What's more amazing is his doing it during tournaments with professional opponents where every wrong move can make u loss, yet he overcame it. Truly skillful player and a legend
Its great how people grab their smart phones to record that last shot at 5:32. What would have otherwise a simple basic shot because of creativity became more than impressive
I remember being a teenager watching Reyes amd Bustamante going head to head on ESPN. Honestly those times were golden years of Pool in my opinion, oh yea how can I not mention the Queen Allison Fisher baby.
Brings me back to my time living over in Indonesia, I was always hitting up the pool halls. Got to see Bustamante in person, wish I could have seen Efren, got to play and drink together with Alex Pagulayan while he did a tour of Indonesia (and got some juicy info xD ), he was a great laugh to hang out with. Legends without a doubt. I once played in a national tournament in Indonesia and played against a couple of their top players, one guy (Ricky Yang if I recall) and one woman, I forget their names, I was friends with the woman though, always happy to play some games. Shame it's difficult to find anywhere in the UK where I live and with reasonable price or I might have continued playing.
Efren was actually about to turn 58 with his match against Charlie Wiliams (Aug. 6, 2012). He was born on August 26, 1954 (2012-1954 = 58). As of today (Nov. 10, 2021) he's 67 years old.
My late husband was born August 26th, 1954 . He would have been very pleased to know that he shared a birthday with the magician. Sadly, he passed on June 15th, 1984 shortly before he turned thirty.
It’s good his opponents did not take it as arrogance when Efren did the 4 rail shot instead of the direct shot to the pocket. Maybe they did but the audience was pleased.
Efren wooow. That 4 rail shot reminded me of Jordan's change of hands dunk against the Lakers !! A regular dunk no no no that's too easy iam Michael Jordan and I have to dunk it for the world to remember it for a long long time. So he changes his mind mid air and also changes his hands to make one of the greatest artistic layups of all times !! Efren has that same mind set here. Why would I just cut that ball and pocket it directly like a regular pool player !! Iam efren bata reyes and I need to play a shot which the world will remember a long long time and then he unleashes that 4 rail beauty which just took the breath away of all. There are great players in this world but their will be only a few who can just take your breath away by displaying something which would be out of this world and make them ICONIC. Here iam not knowing anything about pool and just getting awe struck at the genius of a pool player efren reyes whom we may come across only once in a lifetime.
Efren has always been my favorite player in a game I’ve played since I was old enough to walk. I couldn’t reach the table yet and couldn’t see the balls, so my father would lift me up and hand me a sticky old bar cue. I remember liking the bright blue chalk and my father explained how the caulk was really important. At four years old, you don’t really listen to what adults say unless it’s something like, “No!” or “Yes!” (I do remember, even as a toddler, preferring an emphatic “Yes!” over the usual “No!”, though.) All I knew for sure was, when my dad lifted me up and when I could see the green cloth and the balls on the table, I think I peed my diaper. It was that beautiful. And I could easily see the pockets where the balls are supposed to go. A little more study, and I can see the straight line I’d use to make the ball go in the pocket. Pretty simple concept, even for a four year old. Which always made me wonder, after almost 60 years of playing pool, why I haven’t changed my attitude at all? Since I was four. And do I need therapy or something? Nope, I knew while playing pool on the South Side of Chicago in a pool hall where not many white people were allowed, being totally Irish, winning money, not getting killed for it, kept going back cause I was “cool”, and at 12 years old, I realized there’s no such thing as “therapy” for the problem I had. Still have. I’m almost 60 years old now and not in diapers again yet, and still, I want to pee when I see a beautiful pool table. Please tell me I’m not alone. As your eyes age and your stupid careless endurance wanes a little, I’m still famous at the bar tables. I used to be pretty good. That’s what they remember anyway, and they rarely see me in a bar anymore. The only thing that’s changed in my bar table hustle habits besides only stumbling in by mistake every couple years, is that I can’t see sh*t anymore. Nobody knows this. Old stories from old friends I don’t remember the names of, start flying around, talk about that shot I made 20 years ago and I don’t remember that either. Nor the chicks. None