Well, I guess it could be called "marketing" of some sort. I'm not sure if it's "good" marketing. He wrote he's looking to practice. To me, it's kind of pompous to ask his fans to pay a "minimum" of $100 to help him "practice".
I know some have said $100 is a bargain compared to playing a round of golf with Tiger Woods or a set of tennis with Roger Federer. Not a good comparison; both have career earnings of hundreds of millions of dollars in a global mainstream sport. Professional pool is a pimple on the butt of professional tennis or golf.
Here's a comparison to another non-mainstream sport: I was an avid racquetball player for a few decades. I was playing in a tournament one time with the world's #1 player, Kane Waselenchuk (different division of course). Kane is the best player ever to walk the planet by a large margin. A living legend. Anyway, I stepped on the court with him after one of his matches, introduced myself, and asked him for some quick backhand mechanics advice. Because he loves the game so much and is a regular, down-to-earth guy, he probably spent an hour helping me. Never asked for a dime. Contrast that to Fedor asking for a minimum a $100 to help him practice kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Nothing wrong with it, of course, but asking his fans to pay to rack for his practice seems pompous IMHO. If he was broke and looking to sell lessons, that would be different...that's not the case here though.
