Alex Pagulayan

By Kat Day

Get to know Alex Pagulayan, “The Lion.”

Ihad the privilege of sitting down with Alex in a Zoom Interview two weeks ago! It was fun talking with him and getting to know him better. Alex has a fun personality; talking with him was a pleasure!

Alex had a great start to the year beating Joshua Filler once in the Nineball at the Derby City Classic and twice at the 2023 World Pool Championship in Kielce, Poland. Alex won the first match, 9-7, against Filler, then Alex turned around and beat him again in the next game, 11-9, which put a damper on Filler’s winning streak! “I played him once in the Derby City Classic and twice at the World Championship. Very fortunate for me that I came out on top,” stated Pagulayan! I had mentioned that Alex had broke Filler’s winning streak, and his reply was, “Oh, I don’t know. But he didn’t like it.”

Pagulayan went to Yushan, China, to play Chinese Eightball and loved it! The Chinese Eightball started before the Spanish Open but took place during the Spanish Open, which he missed because he was in Yushan, China!

In the interview, I asked Alex, How was it in China? Tell me a little bit about that. Alex replied, “Oh. That’s a good question. I loved it. I love every bit of it. I think I’m going to switch. I love to play. In most of the tournaments now, we play race to seven, race to four, and race to 9 at the most, and I’m a very slow starter, and I think the game doesn’t suit me anymore. So, when I play Chinese 8 Ball, I enjoyed it. I got six practice tables at the hotel. We get to play a lot. They call it Chinese Pool now. They don’t like to call it Chinese eight ball.” he went on to say, “I won in three matches, I actually did pretty good. The last time I played, I believe, was 2015. I’m not really sure if that’s accurate, but I think I probably say I would have like 100 hours to the game, maybe 150 at the most.”

When asked if Pagualyan liked Chinese Eightball better than Nineball, he replied, “I think the race is too short. I mean, for me anyways. The players are already getting too good for these short races, you know. I don’t really enjoy it anymore.” stated Pagulayan. Pagulayan enjoys the Chinese eight ball much better than nine ball because the matches are much longer!

Pagulayan spent a total of 17 days in China and had quite an experience when it came to getting laundry done! Here is a little bit about that from the interview.

Kat- I saw you on video washing your laundry in the hotel room.

Alex- “Oh, that was too funny. Yeah, because I asked the hotel if they do laundry. Yeah, we do laundry; it’s $10 per load. I said, What? So, I decided to wash my own clothes right for—It cost me $1.50 for the laundry detergent. So, I’m looking for a place to hang my clothes, and I saw a space by the window. I have some tape with me, so I tape them to the handle of the window, and I’m going to leave them there for a few hours to dry quickly. And it started raining, I said. You, mother fucker. So, I have to redo everything. So it was fun. I put tape on it to make sure it doesn’t fly right, it really crossed my mind the clothes could blow away, but Luckily for me, I have Some tape on me.”

Many of you already know Alex Pagulayan, but do you know him? Alex Pagulayan was born Cabagan, Philippines. Alex was asked if he has dual citizenship. “Yes, I do. Yes, I think the Canadian passport alone is easy to travel anywhere in the world, and I have a lot of friends. Everywhere I go, they see my passport and say Come in, Welcome!” Stated Pagualyan. He and his family moved to Canada in 1994 when he was 16. His father managed a pool hall, so Pagulayan was introduced to the game at an early age. Though he was also attracted to other sports, he thought his physique may have been unsuitable. He has said, “I like a lot of sports, but with pool, you don’t have to be physically tough.” His primary training venue was Loma’s pool hall.

I asked Alex when he originally arrived or moved to Canada, and this was his reply “I went to Canada on August 17, 1994. Then I move out in 2003, Yeah, and move to Hawaii for a few years. As we speak, I still have two kids, and their names are Dylan and Ray Pagulayan. I miss my kids.” When asked what his childhood was like and how he was introduced to the game, this was what Alex said. “What is my childhood like, and how am I introduced to the game? Well, I’m one of those kids that I’m spontaneous. I like to try a lot of things, and at that time, my father keeps bringing me to the poolroom, and he keeps getting beat. I told my dad. You know what, Dad, give me three years. I will beat all of them for you. But my dad says don’t be silly and starts laughing, right? So a few months later and then my dad rented the pool room; I found out from my brother. Just me and my brother and my uncle, which is a year older than me. We always do something like play cards we shoot basketball. Whatever we can bet our money on. Nothing much. Very small money. We just like to beat each other, right? It just so happens I get the best of them, so. They did not tell me my father rented the pool room. They told me two weeks after. So they have already been playing for two weeks, so they want to get the edge. So when I went there, they asked me to play. I said no, Not yet. So they didn’t know I started playing after a week of playing. They couldn’t beat me. The rest is history. That was the birth of my pool career right there.”

Kat - Who were some of your early influences regarding early mentors and favorite players?

Alex - Well, the person that changed my game overall, his name is Paul Thornley. He’s from Canada. I believe he’s 79 years old now. I met him when I was 16. I also like to watch. I’m one of that person that if you tell me something, it’s hard to register. But if I watch a lot, then I will learn from there, then I will try to apply it to my game, add to my arsenal, and then practice it. I would like to do it when I see something. I like to do it on my own first, and then if I can’t find the answer, I seek someone to help me to figure it out.

