Look up pool in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Pool may refer to:

Pools of water[link]

• Running pool, an artificially enclosed body of water intended for swimming
• Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings
• Tide pool, a rocky pool on an ocean shore that remains filled with seawater when the tide goes out
• Plunge pool, a small, deep body of water
• Stream pool, a quiet slow-moving portion of a stream

Sports and gambling[link]

• Pool (cue sports), a group of games played on a pool table
• Pool (poker) or pot, money wagered during a single hand of poker
• Pool betting or parimutuel betting, a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together
  • Betting pool, a form of pool betting where gamblers pay a fixed price into a pool
    • Football pool, an association football (soccer) betting pool
• Pool play or group stages, the round robin stage of many sporting championships
• Singapore Pools, Singapore's sole legal lottery

Geography[link]

• Pool, Cornwall, in England
• Pool, West Virginia, in the United States
• Pool Department, a division of the Republic of the Congo
• Pool-in-Wharfedale, in West Yorkshire, England
• Pool of London, a stretch of the River Thames
• River Pool (London), a river in England, tributary to the River Ravensbourne
• River Pool, Cumbria, a river in Cumbria, England, tributary to the Gilpin

Computing[link]

• Pool (computer science), a set of initialised resources that are kept ready to use
• Connection pool, a cache of database connections maintained by the database
• Memory pool, a dynamic memory allocation method
• Memory Pool System, a memory management system
• Object pool pattern, a pattern to construct sets of initialised programming objects that are kept ready to use
• Thread pool pattern, a programming method where a number of threads are created to perform a number of tasks

Media[link]

• Pool (album), an album by John Zorn
• The Pool (2004 film), a short British film
• The Pool (2007 film), a 2007 drama film co-written and directed by Chris Smith
• The Pool (2009 film), an adaptation of the 2006 play
• The Pool (game), a role-playing game by James V. West
• The Pool (play), a 2006 play by James Brough and Helen Elizabeth

Other uses[link]

• Pool (surname), a surname (and list of people with the surname)
• Pooling (resource management), grouping together of resources or effort
  • Press pool, group of news gathering organizations pooling their resources
  • Secretarial pool, group of secretaries available to assist executives
• Egyptian pool, a water symbol used in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing
• Risk pool

See also[link]

• Gene pool, complete set of unique alleles in a species or population
• Poel, an island in the Baltic Sea
• Pool Group, a trio of inter-war experimental artists and film-makers
• Pool-type reactor, nuclear reactor that has a core immersed in an open pool of water
• Poole (disambiguation)
• Poul, a given name
• Winter Pool, a part of the admissions process for Cambridge University
• All pages with titles containing "pool"

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Efren Reyes

Born	(1954-08-26) August 26, 1954 (age 57) Angeles City, Pampanga, Philippines
Sport country	Philippines
Nickname	Bata (Kid) The Magician

Efren Manalang Reyes (born August 26, 1954) is a Filipino professional pool player and a two-time world champion.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Reyes was born in Pampanga in 1954. He moved to Manila with his family at the age of 5. In Manila, he worked as a billiards attendant at his uncle's billiards hall, where he started learning the various cue sports. Because he was not tall enough to reach the pool table, he played while standing on Coca-cola cases that he moved around. At night, while he was dreaming of playing pool, the pool table was his bed.^{[citation needed]}

He is called Bata, which is Filipino for "Kid", because there was another older pool player named Efren when he was young. To distinguish between the two, he was referred to as Efren Bata.

Career[link]

Gambling from a young age, Reyes played three cushion billiards in the 1960s and 1970s. After establishing himself as a winner, he was discovered by promoters. This gave him the opportunity to compete in big time tournaments.

During the 1980s, when Reyes was considered a top-class player in his homeland but not yet internationally recognized, he went to the U.S. to hustle. Popular legend claims that Reyes earned US$80,000 in a week; this feat made him a folk hero back home.^[1]

Reyes began winning a number of tournaments in the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia. Thus, he started to gain attention and recognition worldwide. At the start of his career, he used aliases to hide his identity so he would be allowed to compete. By the mid-1990s, he had become one of the elite players of the Philippines, alongside Jose Parica and Francisco Bustamante.

