Efren Reyes

Reyes was born in Pampanga in 1954. He moved to Manila with his family at the age of 5. In Manila, he worked as a billiards attendant at his uncle's billiards hall, where he started learning the various cue sports. Because he was not tall enough to reach the pool table, he played while standing on Coca-cola cases that he moved around. At night, while he was dreaming of playing pool, the pool table was his bed. He is called Bata, which is Filipino for "Kid", because there was another older pool player named Efren when he was young. To distinguish between the two, he was referred to as Efren Bata.