Biado’s third world title thrusts him into the conversation of the greatest Pinoy cueist of all time. Here’s why.
Early on, Jean Berille knew Carlo Biado was special.
The French pool enthusiast has been living in the Philippines for twenty years, much of that spent in Manila’s poolrooms. He is good mates with the newly crowned World Nine-ball Champion, but long before Biado won these big tournaments abroad, Berille told me, “Carlo is the best in the world.”
Back then, the hot action room in Manila was One Side in Malate. Biado fearlessly played and beat big names like Dennis Orcollo, Ronnie Alcano, and Shane Van Boening.
“I remember they were races to 18 and sometimes he would be leading 9-2 with style,” recalls Berille.
Ten-ball is the most common game played in challenge matches by the pros these days, and Biado spent a lot of time perfecting his break into the triangular ten-ball rack. During the pandemic, Berille says Biado practiced endlessly, with thousands of reps of just breaking the balls. It paid off when, according to Berille, he won a pandemic-era virtual ten-ball tournament against top players, where every player had his own table that he would livestream as he tried to run out a rack.
Biado won the world 10 Ball championship last year in Vegas, defeating Naoyuki Oi of Japan in the final, three sets to one, 3-1 (4-1, 3-4, 4-2, 4-1). That means he currently holds world titles in two disciplines at the same time. He defends that title in Vietnam in September.
(10 Ball is the same 9 ball, only with ten balls instead of nine, and flukes are not allowed; shots must be called.)
Biado is also brilliant in the American specialty of Straight Pool, also known as 14.1 Continuous. In that game, you can pocket any of the fifteen object balls on the table, and when there is one left, the remaining fourteen are re-racked, you hit the remaining loose ball, bust up the pack of fourteen, and keep on going. Berille once saw Carlo make an astounding 242 balls in a row.
The 41-year-old former golf caddie and tee boy also seems to approach his profession as an athlete, and not a hustler. Berille says he ran into Biado recently at Surge Fitness in Alabang, where the champ was pedaling away on a stationary bike.
“He told me, ‘I am training hard this year for one main goal: the World Championship in Jeddah. I want to win the biggest prize money in the biggest tournament like Fedor Gorst.’ He was so determined, so I really thought he would get it.
Biado also has another advantage in tournament play. He is a naturally fast player, which helps when there is a shot clock. Some shooters accustomed to challenge matches can struggle under time pressure, but not Biado.
Biado took down a murderers’ row of quality players to win the US$250,000 prize in Jeddah. After disposing of Jan Van Lierop in his first match, he downed countryman Lee Vann Corteza in his next to get into the knockout stages. Chris Melling, a very experienced and decorated Englishman, gave him a good scare before the Pinoy won 11-9. Wiktor Zielinski, from the rising pool power of Poland, was the next before he edged fellow Filipino Jeff Ignacio 11-9, then the always dangerous Ko Ping Chung 11-7. Biado blew out rising Pinoy star Benok Regalario 11-3 in the semi before his 15-13 victory against defending champ Fedor Gorst.
The match had ebbs and flows, including wonderful shot-making from Biado, like the bank on the 8 to go 13-9 up. The final rack was pure theater, with Biado executing an awkward 3-5 combination, then a glorious multi-rail positional shot from three to four to seal the deal.
Biado has now won a second world nine-ball crown to go with the one he captured in 2017. He finished runner-up to Joshua Filler the next year. Only Earl Strickland, with three titles, has won this more times.
As mentioned earlier, Biado is also the reigning world ten-ball champ, an event he finished runner-up in to Ko Pin Yi in General Santos City in 2015. (I was there and watched that in person.) Biado also won the U.S. Open 9-ball in 2021, only the third Filipino (Reyes and Pagulayan are the others) to capture a crown that some players, especially Americans, regard as prestigious as a world title.
The U.S. Open is an event where Filipinos were snakebitten in the final, with Amang Parica, Ronnie Alcano (twice), Rodolfo Luat, Dennis Orcollo (twice), and Lee Vann Corteza all stumbling at the final match. Reyes won in 1994, then reached the final the next three years, losing all of them. Biado broke the curse.
Other accolades include a World Games gold medal in 2017. The World Games is the unofficial Olympic Games for sports that are not in the Olympics. Biado has also experienced the thrill of having a gold medal dangle from his neck at the SEA Games on three occasions.
This all begs the question: Is Biado the Pinoy billiards GOAT, ahead of Efren Reyes? Could we be committing the ultimate sacrilege by inferring that?
Firstly, we are speaking only of tournament play and not the mysterious world of money games. There are no records I know of when it comes to that form of the game.
Efren Reyes won one U.S. Open, one World Nine-ball, and one World 8 Ball crown. In terms of world and U.S. Open titles, he trails Biado four to three.
But Reyes is also a two-time World Cup of Pool winner with Django Bustamante. Biado has reached one World Cup final, in 2019 with Jeff De Luna, but they lost 11-3 to Austria.
Efren also has dozens of other titles, many in the old San Miguel Asian Nine Ball tour, and a plethora at the Derby City Classic, a multi-discipline jamboree that is now held in Indiana. Reyes won the nine-ball event there on two occasions and has triumphed in the One Pocket competition an astonishing six times. One Pocket is a highly tactical game where each player has only one designated pocket in which to pocket the balls.
Derby City Classic also gives out a Master Of The Table prize to the player who does best in all the disciplines, including bank pool. Reyes won this award five times, the last in 2010 when he was in his mid-fifties.
In 2002, Reyes defeated Niels Feijen in the final of the Tokyo 9 Ball Open, earning US$163,000, then the biggest prize ever in pool, and also cashed in during the International Pool Tour in the mid-00s, winning big events there.
Reyes remains the Filipino GOAT not just for the sheer volume of titles, but also for the way he influenced the game. His ability to kick at balls (hit a cushion or multiple cushions before hitting the object ball), and then either pocket a ball or re-safe his opponent, is the stuff of legend, and was picked up by generations of players.
But Biado has time on his side. He is only 41, and with the game growing exponentially, there will be more tournaments, big or small, that will help burnish his legacy. Biado has a decade to grow that CV, and with his current momentum, that will certainly happen.
Biado is at the Mount Rushmore of Filipino pool with Reyes and Bustamante. He has eclipsed other players near his age, like Dennis Orcollo and Lee Vann Corteza, incredibly successful Pinoy shooters as well. He may not be the Philippines’ GOAT yet, but he could be on his way to that summit if he keeps on going.
Images from Matchroom Pool on Facebook.
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