of them, unfortunately. I buy a few rounds like the good ol’ days and I’m watching these new young sharks on the table. Not playing, just sizing up my competition. It’s pretty clear I’m going to get my ass kicked. Only takes watching an 18 year old make two flawless bank shots in a row. One of the best things about getting older and wiser is, you really don’t give a shit anymore. So relaxing. That was incorporated into my new strategy. The other part is, 18 year old punks are cocky and sloppy. I have time, psychology, and experience on my side. Good luck, kid. My quarters are up, my name on the board. This kid was smoking guys left and right. Dammit. Wait… I mean, I don’t care. Winner gets the break and he scratched. I hardly noticed. Someone yelled it was my turn. (Okay, that’s pushing the boundaries). I wasn’t going to play that guy who ignores the table, and nobody was fooled anyway. Open table. Hmmm… no shots. Wait, here’s a bankshot I’ll probably miss. I’m going for it. Slopped the sucker in and didn’t scratch. I got solids. Totally missed an easy straight in shot and it conveniently became an impossible safety. He’s pissed! Both my shots were mostly stupid luck and because of my ancient reputation, he thinks I’m hustling him. There you go, use the Force. Feel your anger! He started missing easy shots. I still didn’t care and I was missing easy shots. This enraged the kid even further. The truth is, I REALLY didn’t care, I wanted this over with, the music sucks and it’s WAY too loud, I’m tired. I said, “Let’s bank the eight. Let’s clear the table, just the cue and the eight. Bank or kick wins. No scratch.” He frowned, “How much?” I rolled my eyes, “Just for fun, kid.” So I tried a kinda fun 3 rail I used to easily make and missed. He did a one rail shot and won. Yeh. The kid is cheering that he beat the old shark and wanted a f*cking trophy. I yawned and shook his hand with the respectful, “Nice shot.”And walked home. Beautiful night for a walk.
Brings me back to my time living over in Indonesia, I was always hitting up the pool halls. Got to see Bustamante in person, wish I could have seen Efren, got to play and drink together with Alex Pagulayan while he did a tour of Indonesia (and got some juicy info xD ), he was a great laugh to hang out with. Legends without a doubt. I once played in a national tournament in Indonesia and played against a couple of their top players, one guy (Ricky Yang if I recall) and one woman, I forget their names, I was friends with the woman though, always happy to play some games. Shame it's difficult to find anywhere in the UK where I live and with reasonable price or I might have continued playing.
hi! what a nice story to hear, but may i know what you refer to "reasonable price"?. do you mean cheap place to play billiard? if it is, then im suprised that this game isnt really cheap in uk, because here in Indonesia i can rent table like $1 or like Rp.15.000 for 1 hour, and if you want better place and more comfort it will cost no more than 3-4 bucks per hour. *sorry for my bad English and Nonsenseness XD
@@jundikhaalish2081 In the UK, snooker is the main billiard game of choice, but not all the halls have a pool table, most if they do have one is usually a small one, between 5' to 7' pub table. There was a place that had tables but sold them during renovation, the only other one near me is about 10 miles away, not ideal to travel to. And the cost is (or rather was when I still played) about £10 an hour per table, plus you also needed to buy an annual membership for about £10. Glad to hear the prices over there haven't changed though, I was in one of the many billiard halls almost nightly when I lived there, usually spending 3-4hrs a day playing and hanging out. Really do miss Indonesia, was the best years of my life by far.
I can hear, on Efren on his last shot ... the sound effect right before you do a fatality in OG MK, then I hear the Yelp that the opponent makes as your rip their head off. F A T A L I T Y
...I was thinking the same thing. Every bank shot gets applause like it's "magic". Fine cuts and masse shots are part of every players game. His 3-4 bank shots and leaves are different for sure. But single banks are common. Except on these videos apparently.
Dude, have u just blown up? I got one recommended and I can't get enough. I love the game, I can see what is possible, but to do it is another matter...lol
Efren wasn't even looking at the last ball but was more concerned with how the cue ball was moving. It's like he knew that ball will go straight to that pocket unless the naughty cue ball misbehaves.
The shot at 6:13 when seen without the slomo looked as if the ball is not gonna fall into the pocket. But watching the slomo, the ball was spinning in a way that it could reach the angle of the pocket, like it was designed to be like that. Crazyyy