---
title: "Efren 'Bata' Reyes: The Legend Behind the Cup's Name"
url: https://billiardnews.net/efren-bata-reyes-the-legend-behind-the-cup-s-name
published: 2026-10-19T07:40:46Z
updated: 2026-10-19T07:40:46Z
summary: "Profile of Efren 'Bata' Reyes, the Filipino icon whose name is on the Reyes Cup and whose career defined modern pool."
author: "Staff"
categories: ["Players"]
tags: ["Efren Reyes", "Philippines", "Player Profiles", "Reyes Cup"]
lang: en
---

# Efren 'Bata' Reyes: The Legend Behind the Cup's Name

*Every October the world's best gather in Manila to compete for a trophy that carries one man's name — the only player alive who could carry it.*

There is a reason the team event that just decided nine-ball's balance of power is called the Reyes Cup. No other player in the sport's history earned the right to have a major tournament named after him while still alive.

Born in 1954 in Pampanga, Philippines, Efren Manalang Reyes moved to Manila as a teenager and learned pool the old way — in money games, in halls, against anyone who would play. The nickname "Bata" (Tagalog for "kid") stuck from those years; "The Magician" came later, for shots opponents could not explain even after they lost to them.

## The shot and the titles

The most famous frame of his career was one shot: the three-cushion "Z-shot" against Earl Strickland in 1995 in Virginia, a kick so improbable it is still shown to beginners as proof the table has more routes than the obvious ones.

The titles piled up alongside the stories. Reyes won the 1999 WPA World Nine-ball Championship — the first Filipino to hold the world crown — and added the WPA World Eight-ball Championship in 2004, plus major wins across disciplines and decades that place him on any short list of the greatest all-around cueists ever.

## The name on the trophy

When the World Nineball Tour launched a team competition in the Philippines in 2024, naming it for Reyes was the obvious call. Team Asia won the first two editions on his home floor; this year's Rest of the World victory gave the cup its first new story without changing the name on it.

At every edition, the subtext is the same: the players on the table grew up watching him. Some still study his tapes. That is the real size of Efren Reyes.

*Sources: Wikipedia, World Nineball Tour.*