Left and right, we see Jaybee Sucal in Filipino social media content creators pages. He is either being challenged to play or appear in one of their contents for a sketch (He recently acted as the main protagonist on Pio Balbuena’s short film where Efren Reyes also had a part). The 15 year old pool hustler from Sarangani province in the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines has brought back great interest to the sport for the last 2 years.

His journey to billiards “superstardom” started when he was featured on the famous TV station show Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho or KMJS for short. This is a hit docu series in the biggest TV station in the Philippines. That short feature of him about 3 years ago also got him the nickname “KMJS Kid”. Since then, his journey as a young hustler in the province has been followed by pool “vloggers” with his live matches shown on either of their Facebook or Youtube pages. When you watch this kid on these vlogs, you can see how young and old people alike shouting his name or wanting to get pictures taken with him.

This kid’s superstar status was proven when his long-awaited match against another young star in the making, 17yo AJ Manas was shown live with around 150,000 live viewers tuning in all social media platforms that showed the match. That match-up was set up in Cebu, in a local billiard pool hall that couldn’t keep up with the number of crowds and the AC almost non-existent, a typical scene in many pool halls in the country. Nonetheless, the show was a resounding success especially for Jaybee as he won the match in a dominant fashion, scoring 20-6 in a race to 20. (Note: he was given the 7,9,10 balls by AJ)

The Vietnam factor:

Jaybee, who has not played in any match outside the Philippines interestingly has a lot of fans and followers from emerging pool powerhouse Vietnam. In one video, he showed Vietnamese fans messaging him and wanting to know when he’ll be going to their country and bring the Jaybee Sucal show. Pool promoters and tournament organizers from Vietnam wanting to get him to join their events. Imagine, a 15 year old kid commanding such following and interest!

Good news for Vietnam fans, Jaybee in his recent social media posts, has indicated his inevitable visit to the country when he was seen applying for a passport and effectively saying “see you soon Vietnam”.

The Gambling and Hustling:

No one can deny the fact that almost all his matches shown are money games. And he is infamously called as “Boy Partida” by some fans because of how much he hustle for advantage in a match(he asked AJ Manas for the 7,9,10 ball in their 10 ball match-up). Him gambling at such a young age does not sit well for some fans. Gambling is part and parcel of the sport but being viewed as someone promoting it has made some Filipino hardcore billiard fans discrediting him as the new face of Philippine billiards.

Will he be able to transition from the hustler-gambler persona he has been known for to a more palatable TV friendly young junior pro?

Or, does he really need to change his image that has endeared him to his current fans and followers in order for him to win the naysayers?