Reyes' fame began when he won the US Open Nine Ball Championship in 1994 by defeating Nick Varner in the finals. He was the first non-American to win the event.

Two years later, Efren Reyes and Earl Strickland were chosen to face each other in an event called the Color of Money, named after the movie. The event was a three-day race-to-120 challenge match of 9-ball. It was held in Hong Kong, with a winner-take-all prize of US$100,000. Reyes won the match 120-117. This was the largest single-winning purse in a pool event.^{[citation needed]}

Although Strickland was the first to win the WPA World 9-ball Championship, Reyes, in 1999, became the first to win while it was broadcast on television. This tournament was not recognized at the time by the WPA, but Reyes was later retrospectively acknowledged as the winner of one of two world championships held in 1999. Nick Varner won the "official" world title. The two tournaments were merged for the following year, with both men listed as the champion for 1999. At the time, the Matchroom Sport-organised event in Cardiff, Wales, was called the World Professional Pool Championship (despite the entry of many non-professional players).

Efren Reyes posing with fan after he won a historic US$200,000 at the 2005 IPT King of the Hill Shootout

In 2001, Reyes won the International Billiard Tournament. The event was held in Tokyo, with over 700 players and a total purse of ¥100M ($850K). Reyes dominated the event and beat Niels Feijen in the finals 15-7 and earned the ¥20M^[2] ($170K) first prize. At the time, this was the biggest first prize in a pool tournament.

In 2002 he won the $50K winner-take-all International Challenge of Champions, defeating Mika Immonen in a deciding rack after both players split sets.^[3]

Near the end of 2004, Reyes beat Marlon Manalo to become the first-ever WPA World Eight Ball Champion. With the win, he became the first player in WPA history to win world championships in two different disciplines.

In December 2005, Reyes won the IPT King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout. Reyes won a record-breaking $200K for first place by beating fellow Hall of Fame member Mike "the Mouth" Sigel two sets to none (8-0 and 8-5).

In 2006, Reyes and Francisco Bustamante represented their country as Team Philippines in the inaugural World Cup of Pool. They defeated Team USA, Earl Strickland and Rodney Morris, to capture the title.

That same year, Reyes won the IPT World Open Eight-ball Championship over Rodney Morris 8-6. He earned $500K which was the largest prize money tournament in the history of pocket billiards. Unfortunately, due to IPT's financial problems, he has not been able to claim much of this money as of 2007.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, the Filipino tandem of Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante beat the German pair of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann by a grueling 11-9 score to take their second championship title. This, together with the semifinal finish of the other Filipino team of Ronato Alcano and Dennis Orcollo, was the best performance by a host nation in the tournament's history.

In 2010, Reyes clinched his fifth title in the 12th annual Derby City Classic as the overall champion, making him the most successful player in the tournament's history.

He has topped the AZ Billiards Money List five times: in 2001,^[4] 2002,^[5] 2004,^[6] 2005^[7] and 2006.^[8] In 2006, he set a record by earning $646K in a single year.

Family[link]

He is married to Susan Reyes. They have three children. His son, Frennie Reyes, once competed in the Asian Nine-ball Tour.

Accolades[link]

Numerous fellow professional players have credited Reyes with being the greatest living player in the world.^[9] During ESPN television commentary on a semi-finals match between Reyes and Mika Immonen at the 2000 Billiard Congress of America Open 9-Ball Championship, veteran professional Billy Incardona stated that Reyes was "indisputably the best player in the world—especially when you consider all games—he can play any game as well as anyone, maybe better than anyone.... In my opinion we're watching probably the greatest player in my lifetime and I've been watching pool for the better part of forty years."^[9]

