Efren Reyes, the world's greatest pool player ever dazzles with his skill and humility

you're watching billiard club Network your source or championship pool ready gentlemen - stretcher welcome moving on finger Club Network this is day number nine of the Derby City classic we're in the nine ball division we had 345 of the world's greatest players begin we're down to the final format format for the Final Four the format for the tournament is race to seven games single elimination with one rebuy allowed to each player and in this particular situation our four players have all rebuts so this will be a single elimination tournament from this point on our first semi-final will feature James barracks and Rob saez semifinal number two which we're you're going to be viewing right now is between Mika immonen and effort Reyes rules of play or the pro Express version of nine ball if there's a scratch in the break it's a foul ball on hand anywhere in the table no ball spot except for the nine any ball off the table is a foul ball in hand one push out is allowed immediately following a legal break three consecutive fouls by the same player is loss of game $43,000 total person the nine ball division $11,000 to the winner $20,000 to the world all-around champion who has the most points at the end of the nine days after all three tournaments are in the books and ladies and gentlemen at this time we'd like to introduce our two players for this semifinal number two our first player sponsored on tour by des Hughes also cafe puro former winner of the taipei peace cup the euro straight pool championships former WPA world nine ball champion also a former winner here at the Derby City Classic ladies and gentlemen please welcome from Helsinki Finland known as the Iceman Mika ma his opponent is sponsored on tour by Pouliot sports player representative for San Miguel Beer and Jack Justice cases two-time world 8-ball champion former winner of the ESPN ultimate nine ball challenge three-time world all-around champion our defending champion an international superstar known as the magician please welcome from the Republic of the Philippines mr. Aaron Reyes thank you gentlemen you may lag through the first break visit chalk off Dom or call your local retailer and ask for by name that's chalk off the complete fool table cleaner the man wins the lag this time we'd like to turn it over to the boys in the booth mr. billion Cardona and Danny Diliberto it's all yours guys see except network presents the executive west hotel in Louisville Kentucky the seventh annual Derby City classic along with Danny Beulah Perot this is built and Cardona and Louisville plays host to a standing room crown only Danny this is the third division of this tournament there was I would thank pool division on one pocket division and now this is the nine ball division there are only four players left in a field of 345 to see who is crowned champion of the nine ball division the feature matchup this evening is between MacKinnon and efferent Reyes Danny well you know we were televising this particular match but we have the other semifinal going on the other table Rob science and Jamie what was barracks Jamie barracks and the reason I didn't know named that Wells he's a new player I never heard of him really but he's in the Final Four so that's the winner of that table plays the winner of this table keep in mind is the very short race to seven in the difference in in employability is enacted the difference in the quality of play between these two players is very little when you're playing 9-ball particularly in a short race to seven no Reyes is considered the best player in the world today but mica Immonen isn't far behind well he was ranked number one one particular year but here the big thing about this short races balls go on to break on this table and when you break from the left side the left corner ball goes in this left pocket and vice versa so I expect them whoever breaks this is gonna have a chance to run out well it was really important for me cuz the jump out of the gate quickly hit include opportunity in RAC number one as you just saw but was unable to put down the one five combination don't raise steps to the table all balls are in the open and then you know as well as anyone when all balls are in the open and mr. raised at the table he takes care of business yeah you should have the rack in your hand ready to play the next game especially the way they're sitting you know this is pretty easy layout he's gonna if you want to cause a trouble spot right now the one to the two might be the only chance to go straight and that's easy he follow the cue ball to cushions out of the corner for position for the two the three balls positioned on the same rail as the two therefore he may have to end up taking a little longer shot on the three then he wanted to but shouldn't present much of a problem keep in mind he's very small pockets now the angle that this finish you'd be shooting this free from is a difficult angle so he has a hit this shot cleanly yeah this looks like the only problem and I figured him to make this notice he took a little extra time in preparation and shooting that shot now that shots over and certainly sure he's glad that's over because that was the tough shot in this wreck I see no problems here and especially after the Rhea's sometimes look at this