somebody from America helping Efren with his memiors, I hope it's Jerry Forsyth.

And, I hope you're not kidding about the book. If you were kidding, I just swallowed a king sized doughball!
 
cuetechasaurus said:
Speaking of rose tinted glasses...you are probably basing this on just a couple of matches you saw.
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Yeah, I have not had time yet to view the 1000's of other matches on video of Efren playing in the 70's and early 80's. Busy busy ya know.
 
JoeyA said:
Efren is coming out with a book SOON!

Hopefully, it will contain some of the stories found here in this thread.

How did the world ever create such a competitive champion of his caliber with such a kind demeanor and easy-going way?

Not only are we alive to witness his unequaled greatness at the table but we can also testify to his sportsmanship and kindness to his fellow man.

It is a great time to be alive in the sport of pocket billiards. I missed Willie Mosconi but I'll be damned if I am going to miss any more of Efren.

For the very reasons Roy mentioned, we will never see another champion with his all around skills.

JoeyA
Click to expand...

Can't wait man....
 
Game with Buddy

cuehobby said:
Jay,

What was the game with Buddy? One set? Any spots?
Click to expand...

Buddy mentioned the match in his book. They were going to play nine ball but Efren wanted to play 10 ball. I believe the match was 10ball,10 ahead for 10 grand (thats a lot of tens). Buddy supposedly beat him in about an hour and a half.

He also mentioned in the book that they never gambled again. He said a few years later he was approached to play Efren, Parica, or Bustamante. I think he wanted to play them each a set for 5k or one of them a 15 ahead set for 15k but the match didnt happen (cant remember the particulars).

It was no shame to lose to Buddy Hall during that time period as he was the best 9 ball player at the time for the cash. His book mentions some pretty good gambling matches that he won against Keith, Hopkins, Siegel, Strickland, Cole, Mataya, Louie Roberts (giving him the 7 ball! )..In 9 ball Buddy was a machine.

I believe Efren is the best all around pool player of all time.
 
From Victhestick

If you would like to see a couple of pictures of Efren before he came to the states: google images for "mario paras reyes" Sorry, but i do not know how to establish a connection. Maybe one of you young guns would do us a favor and put the images up.
As i remember, Efren very seldom did anything on the table that was impressive. He playe such perfect position I always thought I could make any shot that he had. He played safe whenever he had a difficult shot and never banked at anything. The rails on most of the tables were unreliable.
However, there were table with concrete replacing the slate, These tables rolled everykind of way. First one way then another and then another. There was no way to pocket balls except to shoot with authority an play for position in a wide open area. I never saw Efen play on one of those tables but I am sure if he did it would require a differnet style.
Concerning his 3-cusion play. He was not playing on heated professional tables with Simonis cloth. There's no to make a comparison, but in the old days a 1.0 player was a world beater. Check the results of some of the old tournaments.
Just a thought, but the two guys that run around with Efren, Bustamante and Luat, are world beaters. Maybe Efren is quite a coach and trainer also. Both of those players are from the Angeles city area. All three are from Pampanga.
 
victhestick said:
If you would like to see a couple of pictures of Efren before he came to the states: google images for "mario paras reyes" Sorry, but i do not know how to establish a connection. Maybe one of you young guns would do us a favor and put the images up.
As i remember, Efren very seldom did anything on the table that was impressive. He playe such perfect position I always thought I could make any shot that he had. He played safe whenever he had a difficult shot and never banked at anything. The rails on most of the tables were unreliable.
However, there were table with concrete replacing the slate, These tables rolled everykind of way. First one way then another and then another. There was no way to pocket balls except to shoot with authority an play for position in a wide open area. I never saw Efen play on one of those tables but I am sure if he did it would require a differnet style.
Concerning his 3-cusion play. He was not playing on heated professional tables with Simonis cloth. There's no to make a comparison, but in the old days a 1.0 player was a world beater. Check the results of some of the old tournaments.
Just a thought, but the two guys that run around with Efren, Bustamante and Luat, are world beaters. Maybe Efren is quite a coach and trainer also. Both of those players are from the Angeles city area. All three are from Pampanga.
Click to expand...

