TAR39, the last one, was a matchup of Shane Van Boening vs. Efren Reyes. I was really looking forward to this one as they were playing One Pocket, Rotation, and 9-ball. I was really excited to hear Rotation was being played one of the nights, since I've never really seen it played, much less by the great Efren Reyes.
One Pocket
Efren had to be the favorite for this event. He had just gone undefeated at the 2014 Derby City Classic One Pocket event. It was not to be.
Efren won the first game and Shane won the next two. Efren won rack 4 to tie it at 2 apiece, but that was it. Shane won the next 9 games and defeated Efren by a score of 11-2. It was not clear whether Efren was tired mentally, physically, or just having a bad night, but he was missing balls and coming up short on shots. In a rare sign of frustration from Efren, on the last rack he sold out and broke the balls wide open.
Rotation
The Rotation event was something I was really looking forward to watching Efren play. The rules were Filipino Rotation. Corey Deuel was commentating alongside Robert "Cotton" Leblanc for the first half of the match. Corey understood the rules, having played before. It was definitely interesting to watch. If your opponent plays safe and you get hooked behind a ball, you could spot the ball and give ball in hand behind the headstring to your opponent. It is an aggressive game. You don't get rewarded for playing safe in Rotation.
Efren looked a little better in the Rotation event. He got the score up 9-3 early on Shane and was out maneuvering him, but after the player break, it was all Shane. At the break, I believe the score was Efren-11, Shane -9. Efren would only win 5 more games after the break. Shane ran some racks and generally outplayed Efren during the second half, at one point winning 6 in a row. Final score, SVB-20, Efren 16.
9-Ball
The 9-ball match, I thought, could go either way. I gave the advantage to Shane because of his big break, but for some reason, he didn't put together any big packs. Shane might have put together a 2 or 3 pack once or twice and that was it. Only once or twice did I see Shane come up dry on the break, whereas Efren broke them dry most of the time. Again, Efren missed balls he should have made. He even missed the 9-ball.
This match went back and forth to some degree. They traded games in 2's, 3's, and 4's until the break. The match was tied at 10 and that's when Shane took over. After that point, Shane won the next 3, Efren got a couple, then Shane won 5 in a row, eventually winning the match 25-16.
My thoughts on this final TAR match...
I was really disappointed Efren wasn't playing his best. It was painful to watch him, especially on the One Pocket night, miss balls and get out of line on several shots. He still made some miraculous shots, but overall, he wasn't playing his best game. I was very surprised to see Shane win the Rotation match given that he claimed to not know the game.
I know one challenge match doesn't mean a whole lot, since Efren seemed to not be playing his best, but Shane, in my opinion, has proven that he is quite possibly the best men's player right now. He has one of the most powerful breaks...with control and he can make balls from everywhere. In the 9-ball match, I can only remember seeing him miss 2 or 3 balls all night long.
Sad to see these TAR matches end. I really enjoyed watching them and listening to the commentators.
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