Efren Reyes

Reyes was born in Pampanga, Philippines, on August 26, 1954.[1] He moved to Manila aged five to live with his uncle who owned a pool hall.[2] He cleaned the hall and would sleep on the tables.[2] Because he was not tall enough to reach the pool table, he played while standing on Coca-Cola cases that he moved around.[3]

Gambling from a young age, he won his first match for money at the age of nine and continued to play money games with locals in the 1960s for money. In the mid 70s Efren had establishing himself as one of the best Rotation players in the country, although Efren had started playing 3-cushion billiards in the late 70s in order to find people who would play him for money.[2] At the same time, he was discovered by a journalist in the that wrote an article about Efren which allowed him to be discovered by promoters. This gave him the opportunity to compete in larger tournaments.[4]

In 1978, Reyes competed in the Philippines vs. Japan Pocket Billiards Competition, where Reyes represented the Philippines alongside Jose Parica, Rodolfo Luat, Jorge Dacer and Manuel Flores, where the Philippines team won two years in a row until the event ended. In 1979, Reyes defeated Japanese champion Takeshi Okumura to win the All Japan Championship in nine-ball, although not winning the all around title that year.

In 1983, Reyes took on Pepito Dacer in the finals of the Philippine Professional Pocket Billiards Championships, which was played in rotation. The finals were played in race-to-39 and the players competed over 11 racks on a weekly basis. On the seventh week of play, Reyes defeated Dacer 39–32.[5] During the 1980s, when Reyes was considered a top-class player in his homeland but not yet internationally recognized, he went to the United States to hustle in 1984. Reyes claims to have earned $80,000 in a few weeks, which made him a folk hero back in the Philippines.[6]

Reyes began winning a number of tournaments in the United States, Europe and parts of Asia, garnering attention and recognition worldwide. At the start of his career, he used aliases such as "Cesar Morales" to hide his identity so he would be allowed to compete.[7] Reyes became internationally known at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in 1994. Having finished third in 1985,[8] he defeated Nick Varner in the finals and became the first non-American to win the event.[9][10]

Two years later, Reyes and Earl Strickland were chosen to compete in an event, named after the recently released film The Color of Money.[11] The event was a three-day race-to-120 challenge match of nine-ball.[12] It was held in Hong Kong, with a winner-take-all prize of $100,000.[12] Reyes won the match 120–117 despite being 17 racks behind, to win the all-time largest purse in any professional pool event.[12] In 1999, Reyes won the first televised World Pool Championship that was hosted by Matchroom Pool. At the time, the tournament was not recognized by the World Pool Association, which ran their own event, although they later acknowledged the event was an official WPA World Championship.[13][14] In 2001, Reyes participated in the 2001 Tokyo Open, with over 700 participants and a total purse of ¥100 million ($850K). Reyes dominated the event, beating Niels Feijen in the finals 15–7 and earning ¥20M ($163k) first prize. At the time, this was the biggest first prize in a pool tournament.[15]

Efren "Bata" Reyes after winning the 2005 IPT King of the Hill Shootout

Reyes won the 2002 International Challenge of Champions, defeating Mika Immonen in a deciding rack.[16] He reached the final of the 2004 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, where he met Marlon Manalo in the final.[17][18] He trailed 0–4, but won eight straight racks and won the final 11–8.[19] The win made Reyes the first player to win WPA world championships in more than one discipline.[19]

Reyes won the 2005 IPT King of the Hill Eight-ball Shootout, which offered the highest top prize of any pool event to that date – $200K.[20] In the final, he met Mike Sigel in a best-of-three sets match, winning 8–0 in the first set and 8–5 in the second.[21] The following year, Reyes won the IPT World Open Eight-ball Championship over Rodney Morris 8–6, earning $500K—a larger sum than that he earned at the King of the Hill event.[22]

He partnered with Francisco Bustamante to represent the Philippines at the inaugural World Cup of Pool. They reached the 2006 final, where they met Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris representing the United States.[23] They won seven consecutive racks to win the final 13–5.[24] He also won the 2009 event once again partnering Bustamante.[25] The pair met the German team of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann in the final and won 11–9.[26][27][28]

As of 2019, Reyes is still actively competing in professional pool.[29] Overall, he is the most successful player at the Derby City Classic, having won the overall championship on five occasions, and winning the event on fourteen occasions.[30] He has also won two gold medals and six bronze medals at the Southeast Asian Games including an eight-ball bronze medal at the 2002 Asian Games.[29][31][32]

Reyes is a winner of over 100 professional tournaments, including:[49]