Efren Reyes

Efren Reyes is a Filipino professional pool player nicknamed “The Magician.” He won world championships in nine-ball and eight-ball and is renowned for his creative shot-making.

1999 WPA World Nine-ball Championship: The 1999 professional nine-ball world championship, won by Efren Reyes in Cardiff. This victory made Reyes the first Asian player to win the WPA world nine-ball title.
Cue-ball control: The skill of directing the cue ball’s speed and path after it contacts an object ball. Reyes’s position play often turns difficult layouts into a sequence of manageable shots.
Francisco Bustamante: A Filipino professional pool player and former world champion known as “Django.” Bustamante partnered with Reyes for the Philippines’ 2014 World Cup of Pool victory.
Nine-ball: A rotation pool game in which players must strike the lowest-numbered ball first and win by pocketing the nine-ball legally. Reyes’s world title in this fast rotation game is one of his defining achievements.
2004 WPA World Eight-ball Championship: The inaugural WPA World Eight-ball Championship, held in Fujairah and won by Efren Reyes. The title established Reyes as a world champion in eight-ball as well as nine-ball.
Position play: Planning shots to leave the cue ball in a favorable position for the next shot. His imaginative routes often depend on planning several shots ahead.
Earl Strickland: An American professional pool player who won multiple world nine-ball championships. Their rivalry produced high-profile matches that contrasted Strickland’s intensity with Reyes’s improvisation.
Eight-ball: A pool game in which players pocket assigned groups of balls before legally pocketing the eight-ball. Its group-clearance strategy differs from nine-ball and gives context to Reyes’s second world title discipline.
2001 International Challenge of Champions: A televised pool tournament in which Efren Reyes defeated Earl Strickland in a celebrated final. The final’s pressure and shot-making helped cement Reyes’s reputation among television audiences.
Three-cushion billiards: A carom billiards game requiring the cue ball to contact three cushions before striking the second object ball. Reyes’s command of cushion routes informs the creative escapes and position routes associated with him.

Linked from 1 page