He missed!
 

Wait! Not a miss, just the great Efren Reyes showing off a bit. Demonstrating why he's called "The Magician".

short video.,,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7XuijsJWEo&feature=youtu.be&t=5517

Nice! ... Back in the day I was pretty good but I've never played for money.

Wise of you. I've been told I'll never get any good if I don't play for money. I respond that if they really want to play for money, I could call my honorary nephew.
Once I tell them who that is, they suddenly don't want to "get better" by playing for money. :rolleyes:

Back in his day, Efren beat the world. An old joke is set in the U.S. Open pool tournament. Prior to shooting, a player chalks his cue, looks at his opponent, (Not recognizing Efren) and says; "I should warn you...I'm an APA 7."

Growing up in Australia Eddie Charlton was the man. Back then TV was B&W and you had a choice between the wrestling and Snooker.

Have you ever played "Snooker"?

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Let's just say I've tried to play snooker. ;) The Cue Ball has a snooker table. Usually taken up by guys playing "golf" for 25 cents per point. There was where Sgt. Don Malarkey of "Band of Brothers" fame liked to hang out. He played pretty sporty well into his 80's. A loser like me quickly figured out that those quarters add up quickly. Hate those round cornered pockets...no pocket cheating allowed, which is a useful part of pool.

BBC put out a series of 4 fun shows...Ronnie O'Sullivan, the British snooker god, touring various USA cities, "Hustling" pool. Where good pool pros get Ronnie is the break shot, which is not as important in snooker. In the Memphis episode, he played Johnny Archer. Archer made the comment: "I see you break better than the last time we played." A sneaky reference to when Johnny steamrolled Ronnie in the IPT pool tournament.

One issue with Snooker. You really need a 6 foot by 12 foot table. Anything smaller and it's a PITA.

When I was a kid a friend that lived nearby had a 6/12 table. His father extended the garage to fit the table.
We played for many hours on the table. It was really old and heavy with had a proper thick slate surface and new felt.

8 ball was also very popular at the time. (not the same game as The Color of Money)
There was a local who could break, sink every one of his balls & then the black. The other guy didn't even get one shot.

Might be the game called "Chinese 8 ball"? Played on a table with rounded pockets like a snooker table. Not an easy cue sports game...as if any of them are easy. Just some more difficult than others. All are difficult to really master.

The color of money game was 9 ball. A rotation game where balls must be hit in numerical order, with combination shot allowed. The 9 ball is the winning ball. 8 ball, a stripes or solids game..must pocket all the stripes (9-15) or solids (1-7) then the 8 ball to win the game. Most common of the bar table games here. Most fantastic 8ball runout I saw on video was made by Chris Melling, a Brit pro. They were playing "run what you break"...meaning, if you made balls on the break you had to shoot stripes or solid depending on what you made on the break. Break and runs are pretty common in 8 ball.
I watched one match where "The South Dakota Kid", Shane Van Boening, kept poor Earl Strickland seated in his chair for 8 games straight in a winner breaks format.

(edit) Here's the Melling runout...he made a solid on the break, was forced to take solids. Be prepared to have your mind blown. Johnny Archer in the comments booth..."If he made a shot like that against me, I'd kill myself"....but it's not just one shot, it's a series of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKD7EdzMjAM

More edit: Shane's 8 pack...little 7' bar table, which I think makes 8 ball more difficult because balls so close to each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dee4fgxEC68

Thanks for the links.

This one... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-ball

By far the most popular game in Australia. Most of our Pubs have tables and we used to wrack them up like this.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1592294495.jpg

Just after it was released down here I heard a girl complaining about "The color of money".
She didn't enjoy the movie because she didn't understand the game.

I would argue you don't really need to understand the game to enjoy the movie. (9 ball is very rare down here)
It's one of my all time favourite movies.

We rack a bit differently. BCAPL rules..the 1 ball on the foot spot. 8 ball in the middle, and back row must have a stripe on one corner, a solid on the other.

This quote from the Wikipedia page is spot on:
"American-style eight-ball rules are played around the world by professionals, and in many amateur leagues. Nevertheless, the rules for eight-ball may be the most inconsistent of any billiard game as there are several competing sets of "official" rules."

Especially when it comes to bar play...it seems every bar has it's own set of rules, and they can vary during the match depending on who has the biggest buddies. Takes a brave and crazy guy to play for money in a strange bar.

Check out the colors in your photo...a long held theory of mine has been that somebody at Porsche was a pool player when the early 911 colors were selected. ;)

9 ball is primarily a gambling game...it's fast and easily understood. Makes for better TV viewing. Pros play it a lot...The philipinos are really good at 9 ball. This because they play a rotation game called "61", using the full rack of balls. Each ball is given points that are on it..sink a one ball, one point. Do a combination shot, hit the 1, knocking in the 15? 15 points. 1st one to 61 points wins. So, after playing this as the national game, USA style 9 ball is easy.

A wag on AZ Billiards says: "Never bet against Shane Van Boening. Unless he's playing a Phillipino. Then don't bet, just enjoy the show."

The color of money...lots of inside jokes in that pool flick. "Grady Seasons" was played by Keith McCready, a real life hustler who'd probably be dead now if a good woman hadn't saved him...lots of stories about him. One I found fun was that many years after the movie, the screen actor's guild was able to find him. He'd pretty much lived out of a suitcase after the movie. They had a LOT of money to send him, residuals from his movie role. His lady posted it was good he hadn't been given the money because it probably would have gone for "hookers and blow" as the guys here post. Now living a much calmer lifestyle, the money was a windfall for him. Word is, Tom Cruise had never played before making the movie, but coaching from "Captain Hook" Mike Sigel had him looking like a player...

The Tournament scene where Paul Newman's opponent kept saying "I didn't deserve that"? That was Steve Mizerack..a many times champion in straight pool.

The "superbowl" of pool these days seems to be a days long event called "The Mosconi Cup". 9 ball, short races to 5. 9 racked on the foot spot. Team USA vs. Team Europe. Loud spectators, tons of pressure on the players. Played in England one year, USA (usually Vegas) the next. Big honor to be one of the 5 players selected for a team. After a long string of losses, USA has won the last two years.
LOVED the final match last year. Earlier in an interview, after beating Shane Van Boening, young Joshua Filler of Germany had declared himself "The new king now...I'm the best in the world". Ah, gee..we all cried along with Joshua when he lost the final match of the cup to Skyler Woodward of Kentucky. ;)

(edit) 10 minute video of the '19 cup highlights...you can hear Filler call himself King...and at the end of the video see Skyler sink the cup winning 9 ball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF7iqCiHt1Y