man you hit that a little fuller he could have been snookered but then he would have kicked it in some way anyway no he was a little bit about probably it's linked rather awkwardly on the six he may have to go around the nine because trying to control the cue ball where the sixth is right now may be a problem that's where he's going to do he's going around the nine traveling a little extra with the cue ball but a fair trade off has a better shot on the eight you know he's sitting pretty good here just have to make the ball and draw back a little shoot the spot shot I only went forward he had a little angle he wanted to get close as we can to the nine which you always try to do first shot on the 9 in this match isn't rarely considered an easy one but he should have that's one take one nothing we differentiate between where he's gonna break one because all of the breakers have been breaking from the right side and making the right-hand corner ball but some will be great play from that side it be corner ball those but not as consistent you have the advantage of doing a lot of matches on this feature table doing commentary they write on a lot of magic on this table - therefore if anyone knows the characteristic of this table in terms of breaking the bone I'll bet your breakfast the six goes here we go the six is the wing ball about Lee left hand I'll lay you to breakfast - one no I'll tell you that's about the percentage it's been going eight out of ten times and maybe the one in the side also oh we made the one in the side anyway the six missed by a hair but I I was wrong but look at the way they stopped okay very quickly you can see that the three is in the open near the oil right hand corner the four is up table adjacent to the cue ball the five ball is to the right of the foot spot the six is near the left hand rail near the side pocket the seven is underneath the black eight so from the six to seven is a little bit of a problem and also from the 5 to the 6 so therefore he's gonna have to come up with a good angle on the 5 now he's looking to see if the final pass to 7 because that's the pocket he would like to play position for for the 5 yeah if he plays position for that corner pocket that he can go around the table freely without having to go into the possible interfering 7 ball so therefore he's gonna play position for those for the 5 the lower left hand corner and actually once he moves the 5 falling on the 7 is an easier shot because he doesn't have that to contend with but he's got to come up with a pretty good shot on the 6 that carries a good angle to drop my key for the 7 right so therefore he has some work in this rack yeah but that's what he gets paid for and he's been getting paid pretty well lately he is one of the most successful pool players ever financially okay now this is kind of interesting he's rather flat on the five he's gonna end up shooting the six in the upper left-hand corner but he must come up with an angle now he's going underneath them with the cue ball which which indicates or at least tells me that no he's not gonna play position with the for the six in the upper left-hand corner he's looking to play position for the six to the lower left-hand corner that could be a problem yeah they're really not comfortable with this Danny no he got funny he'd be alright here if he can make this and sit right on that side rail he'll have an angle to get to the seventh if he goes that way which he did yeah now he's fine now that's what where I thought he should have gone to begin with he wasn't really comfortable with that so he took a look at the other possibility and end up shooting this one here which I feel he made the correct decision particularly not all the way he laid on the six very nicely executed nicely run up it was a nice run out I'm just picking around very nicely there's not any problem here and you know and maker could start thinking about last rack when he missed you know it's all you have to do with someone like Efrain and make one mistake in your way in the hole particularly after he pocket at the one in the side because that ball he's playing so therefore if he has the good feel pocketing the one on the side make it may not have too many appearances at the table considering that if Reyes is pocketing the one on the side he's going to have that opportunity that he wants to run the ball at lap number two it also goes after any way to the nothing that short-range receptors and again we're gonna have to sit there mutant and hope he doesn't make the ball on the brakes and that's the big hopes because they're making balls on the brakes they keep in mind if you didn't have an opportunity been trapped on board where he made a ball over there he had a foot got a combination it wasn't an easy combination but it wasn't that very difficult one either therefore had he put it down we may have the seen him at the table now is it a Reyes lead one to nothing that's right but raised is the man at the table and with the break-in rack number three he's gonna stay with that break because like you say he's played a few games here and I have watched a few and it's the corner of ice 88 goes in the right hand corner pocket straight in notice the one in the side that's the ball to those been going but that's the ball he's gonna get paid off for the one that's died fortunately for imminent the two ball