Category: Video of the Week

On June 11th 1995, Efren Reyes was in a race to 13 with Earl Strickland.  With the two tied at 12-12 (or "hill hill" for those who prefer the pool lingo), Reyes made one of the most amazing shots of all time (go to about 1:10 in the video to see the shot).

What is interesting about this video is that the shot prior to "the shot" was a pretty significant mistake (something that Reyes rarely makes).  He goes for the safety, but in the process he accidentally sinks what appears to be the 8 ball (the video is pretty grainy), leaving himself with an impossible shot on the 5 which is now parked on the rail.  

Just hitting the 5 to avoid the scratch would've been an amazing shot itself, but instead Reyes hits an absolutely perfect 2 rail kick shot, sinking the 5 ball while leaving Reyes in perfect position for the rest of the table.  A scratch would've given Earl an easy runout.  Because of the table layout, anything but making that shot would have likely ended up with Earl running out.  So what did Efren do?  Surveys the table, glances down at the second rail, lines up and casually sinks the 5 with a perfect leave for the 6 and an easy runout.

Over the years, Reyes has made some spectacular shots.  This shot though was truly magical.