When Reyes first came into the country he went to Houston, he was sent there to join up with his countrymen (several Filipino's) who knew where the action was. I was told that they staked him and didn't treat him fairly, every one must pay their dues..I guess. During his time in Houston there was a tournament at Reds where every top player in the country showed up, that's where Caesar Morales (Efren Reyes) legend began.
I was living in Las Vegas not playing much pool, mostly fooling with the sports, betting and doing a little booking for a friend, when I heard about this guy from Mexico, or some other place named Caesar Morales who was beating everyone he played at this tournament in Houston. I was inquisitive as to who this guy was and how good did he really play because the stories I was hearing were just too hard to believe, so I had to find out for myself. I knew Jimmy Rempe was at the tournament so I called him to get the skinny on this guy Caesar Morales. The story I got from Rempe really didn't make much sense, because Morales was beating everyone he played and Rempe said that he really didn't see anything special about this guys game. That's right he said nothing special, he said that he had this
pump stroke but yet he was getting the job done.
Really.
He beat everyone except Buddy Hall, I heard different stories on why he didn't beat Hall, some stories said that he was too tired and he lost so he could leave town. Other stories said that he lost intentionally so he could get out clean. Not buying that one.:sorry Some people said that Buddy simply played better than Morales and won. Tournament ended Morales was born and the mystique was as high as it could be. How good is this guy, for real??
I was at home and my phone rang, it was someone from the Crystal Palace, a pool room in North Las Vegas. I was told that there was this skinny guy there that wanted to play anyone some 9ball, I was actually licking my chops because I figured it was Morales and I knew who he was but he didn't know me..yum yum.
I got into my car and drove to the pool room as fast as I could, didn't want him to get bored and leave. Unfortunately when I got there so was he, so I planned my attack. Morales didn't speak much English so I talked to him and his stake horses together, I wanted to play 9ball with a spot but he wanted to play 10ball, which I didn't have a problem with so we made a 10ball game. He offered me the 7ball playing 10ball and I thought it was a very good game so I accepted his offer. We played I believe a race to 11 for $1,500, I didn't want to show too much speed and knock my game so I decided that I would start slow and feel it out and manage the match as it went on. (mistake) The first rack I had a shot and could of ran out (I think) but like I mentioned I hadn't been playing much pool so I really wasn't that confident of a player, plus I was on the ..semi stall..remember? I believe I missed the 5ball, or 4ball, don't remember, anyways he ran out. The next game he ran out from the break. Then the following game he out moved me for the first shot and ran out again. That's when I realized that I had to come off the ..semi stall..and open up when given a chance but chances weren't many . He beat me 11 to 3.
We flipped the coin and played another set which he won 11 to 3 or 4, don't remember. Then I played another set (didn't want to) against my better judgement but I had to watch some more it was too good to believe. Obviously I lost the third set and quit. Now I was on tilt, stuck $4,500 and weak as a kitten for obvious reasons. Really didn't want to play any more 10ball, too many balls for me to run, so I made a 9ball game. I asked him for the 8ball and the break, which he agreed to and even as weak as I was I really thought I was going to beat him. (mistake) I really don't know what happened, he beat me several more sets racing to 11 and we had raised the bet to $2,500 a set. Larry Schwartz was racking for me and I couldn't make a ball on the break, it was spooky.:frus He ran out like a freight train, but all I could see was that I couldn't make a ball on the break and was convinced once I started to make balls I would beat him. I'm stuck $9,500 at this point so I raised the bet to $5,000, which he agreed to and won that set as well. I played him one last set for $5,000 and lost badly. Now i'm stuck almost $20,000 and my mind is racing and I started to think about some crazy things, that's the only way I was going to win any of my money back so I said to myself what can I do to make this next game heavily in my favor? The table behind the table we were playing on had 5" pockets, I was thinking if I could move him to that table and take the same game with maybe a couple game spot attached to it and double the bet I could win. The only problem was that table had a very very worn cloth and I didn't want to take a chance and play on it for that reason so I figured that I would make the game on that table, have him agree to it then cnange the cloth from another table to that table and play.
I told him that I would race him to 21 and take 4 games on the wire and play with the 8ball and the break on that table, he hesitated looked at the table, looked at the pockets, and shook his head and said..no. I proceeded to tell him that he was bad action and he wasn't going to win any more of my money unless he gave me some decent action. He didn't disagree and he didn't agree to the game, but he said that he would meet me here tomorrow. That night I changed the cloth and went home.
We met the next day and when he looked at the table with the different cloth he laughed, like a "smirk" kind of laugh. I asked him what was so funny, he looked at me and said ..cloth. I said that it was a newer cloth and the other cloth was too worn to play on. We went back and forth for quite a while about playing the game, and finally he agreed to play. (I really don't know why) We played for $10,000 race to 21 and I got 3 games on the wire. Every time I broke the balls I would make at least two balls on the break, it was embarrassing for me to watch, and I actually felt sorry for him. I believe I won the set like 21 to around 7, if it was that close.
Anyways, needless to say that that was the end of the action, I lost around $10,000 and was happy. they left town and I decided to call Rempe and tell him about the game, and the player. He answered the phone and that's when I said...Jimmy, remember that guy named Morales, the guy you said that you didn't see anything special about his game, remember him? And then you said that he had this
"pump stroke" He said, yea. I said ..he doesn't have a pump stroke jimmy, you misinterpreted his stroke, he's
playing the violin And proceeded to hang up on him.
That's as close to the truth as I can remember, if it's off it's not by much. But the part about the violin, is spot on.
Dr. Bill
