By Elliott West
“The only person to out-hustle me on a snooker table”.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Introduction
Ronnie O’Sullivan has called him one of the most gifted players there has ever been. A Filipino player who could turn his hand to billiards, pool and snooker. The person is question is of course Efren Reyes. Someone who dominated the pool circuit and produced shots that would make your jaw drop. A man who was dubbed with the nicknames Bata or The Magician. His one-pocket discipline was second to none and he widely regarded as the greatest pool player there has ever been. A winner of 100 international titles.
Humble Beginnings
“I started playing carom only because nobody wanted to play pool with me from 1976 to 1981, so I quit pool during that period.”
Efren Reyes
Born in Pampanga, Philippines in 1954, Efren Manalang Reyes moved to Manila at the age of five to live with his uncle. His uncle owned a pool hall and Reyes used to clean the hall and sleep on the tables. So small was he at the time, that when he played he had to stand on a Coca Cola crate and move it around as he played. It was during this time that Efren started playing money games, winning his first game at the age of nine. A trend that continued into the 1960s.
Career
So good was Reyes that people avoided playing him and in 1976 he decided to switch from pool to three-cushion billiards and balkline as he was running out of opponents. A move that worked at the time and resulted in the writer John Grissim in his 1979 book ‘Billiards’ describing Efren as an “excellent player”. Reyes turned professional in 1978 and would go on to win 13 titles at the Derby City Classic and was twice World Pool League Champion in 1991 and 1992. He also won the World Series of Professional Billiards once in 1990. Over the course of his career, he earned in the region of $2 million. A combination of deals, exhibition fees and tournament wins.
Someone who used an alias of Cesar Morales when he first started playing in the USA, he was the first player to win world championships in two different types of pool, a four-time World Eight-ball champion, a three-time US Open winner, the nine-ball world champion in 1999, a two-time World Cup champion, a three-time US Open winner, a two-time World Pool League winner and a 13-time Derby City Classic winner – including an unprecedented five Master of the Table crowns. By defeating Earl Strickland in 1997, Reyes won the largest amount ever for one match $100k in the Colour of Money Challenge. He also beat Strickland the previous year.
He would go on to win the 2001 Tokyo 9-Ball Open, beating Niels Feijen 15-7 in the final and earning $163,000. He also won the 2002 International Challenge of Champions, 2004 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, 2005 IPT King of the Hill Eight-ball Shootout, 2006 IPT World Open Eight-ball Championship, 2006 and 2009 World Cup of Pool. He has also taken part in the South East Asian Games in which he won seven gold medals. In 2023, at the age of 68 years old, Reyes finished third in the Derby City Classic One Pocket, with a field of over 400 players.
Inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 2003. He has also been awarded the Philippine Sportwriters Association Sportsman of the year in 1999, 2001 and 2006. He was given the Philippine Legion of Honour, included in Time magazine’s 60 Asian heroes in 2006, was awarded the Philippine Order of Lakandula “Champion for Life Award” in 2006 and named “Player of the Decade” for the 2000’s by the U.S. Billiard Media Association. He is still playing at the sprightly age of 69.