Rent a pro

D

dearnold

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
First off, I’m serious, and I’m not trying to offend anyone.

I’ve always wanted to just hang with a pro for a while. Not really to take instruction, not really to play (much), just to watch them and be present. You can always take lessons I suppose, but that really isn’t what I’m looking for. I just want to have a pro over to my house and talk about pool, watch them play, hear a few good stories, drink some beers. Just hang out basically.

Of course, I’d never get a pro out of the blue to do this. I don’t have time to hang out at tournaments (and that is no guarantee of getting that kind of interaction anyway). But maybe you could buy that. I’m sure there is a price at which anyone will come over and hang out with you for a while. I’m thinking that given the state of pool and the payouts at world class tournaments, you might be able to make that happen fairly reasonably.

So what would reasonable be to me?

I’d be willing to drop let’s say $2,000 + all expenses including airfare for a pro to just come over and hang out at my house for the weekend and bang balls on my GCV. Of course, I’m not talking just any pro. Here’s a short list off the top of my head:

Mike Sigel
Efren Reyes
Corey Deuel
John Schmidt
Nick Varner
Johnny Archer
SVB
Earl Strickland

You get the idea.

I was looking at tournament payouts, and I’m guessing that even for these top players, $2,000 amounts to an average haul for a top event. Sure, if they win it, they get more, but we’re talking on average. And add on to that this amount is guaranteed. All you need to do is come over and hang out for the weekend, maybe sign something, eat my food, talk to the kids, tell some stories, etc. Hell, we might even end up liking each other. Guaranteed $2k with no pressure, no hassles?

I’m sure something like this has been done in the past. Perhaps putting someone up in your house during a local tournament, providing some housing for a while, stake horsing? But I’m just talking about a weekend. For me, a story like that would be worth the money.

Is this a crazy idea? What do you think the market for such a thing would be? The pro gets some needed money, and I get to hang out with one of my heroes for a weekend.

Thanks for your thoughts
 
On a creepiness scale of 1 to 10 this would probably be about a 6.5....I will check back to see how many bromances start developing in this thread. Good luck, rent well.
 
The South West Snooker Academy in the UK has something similar to this. You can pay between 50 to 150 pounds to play a pro, depending on the pros level fame/ability. Jimmy White used to be available, but he was I think up 2-300 pounds. I know you say you just want to watch them play, but it'd much the same thing. Shoot a few safety shots and then you'll just be picking the balls out of the pockets for him.

http://www.swsashop.com/playapro
 
Spimp13 said:
On a creepiness scale of 1 to 10 this would probably be about a 6.5....I will check back to see how many bromances start developing in this thread. Good luck, rent well.
Click to expand...

When I read the OP I was trying to think of a way to say this, but Spimp pretty well nailed it, but I'd think it'd have to be more of an 8.5 or higher.
2 G's for a stalker? Sounds fair...
 
Pro

I can think of a number or professionals that I wouldn't mind watching play on my table. I would invest in HD cameras to record, I'd go all out.

The list is in no particular order but funny, it does mimic the who's who of the WPBA.

Call me creepy if you must, I don't care. :p
 
I'll hang out with you for $1,500 + expenses.

I'll even teach you my famous safety shot where I hook the CB behind a ball but accidentally make the OB. I call it the Self Safety Shot.

I've got some great stories about the times I ran out from the 7.
 
I've often thought how great it would be if a pro would "beat up" some of the local bar players here...arrogant a-holes who are big fishes in small ponds.
 
I think its awesome, if i had the money to drop id try it, a weekend with Efren would be awesome, dude is so chill and laid back, it'd definetly be a memorable weekend. Hope it happens and please share the experience!
 
seems enough

If by "a weekend", you mean a Saturday and Sunday, that would be equal to a thousand bucks per day.......seems to me enough for a pro to accede to...
however, I can see some point to the "creepiness" factor too.....seems innocent enough, but a paid "bromance" somehow evokes collateral thoughts...
like a prior poster suggested, it would be interesting to read about if this all came to fruition.......
 
Last edited:
BDM1.jpg
 
If you want to do this in a slightly less creepy manner, pros often agree to give local exhibitions. $2,000 plus expenses is probably enough to get two exhibitions on a Saturday and Sunday, and then you get to play host to the pro the rest of the weekend.
 
Everything is relative.

While it is Halloween, I don't think this idea is creepy.

A while back one of my buddies who doesn't have time to hang out at tournaments and meet the pros asked me if I thought so and so would play them some one pocket with an enormous spot. I knew that the enormous spot with this particular pro wouldn't be out of line. My buddy wanted a chance at that moment in time to play this particular pro and so I asked the pro if he would be willing to give up the enormous spot to someone whom I knew fairly well. (Ok, the spot was 11-4). Anyway, my buddy suggested a hundred a game, knowing that the pro would play his heart out for that kind of money. I introduced them and away they went, having one of the best times for both of them. I even suggested to the pro that he give my buddy some tips after it was all over. My buddy was delighted with the outcome and so was the pro.

Some people just don't have the time to develop relationships with the professional players and don't mind spending what some people might think are exorbitant amounts of money. To some people a few hundred dollars is just a few hours work, to others it is a week's worth of wages or more.

JoeyA
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top