found the position but behind the orange five not allowing raised at the table with an offensive shot he has to look elsewhere I think he's gonna try to fan the two and put him behind a name he's got a good safe there and he's got such good cue ball control that's that's excellent he's doing excellent observation and you hit it right on the head he's got he's got great he thought a good quote and I've been talking today is about when you're gonna snooker a guy it's way bigger if you freeze the guy on the ball you're sniffing him with because it takes away a whole bunch of kicks no that's the strength of being able to pocket balls on the break and I said a little earlier that if he's pocketing the one on the side with regularity then he has control of the table when you give ever andreas to control the table it doesn't much matter if the balls laying well or not he's gonna figure out a way to win the game you know what he's got here Billy I don't know if he knows it himself he's got that trick shot where you shoot into the rail and hop over the night you see it the side rail I don't know if he's gonna hit it anyway you know the shot I'm talking about anybody's gotta elevate hit elevate a little hit the side rail goes right over to 9 and you got a chance to make the - well you know you're a very very creative man I mean a very creative player and the more I look at this situation the more I have a tendency do that to agree with that yeah if he elevates over the 9 shooting the cue ball into the right side rail get the cue ball the jump over the 9 and hits it to a very very low percentage shot but he may not have anything else no no it's a low percentage but it's going to be lower percentage to do anything other than that and hit the 2 and and you know in this spot if he had any possibilities at all when I say there's an impossible kick or near impossible kick tie up balls if you can but he not in that position well unfortunately Reyes has actually frozen the cue ball solidly against the nine actually precluding him from tying up any balls because the only two balls that he can't see are the 9 and the 3 and I don't believe you can tie up either one of those two so therefore he has to do something this is look he's gonna shoot your shot well I hope so because he's supposed to know the shot well you gotta have it in your repertoire you know for this particular situation well if he elevates too much know what he wants to do he wants to hit the rail bend it he's elevating to well he wants to hit the rail invented Danny oh he's gonna go past he's mad he's bending it yeah so therefore he didn't recognize the shot that you do but he did have a legitimate shot at bending it but he wasn't able to do it ray is now has a ball in hand balls are open once again three ball near the lower right hand corner four ball adjacent from the side pocket five ball in the open and the center near the center of the table six near the side pocket seven nine shouldn't be any problem you see how close he got to the three when you're playing out there trying to get close when you can get a chance to do that you know you could be a football away but if you've got a chance to get close do it if it's not affecting pocketing now he's gonna go around the table get here one two it's three cushions he's trying to get close to the five and as you go to go toward the five all in line that's the one that's why play position like that it's gonna draw it back a few feet get straight in or you don't have to just stop and shooting it in the corner yeah don't do more work than you have to but particularly if you feel good about your ball pocket you know if you little pocket balls you're comfortable with your ability to pocket balls then you play position for the corner more often and I feel that if once you do that I think that your run-out percentage goes way up by the what because we're gonna move the cue ball and you know over the years we've seen Efrain play real well right right but when he gets in this kind of gear looks like never gonna make I'm sorry move it around the game probably is longer than you posted 27 I believe mr. between the Fisher of Rob's a fillets to my 30th the old my idea call again what have you there done so sue now okay of the 33rd or the 20th hosted who's the best player you ever watch well are we talking about tournament play talking about the US Open well you know it's a very tough question in the early years bicycle hands down after Segal and still to this day Earl Strickland well but listen Reyes it's amazing one at one time in 94 and Nick Varner's the only person ever went it back-to-back and 89 and 90 Reyes was in the finals four years in a row of which he could have won four years another but you know that's a tough question back back into seven late 70s early 80s Mike single hands-down greatest player and then of course Earl took over after that and and it's still playing great pool and looking at Reyes strong strong strong well Ray is is is so it's a tough question to answer for on one person it's just it's 70s 80s 90s now we're near 2000 right so and beyond so it's a tough question so I hope I answered it okay you did a good job okay everybody's okay you're gonna have the US Open once again this year and then what are the dates yes sir proud to say again xxx a no us over non ball championships will be held September 19th