He was one of your early mentors. and who were some of your others?

Alex likes Efren Reyes, Bustamonte, and Earl Strickland, “I learned from a lot of people It’s just like I if I see one thing I like about the game, I just mimic that,” stated Pagualyan.

I asked Alex how he got the name “The Lion,” and here was his reply: “I thought you would never ask that. OK. The lion comes from Paul Thornley, actually. Because my last name is Pagulayan, everybody’s having a hard time pronouncing my last name. So, the lion is kind of like there’s a rhyme; layan, you know, sounded like a lion. So they just call me the lion, and one other part is I just love to play, no matter who it is, and they think I have a heart like a lion. That’s why they call me the lion.” Alex also stated that one day he had dyed his hair all blond, and it was spiked up like a lion, so it was confirmed he was the lion!

Pagulayan has experience in the game of snooker other than Pool, helping the Filipino team to win the Snooker Gold Medal at the 2005 SEA Games (held in Manila, Philippines) with teammates Joven Alba and Leonardo Andam. After the team’s 3–2 win against Thailand at the Makati Coliseum, Pagulayan emerged as a triple gold medalist.

I asked Alex, You’ve won snooker titles in Asia and Canada, and your pool success is well known. So as someone who has played both at a high level, how do you think Pool compares to Snooker in terms of both similar and unique skill sets?

Alex replied, “Well, I would say they’re completely different games. I wouldn’t say oh, this is easier; they are just completely different games. Obviously, it’s hard to pot a ball in snooker. But in Nineball, it’s hard to relax because anything could happen. Like, even if you’re up four or five games. The guy can literally run four or five racks on you, right? And there’s a lot of strategy in Nineball that when you make a mistake, for some reason, you get penalized a lot. In Snooker, you can get away with it. But so I would say for me, they are both a hard game, right? But mind you, Snooker is my favorite game.” Snooker is Alex’s favorite game, just a little over One Pocket, which is next, and Chinese Eightball is third! These are his three favorite games now!

I asked Alex if he would like to see something more to what Snooker has with Q school and qualifying events.

Alex replied: “100%, you know when I tried to Join the Q School 11 years ago, in England. I’m very fortunate I made it high enough to get invited to replace the players that could not make it. So. I get to play their pro event, and they took me to one of their rooms for the meeting. Like maybe nine of us, And they showed us on the big screen what Snooker is all about. One good thing about Snooker is that a month and 1/2 from now, you know when you’re playing, what day you’re playing, what table you’re playing on. So you know there’s no players meeting. They already do that before. If you like, go there for your match and go three days early, four days early, or a day early. It’s all up to you. But if you lose, you can go home. You don’t have to spend another four or five days and all the food. You don’t have to spend another 1500. For that trip, right? So that’s why I loved it.”

The most memorable tournament win for Alex was winning the all-around at the Derby City Classic in 2015, and One of the most memorable matches for Pagualyan was the 2004 WPA World 9-Ball Championship. Pagulayan remembers the quarter-final like it was yesterday! “I remember every single shot from the one all the way to the 9, I was up 10/5. I made one bad decision. The next thing you know, it’s 10-10,” stated Pagulayan. In that tournament, Pagulayan won to Fong-Pang Chao in the quarter-final World Championship in Taiwanese, Taipei 11-10, and then went on to beat Kuo Pocheng 11-4 in the semi-final and took the championship against Chang Pei-Wei 17-13 becoming the 2004 WPA World 9-Ball Champion! Watch this clip from the World Pool Championship! https://www. facebook.com/watch/?v=679793262886845

In the interview, Alex discusses how he does not like short matches. His ideal match is “For me if I’m going to play 9 ball or 10 ball, I would like to play. Four and 1/8 pockets on a diamond table, race to the 13, single elimination, break from the box, nineball on the spot. with a shot clock, and for the timeout, you’ll have 10 minutes consumable. It’s like chess. Whatever you use on your first time out, the remaining 10 minutes. That’s what you have. After that, you don’t have any more time. for some, it requires 2-3 minutes to think. So that’s if I’m going to play or have a tournament.” stated Alex Pagulayn. Alex plays with a Steve Lomax cue.

Alex literally loves to walk. He walks at least an hour a day, if not more! He also enjoys cooking! He spends a lot of time in the studio creating content for his fans and posting it to his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/alexpagulayanpro and YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@ AlexPagulayanPro

Look out, Alex Pagulayan fans, The Pagulayan brand has many exciting things coming soon. There is a shaft in development, and Alex has just started testing different models. Chalk, Gloves, Cue Cases, and many other things all coming soon. ell Pagulayan brand is a premium pool brand representing Alex and everything he stands for; integrity, excellence, and heart. Apparel is coming soon, and many other pool products to follow.

Alex is returning to China to play some more Chinese Eightball and attend the China Nineball event! Check out the full interview with Alex Pagulayan. Alex Pagulayan talks with SPM Billiards Magazine’s https://youtu.be/6DM3AZKktJQ