In 1995 Billiards Digest Magazine named Reyes the Player of the Year.^[10] The following year, when Reyes was ranked number one on the U.S.'s Pro Billiards Tour, the June 1996 issue of the magazine featured a poll of "billiard cognoscenti"—pro players, billiards writers, industry insiders and the like—to pick the best in billiards in various categories.^[10] Billiards' own elite named Reyes the best one-pocket player of all time.^[10] The magazine wrote, "While a bevy of one-pocket geniuses abound, Efren Reyes, whose prowess in one-pocket is sometimes obscured by his 9-ball stardom, was the popular pick. Is there anything Bata can't do?"^[10]

In 2003, he became the first Asian to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame.^[11]

Reyes was appointed Philippine Sports Ambassador of the 2005 South East Asian Games alongside some of the Philippines' greatest athletes (Allan Caidic, Rafael Nepomuceno) to promote the event throughout the country.

For 2007, he was ranked #2 in Pool & Billiard Magazine's "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll.^[12]

Other awards and honors include:

• Philippine Legion of Honor
• Philippine Order of Lakandula "Champion for Life Award"
• Outstanding Filipino Awardee of the Jaycees
• Philippine Sportswriters Association Sportsman of the Year 1999, 2001 and 2006
• One Pocket Hall of Fame (inducted in 2004)

Films and television[link]

In 2003, Reyes was featured in the Filipino movie Pakners with the late actor Fernando Poe, Jr.. Reyes also appeared in the 2007 short film Nineball.^[13]

In one episode of the TV series Magpakailanman, the story follows a young Efren Reyes (portrayed by actor Anjo Yllana) in his early pool-playing days as he progresses from a money player to a tournament contender.

Nicknames and aliases[link]

Reyes is often called by his nickname Bata" (Filipino for "Kid"), given to him by friends at his regular pool hall to distinguish him from an older Efren.

Reyes, along with the other "Filipino invasion" players revolutionized the way pool is played by their introduction to the sport of pinpoint precision kicking (going into a rail with the cue ball and then hitting an object ball). Reyes' ability to "kick safe" and to kick balls into intended pockets is legendary. This ability, coupled with his superb skill at other aspects of the game, led U.S. professionals to give him the appellation "The Magician." Before Reyes and his compatriots came over to the U.S., no one there had seen anything like their kicking skill set.^[14]

"[The] first time I came over to the states, I used an alias of Cesar Morales. Pool players in the US already knew Efren Reyes as a great shooter from the Philippines, but they [hadn't]...seen...[me]...in person." — Efren Reyes^[15]

Titles and achievements[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Efren Reyes Matches
• Efren Reyes bio at AZBilliards

v t e Cue sports biographies Yank Adams • George Balabushka • Jean Balukas • Steve Cook • Irving Crane • Steve Davis • Pat Fleming • Masako Katsura • Luther Lassiter • Walter Lindrum • Keith McCready • Cowboy Jimmy Moore • Willie Mosconi • Shaun Murphy • Ronnie O'Sullivan • Jasmin Ouschan • William A. Spinks • Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone • Jimmy Wetch

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Earl Strickland

Earl "The Pearl" Strickland (born on June 8, 1961, Roseboro, North Carolina) is an American professional pool player and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 2006.^[1] He is considered one of the best nine-ball players of all time because of his numerous championship titles within a 25-year time span, and also one of the most controversial, for his often-outspoken views and sometimes volatile behavior at tournaments.

Early days[link]

Strickland started playing pool at the age of nine, and after intensive practice he entered his first pro tournament at 15.

Career[link]

Strickland rose to national prominence in 1983, with a victory in Lake Tahoe.^[2] This was followed in 1984, in Caesars Palace Pro Billiard Classic, Las Vegas.

According to sources, Strickland played "like a polished gem." He was beginning to be a dominant force on the tournament trail and recognized as a future world champion. He had the "skill, endurance, patience, temperament, and tenacity of which champions are made."^[3] Because of his dominance, Strickland was named The National Billiard News Player of the Year in 1984.^[4] He won the 1988 World Open championship, after a momentous final confrontation between himself and Mike 'Captain Hook' Sigel".