through the 25th at the Chesapeake Conference Center and Chesapeake Virginia the big three-o but prior to that to be if I can get a plug in I'm gonna host the Masters again um at Q masturbators the Masters is back at Q masters May 24th through 228 open 128 players $200 entrance fee anybody can play and I'm adding 10 thousand and it's a cute masters and I'll be open on all we and this is the second second year you've had the Masters yeah I had the Masters three years ago Billy and a long time at the wrong venue and now that i remodeled q masters tournament room with just gorgeous seating and new carpet and you know once again new theater seats the the players just tell me they love that room for playing purposes atmosphere wise conditions so I'm gonna have the Masters at you master billiards each and every year in May and this year is May 24 to 28 and this year's 10,000 ended and as belty open over the years next year to be maybe 20,000 and it will sit well I'm certainly sure that the players are you know access to play there at the Masters because whenever you put on the tournament it's really a well-run event thank you fellas sure and that's it you've taught me well over the years and look Reyes while we were talking ran out again yeah well okay anyways I do appreciate you stepping to stop it up visiting with this Barry once again don't forget you recommend do I look fat brothers making this opportunity very well is good luck because he just ran a boring rack it looks like it was easy so nothing exciting happened it's just when the player is playing real well it looks easy while making eminent in the chair I'm really not happy with it with the turn of events here you know had an opportunity in game number one and has yet to make another appearance at the table only the other one here when he was so solidly behind the seven ball seven balls not a but the one in the side one again yeah I want to bring that through the powerful yeah but once again the fireball came in between the cue ball and the two ball and he's going to have to do something with with a particular shot Danny interesting stance ever an issue 1000 and it looked like mica was shooting three oh three three three three but that's because he made one ball that's why and then an error now I'm surprised to see Reyes take this shot because he doesn't have much ball to work with meaning that is gonna be very difficult from the control the cue ball so he's opting to push okay hey what's know you know he has a cross bank on the two I do believe he will take this with inside English and hitting the thin side of the two the two they would go twice cross corner cue ball then go back down this end of the table with a nine impact four is but surely good safety I wouldn't pass this shot back to raishin it's not an automatic safe you know he's thinking about passing backs but again when you're losing three nothing your decisions are a little different he's going to have too many things going for him here Danny he's come he's going to create some distance in between both two two ball and the one ball there's a chance he might Bank to to cross corner if he does that he may not end up with a shot on the red three so therefore he has to shoot the shot on the thin side and not really trying to bank the two cross-court play safe all the way here that's what he did and it's gonna be a decent one they'd always left for a a shot on the two a very very typical one but a shot he may try to cut this here right this distance cutting this in to get position for the three you would also it's not it's tough enough but now if you want to play position for the three you got to use a little reverse English at this distance that's left hand English on the change I don't think he even the great Efrain is a very tough shot you know he's trying to do that though see this was the problem all the obstructions you know and now he's saved made a great job yes the addition was so tough yes it was it was just too much to ask of yourself to possibly cut the two in and come up with a shot on the red three Ray is the one the best technicians around try to do it but failed for the first time in this match yeah finally doesn't something he really didn't do anything wrong yet but when he misses this kick he'll lose some point this is a difficult kick to it I say when he misses it it's the top kick he's gonna have to shoot a little wide of the seven or a little wide of this pink ball and then spin it back in he hit it he hit only did he get in on the kiss he hit it straight before he got lucky certainly sometimes you earned it you earn you earn the right to get lucky I have a saying about that you've got to play well enough to have a chance to get lucky in other words he couldn't have got lucky if he missed the ball that was a tough kick yeah you got to play well enough ot over cut the room rent but it went in anyway yes and he certainly plays good enough to get lucky well exactly right because the kick was a difficult kick not only did he hit it but he hit it solidly which gave him more of an opportunity or a chance to get lucky so therefore he earned that he wasn't just didn't fall into it the earth the rest here Billy is like tic-tac-toe nothing to it in fact people gambling usually throw these in don't think Mika imminent in this year has very little to say about what's been happening here