The Magician's Footwork: What Efren Reyes Still Teaches the Game
Forty years in, the most beloved player in pool history is still the sport's greatest professor.
Watch Efren Reyes stand at the table long enough and you stop noticing the shots. What you notice is everything before them — the walk around, the tilt of the head, the three-second pause where the whole layout gets solved in silence.
Economy of Motion
Coaches tell their students to study Reyes's patterns because he never spends a ball he doesn't need to. Position is bought cheap, a half-roll at a time. The flash lives in the decisions, not the stroke.
The Professor's Lesson
Reyes's real legacy may be that he made creativity look disciplined. Generations of players imitate the shots; the smart ones imitate the thinking.
