Efren Reyes

Reyes was born in Pampanga, Philippines, on August 26, 1954.[5] He moved to Manila aged five to live with his uncle, who owned a pool hall.[6] He cleaned the hall and would sleep on the tables.[6] Because Reyes was not tall enough to reach the pool table, he played while standing on Coca-Cola cases that he moved around. Reyes started 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.[7]

By 1976, other players were avoiding playing Reyes; due to this Reyes started playing other games such as three-cushion billiards and balkline in order to find people who would play him for money.[6] In 1979, the writer John Grissim published the book Billiards, where he wrote an article about his encounter with Reyes, where he described Efren as an "excellent player".[8]

In 1978, Reyes competed in the Philippines vs. Japan Rotation 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 Rotation Championship. 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.[9] By the early 1980s, Reyes was considered one the best players in the country. He was even banned from playing in some tournaments on account of him being too good. This led Reyes to travel to the United States in 1985.[10]

In 1985, at the start of his career in the U.S., he used the alias "Cesar Morales" to hide his identity so he would be allowed to compete unknown.[11] Although shortly after Reyes was discovered, when he won the first tournament he entered in the Houston Red's 9-Ball Open with a field of 108 of the top players in the country. The same year Reyes finished third in the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship.[12] Reyes began winning a number of tournaments in the United States and in Asia, traveling back and forth between the two, garnering attention and recognition internationally.

In 1994, Reyes won the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship by defeating Nick Varner in the finals and became the first non-American to win the event.[13][14] In 1996, Reyes and Earl Strickland were chosen as the two best players in the world, to compete against each other in a challenge match, named after the film The Color of Money.[15] The event was a three-day race-to-120 challenge match of nine-ball.[16] It was held in Hong Kong, with a winner-take-all prize of $100,000.[16] Reyes won the match 120–117 despite being 17 racks behind, to win the prize.[16] In 1999, Reyes won the first televised World Pool Championship that was hosted by Matchroom Pool, earning $60,000, which was the largest first place prize in a pool tournament. 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. This made Reyes the second Filipino player after Jose Parica to win a world championship in pocket billiards.[17][18] In 2001, Reyes participated in the 2001 Tokyo 9-Ball Open, the event had over 700 players participating. Reyes dominated the event, beating Niels Feijen in the finals 15–7 and earning $163,000 first prize. At the time, this was the largest first prize in a pool tournament.[19]

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.[20] He reached the final of the 2004 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, where he met Marlon Manalo in the final.[21][22] He trailed 0–4, but won eight straight racks and won the final 11–8.[23] The win made Reyes the first player to win WPA world championships in more than one discipline.[23]

Reyes won the 2005 IPT King of the Hill Eight-ball Shootout, winning $200,000, which was the largest first place prize of any pool tournament at the time.[24] 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.[25] The following year, Reyes won the IPT World Open Eight-ball Championship over Rodney Morris 8–6, earning $500,000, which is still the largest first place prize of any pool tournament in history.[26]

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.[27] They won seven consecutive racks to win the final 13–5.[28] He also won the 2009 event once again partnering Bustamante.[29] The pair met the German team of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann in the final and won 11–9.[30][31][32]

Reyes still actively competes in professional events on occasions, in such events as the Southeast Asian Games, which he won seven gold medals[33][34][35]and the Derby City Classic which he is the overall winner on five occasions. 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.[36]

Reyes is a winner of over 100 professional tournaments, including:[54]