he's not saying he's praying you don't have to say anything he wants to pray for another shot about itself he just doesn't know you know what he can do and why this is all happening like this you know because prior to coming into this match you probably thought it was his turn you know because he's playing well he's breaking well so therefore and he's got on he's got a high confidence level yeah so therefore you have to think like that it's my turn but Reyes is taken right away from yeah she folks out there it's so much fun to play championship pool like this but Mika is not having fun right now okay wasn't able to pocket the one in the side I mean it may be Bob in the other two in the other side and you got a shot and he's got a nice angle on the one play position for the three right in other words with Billy saying if you only have to make the one then you're on the three it isn't like you got to do anything extra so just pocket the one you're falling down the three now the angle that he has here suggests to me that the cue ball after departing of that bottom cushion it's going to go toward that side pocket right over here razors walking over there to find out what he needs to do to stay out of the side now if he applies English on this shot then he decreases the accuracy of the shot so therefore this shot isn't that simple he's gonna put a little left on it I believe that'll straighten it out and he won't have to worry about the side either what a fool decide at all how you like that right he says plus he needed to get back down here for the floor that was another war reason he went that way and that's why he's smarter than you and I Oh most certainly yeah you know what I'm talking about we're looking at coming to the three two rare but then position from the three the four would be tough he already looked past that okay now the angle that he has on this read looks like to me the sling rather rather awkwardly because the side but if he follows it in the corner the side pocket may be in the way if it goes to the side or two three he's on the wrong side of the table with the cue ball so therefore you know he's got some problems here well he can draw the ball between the nine and seven and go one rail to like this Wow what a call in what a shot that's what I'm saying about him he is in that what Michael Jordan caused the zone it doesn't matter where he's that he's running out it looks like you know Mika has no prayer to get a shot here I wouldn't bet against him running the rest of the set out no and the shot that we just saw him execute took it demanded the perfect execution and that's what he did and once again could it perfectly when a player is playing like this it looks easy there was nothing easy about that you hit it too high or too low you're out of position yeah look wait easier than it was yes he is really you know what he had an illness and he's recovering from it and for a while he was a little bit in a slump but you know what he's playing better than ever I would say you know I think you're right I've been watching him play this week i watch to play a lot of one pocket with just match play of watching playing the tournament and I'm watching him now and I think you're right look if he's playing as well no because I've ever seen him play right he's playing to where he gets the shot he's out you know and you got no this is tough to play against as you know it's tough to play how you play against something that's playing perfect well so thousands of 336 no one is every time I'm sorry I feel corrected but oh he's in Italian zone the rapper and make an imminent did it two years ago well I guess I was wrong that's one of the only times this year you were wrong but anyway you know the big thing about that French he doesn't show any big ego am i right he's not walking around proud and cocky or not right he's just a low-key guy well you know he lets the stick do always bragging yeah that's for this all about you know I mean and when you listen to people say how good they are who they beat whatever okay that's all fine and well but the your stick does the talking yeah andreas backs it up well he made the end ball but he doesn't have a good shot so he's gonna have to play it safe and neither will imitate what he comes to the table yeah he's not gonna like it oh mile MC an edge I do believe he can see the bottom of the water yeah you know if Reyes does have a weak point in this game I think it's his killer I don't really think he has the killer or Mike sequel or a buddy hall well he's more like that you know he just looks that way though some people look that way and there's stone killers but anyway how about poor Myka losing six nothing and that's the shot he's got and someone in the audience come on be good okay he's gonna kick on the inside of this of this one and glanced towards the nine ball he may have ended up kicking the one behind the five it looks like he's hitting it tell you the truth you know he did Oh Eva's hit that you know he was cutting any over cut if he miss hit that but in the meantime he hasn't done really anything that's wrong I don't believe that he has a pocket for the one and if you if he plays the billiard he can't control the lawn it'll be difficult from the control don't want to be pleased to begin so therefore you know nothing has come easy for imminent nothing nothing at all he needs