A 45-second shot clock was used to monitor each shot because the tournament was being recorded for broadcast for a seven-week series. At the conclusion, Sigel commented he could feel the pressure of being clocked. Strickland, on the other hand, said they "could have made it only 30 seconds between shots, and it wouldn't have mattered.".^[5]

At the 2004 Derby City Classic, a week-long multiple tournament event held every January in Louisville, Kentucky, Strickland was one of six competitors in a nine-ball ring game. Veteran Grady Mathews, when introducing Strickland, says when Earl Strickland is in the house, "A hush ensues, and there is an expectation," because of his brilliant shot-making capabilities, and the unpredictability of his behaviour.^[6]

In May 2012 Strickland approached the Clann Eireann Pool Team with a view to signing a 2 year contract although negotiations have now stalled pending a team discussion.

Awards and accolades[link]

Strickland is a multiple winner of the prestigious Player of the Year Award,^[7] and his career highlights include five wins at the U.S. Open Nine-ball Championships (more than any other professional pool player worldwide), and the WPA World Nine-ball Championships. Strickland is the only WPA World Nine-ball Champion ever to win the event in consecutive years. He was also an ever-present player for the American team in the annual Mosconi Cup tournament, from its inauguration in 1994, up until 2009.

Strickland once ran 11 consecutive racks against Nick Mannino during the first PCA tournament in 1996 where there was a stipulation that anyone who could break and run 10 racks would win US$1,000,000.^[8] Jimmy Mataya, who was present at the event, witnessed Strickland's last shot, a tough nine-ball combination in which Earl showed no fear and "fired it in with authority" to win the prize.^[6]

For 2007, he was ranked #6 in Pool & Billiard Magazine's "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players" poll.^[9]

Controversy[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2009)

Strickland has engaged in back-and-forth colloquies with fans, players, referees, and tournament officials. His 2003 World Pool Championship match with snooker star Steve Davis was particularly notorious. Before the match, Strickland had given a particularly charged interview with a Sky Sports reporter, in which he complained that fans had been disrespectful to him (booing when his name had been broadcast over the PA), and that the event "Revolves around Davis" (the event was organized by Matchroom Sport, which was headed by Davis's manager Barry Hearn, while Sky's coverage had featured Davis heavily to win an audience in the UK). He also appeared upset that Sky Sports had shown numerous replays during the build up to the match of Davis beating him in the previous year's Mosconi Cup, the match which settled the event in favour of Team Europe.

During the match, Strickland entered the arena visibly downbeat, and after beginning the match in a quiet mood, Strickland soon began to engage in heated verbal arguments with fans and then referee Michaela Tabb. TV Microphones caught him using foul language to one member of the crowd, then telling Tabb to "shut up" when she reprimanded him. In response, Davis made use of his entitlement to take a break in the match (Davis admitted later that the timing of this was intentional, leaving Strickland to the mercy of the crowd). During the gap, Strickland put his fingers in his ears to block out the crowd's support for Davis, to the derision of the crowd, who mocked the gesture, and cheered loudly for Davis whenever Strickland took his fingers out. Late in the match, he responded to Davis' missing of an easy shot by sharply leaping out of his chair, fists aloft, shouting to the crowd "Yeah! He dogged it!". When Davis took a second break, Strickland loudly complained that players were only entitled to a single break, telling the crowd "He's Steve Davis, he can do what he likes", another reference to his belief that Davis's status at Matchroom Sport afforded him special treatment.

Strickland's tirade against Davis, the crowd, and the rules of the event, continued through the main part of a post-match interview, before visibly calming and apologizing for his behaviour.^[10] After admitting regret over his reactions during the encounter with Davis, Strickland entered the arena for his next match carrying a bunch of flowers which he gave to Tabb by way of an apology, and proceeded to play in a much calmer manner for the remainder of the event.^[11] Davis would go on to liken his match with Strickland to his 1980s snooker matches against Alex Higgins, another player noted for his combination of impressive play and enigmatic behaviour.

