Filipino Idol

"I don't know what to do at the beach. I get bored," Reyes says. "Take me where the action is." [Photo by Gracelito Manzano]

AS IN all Filipino households, New Year's morning at the Reyes home in a quiet Angeles City subdivision is a time for relaxing and recovering from the party and revelry of the night before. In the car park, between a large black Nissan Patrol and a white Toyota van, several empty cases of beer sit on the ground. Various relatives, including Efren's wife, Susan, and their 21-year-old daughter, Roseann, lounge around on the patio. Efren's two other children, Frennie, 22, and Chelo, 12, are still asleep.

The first day of 2006 finds Efren Reyes in an extremely good mood. After having won the richest prize in the history of pool a month earlier at the IPT's King of the Hill event in Orlando, he returned to the Philippines a hero anew. As is typical of Reyes, though, he didn't miss a beat. Several days after returning, he was playing an exhibition at a bar in Angeles City. Then he went down to Manila for an exhibition with Bustamante at a small bar. A few days later there was another exhibition across town. $1,000 here, $2,000 there - the exhibition money adds up. Then there are the money games for various amounts large and small. It all adds up.

Reyes is quick to point out how the money is not always what it seems. Of the $200,000 he just won in Orlando, the U.S. government immediately took out $60,000. The check for $140,000 hadn't cleared the local bank yet, but it being the Christmas season, Efren says he's already spent $20,000, most of it in handouts to relatives.

"I have lots of relatives," he says laughing. Still, what's left over buys a lot in the Philippines. Asked how he handles the money he's able to keep, Reyes says his wife looks after the family finances. The two have invested in land, and currently own two residences in the Angeles area, as well as seven houses which they rent out. They also own a farm planted with mango trees and recently purchased a house in Manila.

Reyes shows off his sparse trophy room and admits he keeps few of the baubles he wins. He says he gives them to friends and others, like politicians, who ask him for a special memento. Reyes goes on to talk about the recent IPT tournament in Orlando, and says he didn't feel he played well. But he goes on to fire a shot across the bow aimed at future IPT fields.

"When I play good [in 8-ball]," he says, "nobody can beat me." Although Efren often likes to joke, there is no hint of humor in this statement. It leaves one with the feeling that he is far from finished in competitive pool, and that he certainly won't have any problem generating money in the foreseeable future and even beyond that. This year's calendar is already packed with tournaments. The IPT alone will almost assure him of several huge paydays.

And even beyond his tournament-playing career, it's clear Reyes, no matter how old, will almost never be without a livelihood. There will always be another tournament, another exhibition at a girlie bar, another hot shot trying to take his dough, another fan who wants to throw his money away, just so he can say he played a match against the greatest player of all time. So long as Efren has his eyes on the money, he will not be hungry, nor will he be bored. It's as if his career will not really ever come to an end. When asked why he doesn't just take a vacation at the beach, seeing as he just won $200,000, Reyes responds in typical fashion.

"I don't know what to do there [at the beach]," he says with a toothless grin. "I get bored. Take me where the action is, where there's gambling. Then I'm happy."

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