an easy start and living the three in sentence nothing is sitting though and sometimes the balls just will not cooperate in in this instance the balls and so far in this match the balls have not cooperated for a minute well you know it is you know I believe firmly of this the balls are telling them you shouldn't have missed in that first rack and now you're gonna get punished and that's what it's that's what's happening here well you can afford to make a mistake or two against that you know your mirror you mean just an upper echelon play yeah but you're doing it but when you're playing someone from Meijer you better not be right okay now he played the file I think could be the controller one ball but I'm excited for everybody do you shop outside as well as you could shoot it trust me that shot was an excellent shot he got that one off the top shelf and he got as good a shot as you could possibly get so you know he's accepting but I don't know about getting to the two very easily I think that if he pockets the one he may brush the pink for and send them toward the - okay we'll see this is tricky at any rate and that's what you expect when the guys losing six nothing Paul he was a bypass drop night before the two and come up with a decent angle on the two to drop cross table for the three now this shot keep in mind is a difficult shot because he's gonna have to hit it with speed and when you hit this type of a shot with speed that pocket gets real small plus you got to get straight in under three or you have no chance for position must get straight in under three well it's like you said Billy he just has had too much of a tough start here you know it wasn't a Mickey Mouse layout too much work to do and losing six nothing against ever and he just didn't handle it you gotta admit it was a tough playoff absolutely absolutely I thought when he got on the - of the way he did he had a legitimate chance to get out that rat that's not gonna work - so that's not gonna work he's gonna be able he's gonna have a real tough shot on this read cross sides it yeah he cooked Peters back to cross side but I don't think that the angle that he has is conducive to coming up with a shot on the floor in terms of the speed you ball speed looks like the bank will make the cue ball goes too fast no here we go he's gonna put maximum right hanging on the English on this shot cut the three in the corner and float the cue ball cross table this shot if he shoots this shot this certainly demands the most accurate of hits he put his fingers on the spot he would like to be when the three is over let's see if he can get there and it was a little bit south of the second diamond and he's able to execute this shot this is something we'll go back on cause it could be a beautiful eat now execute each made safe instead and that's what what else he I guess he had baby glamping oh yeah it was like anyway but but what you said he played safe and still you know there's some merit to work yeah I mean he knew he had a chance of punking Mika if he shot that shot because of all those interfering bones right if he missed it he had a chance to do this of course it turned out better than that he's got a two rail kick this is a big ball I think he'd hit it anyway no I don't well it's another pack your bag effort here I mean Mika has no buyback this is at semifinal it was the final tournament on our three tournament package and truly he can pack his bags if he loses this game and make an imminent before this match began envision him getting the trophy wing the annive all good you know sure and to watch this you know if you're making imminent yet really had to be pretty frustrated you know because he is playing well but there's a lot of pressures out there playing Reyes particularly if you fall behind by three or four or five games yeah and you look at something you know double difficult and that's what he has done he's looked at Iraq it was very difficult just my favorite layout we're not going to do an interview we're gonna wait till the final match is over because they're gonna be playing shortly we don't want to get their brain off their work seven apparently you have to go professor okay lucky the betrayer the Derby City classic is brought to you by chalk off the complete rule table cleaner and the billiard club pro shop for all your pool until your supplies visit the pro shop at billiard club met this has been a production of billiard club Network your source for championship pool for more log on to billiard club dotnet

Channel: BClub

Views: 8,462,352

Rating: 4.5341392 out of 5

Keywords: efren, reyes, billiards, pro, pool, player, mika, immonen, derby, city, classic, winter, sports, talk, instructuional, lessons, learn, play, billiard, obama

Id: oRvwlX3ihRg

Length: 36min 49sec (2209 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 09 2009

Reddit Comments

[u/el0rg]

Sucks to be in Mika's chair for that match.. it's the worst when your only chance at the table in a bunch of racks is to try and get out of a brutal safety.. and it sucks even worse when your opponent flukes his way out of a bad spot (Reyes 3 ball at 23:20)

[u/BombsAway627]

Even if he did get a roll on that 3 ball, rolls are what they are. He still kept him to only four shots, on of which was a break.

[u/Rawk02]

This is one thing I don't like about winner breaks, should be alternate