During the 2006 Mosconi Cup, which took place at Rotterdam, Netherlands, December 7–10, 2006, the audience was loud, cheering and blowing horns when rooting for Team Europe. During a match with Nick van den Berg, someone shouted from the audience for Team USA Member Strickland to "shut up" since he had continued talking while opponents were taking their shots. The noise was so intense that Referee Michaela Tabb warned spectators they could be thrown out of the arena if they persisted.^[12] During Strickland's match with Team Europe Member Thomas Engert, he broke his own cue out of frustration by smashing it against the floor after a failed shot attempt. Strickland, however, replaced the broken shaft and went on to win the match 7-4.^[13]

One year later, the 2007 Mosconi Cup in Las Vegas saw Strickland complain strongly about the misbehaviour of European players and fans, reaching its peak in a particularly bad-tempered clash between himself and reigning world champion Daryl Peach, which saw referee (again Michaela Tabb) separating the two amid fears the animosity might turn violent. Whereas most matches in the event were followed by live TV interviews with both players, Strickland refused to participate, while the normally mild-mannered Englishman stated "Strickland is the scum of the Earth, everyone knows that". Given the opportunity to retract the statement moments later by the concerned interviewer, Peach declined.

One year later, with the Mosconi Cup being played in Portomaso, Strickland's open night match again saw him repeatedly argue with European fans in the crowd, and also repeatedly comment aloud that the table was playing too easily. In a post match interview, Strickland stated that it was bad for the sport if the public sees top players in a high profile event using a table that was clearly playing more easily than a standard club table. When the crowd gave a mixed reaction to his comments, he turned to the spectators and attempted to rally them by calling "Do you want to see us have an easy time out here? Or do you want to see these guys shit on themselves?". Presenter Andy Goldstein immediately apologised to viewers, an action that prompted Strickland to further argue that such language is acceptable, citing Tiger Woods as a fellow sportsman who has used such language on TV without being challenged.

Asked about the possibility of banning Strickland from future events for his behaviour, Matchroom Sports founder Barry Hearn stated he would always want Strickland to participate in the firm's events, since his presence "guarantees drama and unpredictability". Strickland though would be dropped by the USA team for the 2009 Mosconi Cup, and has not appeared since.

Titles and achievements[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Earl Strickland, Player Profile", InternationalPoolTour.com, International Pool Tour

Earl Strickland in Mosconi Cup v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 1996 Earl Strickland Mike Massey C.J. Wiley Roger Griffis Shannon Daulton Allen Hopkins Danny Harriman v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 1997 Earl Strickland Kim Davenport Johnny Archer James Rempe Nick Varner Reed Pierce v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 1998 Kim Davenport Johnny Archer Earl Strickland Reed Pierce Nick Varner James Rempe v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 1999 Johnny Archer Kim Davenport Jeremy Jones James Rempe Earl Strickland Michael Coltrain v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2000 Johnny Archer Shannon Daulton Jeremy Jones Corey Deuel Earl Strickland Michael Coltrain v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2001 Johnny Archer Nick Varner Jeremy Jones Corey Deuel Earl Strickland Charles Williams v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2002 Johnny Archer Nick Varner Jeremy Jones Corey Deuel Earl Strickland Charles Williams v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2003 Johnny Archer Jeremy Jones Rodney Morris Earl Strickland Charles Williams Tony Robles Nick Varner (non-playing captain) v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2004 Gabe Owen Rodney Morris Earl Strickland Charles Williams Tony Robles Johnny Archer (captain) v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2005 Rodney Morris Shawn Putnam Jeremy Jones Earl Strickland Charles Williams Johnny Archer (Captain) v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2006 Earl Strickland Rodney Morris Corey Deuel Mike Davis John Schmidt Johnny Archer (captain) v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2007 Earl Strickland Johnny Archer Rodney Morris Corey Deuel Shane Van Boening Kim Davenport (non-playing captain) v t e United States Mosconi Cup team – 2008 Earl Strickland Johnny Archer Rodney Morris Jeremy Jones Shane Van Boening Nick Varner (non-playing captain)