Very nice info. Thanks,
JoeyA
 
victhestick said:
If you would like to see a couple of pictures of Efren before he came to the states: google images for "mario paras reyes" Sorry, but i do not know how to establish a connection. Maybe one of you young guns would do us a favor and put the images up.
As i remember, Efren very seldom did anything on the table that was impressive. He playe such perfect position I always thought I could make any shot that he had. He played safe whenever he had a difficult shot and never banked at anything. The rails on most of the tables were unreliable.
However, there were table with concrete replacing the slate, These tables rolled everykind of way. First one way then another and then another. There was no way to pocket balls except to shoot with authority an play for position in a wide open area. I never saw Efen play on one of those tables but I am sure if he did it would require a differnet style.
Concerning his 3-cusion play. He was not playing on heated professional tables with Simonis cloth. There's no to make a comparison, but in the old days a 1.0 player was a world beater. Check the results of some of the old tournaments.
Just a thought, but the two guys that run around with Efren, Bustamante and Luat, are world beaters. Maybe Efren is quite a coach and trainer also. Both of those players are from the Angeles city area. All three are from Pampanga.
Click to expand...

Interestingly enough, Efren and Luat were at one time won the Karambola King ( straight-rail ) tournament sponsored by San Miguel eons ago.
Luat matched up with Vietnamese straight rail player here around '95 and lost.
They brought Efren in and Efren beat the guy. Funny story was that a Vietnamese guy came in for a repair at cuemaker Kerry Zeiler's shop and told a story about this little Filipino NOBODY heard about he said and ran points like they've never seen in OC,California.:grin:
 
Just finished watching a 14.1 match from 1995 with Lebron, Everlino and Incardona commenting and Efren beat Jose Garcia. Efren was new to 14.1 but still ran 70+ to finish the match, and then played Rempe next and opened the match with a run of about 120.

During the Garcia match he switched to his $10 cue from the Philippines for one long shot and Lebron explained that he liked that cue better for certain shots. It was interesting to watch him play straight pool, he was drawing the ball on break shots a lot when many players would have gone forward but his overall game made up for his lack of technical knowledge.
 
JoeyA said:
For the very reasons Roy mentioned, we will never see another champion with his all around skills.

JoeyA
Click to expand...

I agree. Players with Efren's skills are mostly trick shot artists. They can be found if it was only a question of skill. But implementing trickshot-like shots in crucial situations and in crucial matches is what made Efren the ultimate pool idol to many. Furthermore, to use those shots all the way to get all the championships that he has under his belt is unparalleled. He knows how to win and how to lose. And to compliment his greatness is his humility and his just being a nice person.

By the way, Boy Bicol was a nemesis and not a teacher to Efren. Efren often watches beginners play to learn from them. Every time he saw a fluke, he would simulate it until he understood why it happened. Efren learned from everyone and it was easy for him to learn understandable strokes from good players. Earl once said that Efren had probably forgotten more shots in his arsenal than Earl will ever know.

Efren once told me that it was impossible for him to put his shot-making in writing. He listens to the way chalks layer his tips. With certain shots, he expects to achieve distinct sounds of his tip hitting the cue ball before execution. Even the cue ball has its different sounds rolling on the table and bouncing on the banks. Pool to him is like mother earth to Indians. It is a relationship that he had developed through the years... truly a gift.

But even if Efren has this relationship with equipment, he never shapes nor replaces his tips. He never monkeys with his cues. I guess that it is part of his humility. Unlike other people who think they know everything just because they excel in something, Efren is not a know-it-all.
 
bamadog said:
I used to play at the pool hall in Cubao where Efren played in the late 70's.
Even then, he had to give huge spots to get action. I used to play him $2 a game getting around 99-21. Efren loved it because he didn't have two nickels to rub together in those days. And I loved to watch the magician firing impossible caroms and combos from anywhere. Slow-rolling on that equipment was out of the question.
There was quite a cast of characters frequenting the place because of the spectacle of the young pool genius and the side action available. At that time, Parica was the big dog and was playing a lot in the States, but when he came to Cubao, he asked for a spot from Efren. I believe the spot was 69-51. Saw lots of action with other Filipino pool greats like Boy Bicol, Boy Samson, and Totoy.
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My dad told me he got to play Efren and had a similar story. He told me during that time (I wasn't born yet and I'm 21), Efren was beating out alot of top name players that came to the Philippines. As he became more known, he would have to go to different pool halls for action. The time when my dad played him, he told me that there was a line of people to play him and he was giving everybody a handicap (the rumors were that he was beating out entire pool halls).
 
victhestick said:
Is there anybody out there who knew Efren before he came to the states? I first saw him play in 1976. He had taken up 3-cushion about a year earkier and had a high run of 14. We used to go to the base sometimes to play, (Harold, Jim). I used to go aroud with Mario Parras. Does anybody know how to get in touch with Mario? Hung out at the Trophy Room (upstairs). Would like to hear any stories that you might have.
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BTW Vic,
I really appreciate you starting this thread. It has fostered some information about Efren that I don't think I would have found any where else. I send you a little REP for your thread and just wanted to say thanks.

Send me a PM or post here in this thread where you are located in the Magnolia state.
Thanks,
JoeyA
 
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