What is a "Professional" Pool Player? (Your Definition)

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DieselPete

Well-known member
A thread spun off into whether or not a particular young woman is a professional. So, separate from a specific player, I am curious what people consider the necessary criteria to be a "pro," broadly speaking.

Never before in sports have the amateur/pro lines been so blurred, with the introduction of NIL deals into college and now high school sports. Cross country runners that couldn't take $300 for winning the local Turkey Trot without running afoul of NCAA rules can now have a million-dollar Nike deal. It goes well beyond just the high-profile, revenue sports.

So, apparently income alone does not make one a "professional." Or in the world of pool, does it?

In your opinion, to call oneself a "professional" pool player, one should do what (and is it "all of the following"? or just one or two things)?
 
DieselPete said:
A thread spun off into whether or not a particular young woman is a professional. So, separate from a specific player, I am curious what people consider the necessary criteria to be a "pro," broadly speaking.

Never before in sports have the amateur/pro lines been so blurred, with the introduction of NIL deals into college and now high school sports. Cross country runners that couldn't take $300 for winning the local Turkey Trot without running afoul of NCAA rules can now have a million-dollar Nike deal. It goes well beyond just the high-profile, revenue sports.

So, apparently income alone does not make one a "professional." Or in the world of pool, does it?

In your opinion, to call oneself a "professional" pool player, one should do what (and is it "all of the following"? or just one or two things)?
Click to expand...
IMO, it's all about their abilities, not their income. I'd say 750 fargo and up.
 
US Olympic swimmers are professionals but might not make all their money in the pool. Same for our "pool."

750 Fargo
generates [large portion] of revenue competing in open-tier events
WNT pro card [this is a good litmus test]

I think that get's you there. There may be some wiggle room in #1 and #2.

-td
 
Pro Pool Player is person who does Pool as their job, weather they make decent living or not.

Player Pool, or Tech Pool full time.

JMHO
 
HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED TO REHASH THIS TOPIC???.

The defination of a professional is a person who makes their living doing something. Now we all know that playing pool isn't really a sustainable living for most of the players.

So what you are really talking about is professional cailber player. That is probably in the 700-750+ fargo range. Now for the women it's alot lower range.
 
Zerksies said:
HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED TO REHASH THIS TOPIC???.

The defination of a professional is a person who makes their living doing something. Now we all know that playing pool isn't really a sustainable living for most of the players.

So what you are really talking about is professional cailber player. That is probably in the 700-750+ fargo range. Now for the women it's alot lower range.
Click to expand...
^^^^^
what he said
 
CocoboloCowboy said:
Pro Pool Player is person who does Pool as their job, weather they make decent living or not.

Player Pool, or Tech Pool full time.

JMHO
Click to expand...
This is a good definition. Play or teach for a substantial portion of income. A sponsorship that pays money is a sign of a pro. Not as strict as old rules in other sports.
 
In pool, it's 100000% ability, not income. If someone can run out the set of 9 ball, or the game of straight pool, he's a pro. (Or if he used to be able to do that before he got really old). That's it.
 
An instructor is not a pro. If a banger player gets all their certifications and makes a living teaching pool, he/she is no pro. Give me a break. In pool, its all about ability.
 
The last time this came up, I picked a minimum annual prize money take, looked at the previous year's money list here on AZB, and looked at the FargoRates of all the players who qualified for what I thought was a reasonable income. As I recall, they were all over 760.
 
There are no rules of amateur status put forth by a governing body of pool. Therefore there is no defined pro or amateur in the game of pool. So therefore imo everyone is both an amateur and a professional.

Ability alone can't and should not determine status.
 
Fore Rail said:
There are no rules of amateur status put forth by a governing body of pool. Therefore there is no defined pro or amateur in the game of pool. So therefore imo everyone is both an amateur and a professional.

Ability alone can't and should not determine status.
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At one time some tournament organization had a rule that you were a pro if you had ever won a prize over $300 in a pool tournament. That's not a good rule, but it was the way they ran their event.
 
You could theoretically today have someone that makes a million dollars on a super popular YouTube pool channel that can't play a lick. Income wise, they'd be better off than Filler and Gorst and Shane combined. But they couldn't play dead.
 
At the other end, you could have an 840 Fargo that draws Filler and Gorst first and second round every single tournament he ever enters, loses to both hill-hill of 13-12, and goes 2 and out for life. Zero prize money. But god damn that guy is a pro.
 
DieselPete said:
In your opinion, to call oneself a "professional" pool player, one should do what?
Click to expand...
Enter a "Professional Tournament" as a pro making oneself eligible for the prize money should be the biggest criteria for losing "amateur status" for a pool player.
 
Fargo rating is not the truest measure……..all it does is rate a pool player’s likely skills level for competition.
Having a golf handicap does not by itself make you a professional golfer regardless of how low it might be.

For goodness sake, let’s not recreate new definitional meanings for merely the sake of argument or debating
If someone is or isn’t semi-professional or professional or even overly ambitious imagining they’re a professional.

If you are a professional, you make a sizable portion of your livelihood’s income from either teaching what you know
to others, like golf or tennis instructors, etc. or compete in tournaments for prize money against other professionals.

It really seems pretty clear but people mistakenly, and sometimes boastfully, refer to themselves or other highly skilled
pool players are pros or pro caliber. You can label a rose a daisy but it doesn’t change the fact its thorns will still cut ya.
 

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Bavafongoul said:
Fargo rating is not the truest measure……..all it does is rate a pool player’s likely skills level for competition.
Having a golf handicap does not by itself make you a professional golfer regardless of how low it might be.

For goodness sake, let’s not recreate new definitional meanings for merely the sake of argument or debating
If someone is or isn’t semi-professional or professional or even overly ambitious imagining they’re a professional.

If you are a professional, you make a sizable portion of your livelihood’s income from either teaching what you know
to others, like golf or tennis instructors, etc. or compete in tournaments for prize money against other professionals.

It really seems pretty clear but people mistakenly, and sometimes boastfully, refer to themselves or other highly skilled
pool players are pros or pro caliber. You can label a rose a daisy but it doesn’t change the fact its thorns will still cut ya.
Click to expand...

That's for a square dayjob. Not an athlete. An athlete is a professional based on abilities. Dr Dave probably makes a good living with all of his material, and he has all the teaching certificates. Is he a pro you'd buy a ticket to watch and expect him to do well in a pro event?
 
iusedtoberich said:
That's for a square dayjob. Not an athlete. An athlete is a professional based on abilities. Dr Dave probably makes a good living with all of his material, and he has all the teaching certificates. Is he a pro you'd buy a ticket to watch and expect him to do well in a pro event?
Click to expand...
Ummm... The title of this thread says What is a "Professional" Pool Player? so if we want to stay on topic we shouldn't be discussing coaches, or instructors or cue makers. We should be talking about players.

As an example from football, Tom Landry did play pro football, but for most of his football career, he was not a pro player. A more complicated case is Mike Massey, who makes his living on the pool table shooting shots, but not from tournaments, and he was a pro player at one time.
 
A professional pool player is someone who makes more than 50% of their annual net income from billiards. The 50% figure can include selling cues, equipment, accessories, being sponsored, giving lessons or publishing teaching material, and running a pool room if such supplemental income is primarily derived from the name of the pool player, who is actively competing in high stakes billiards competitions. That said, a minimum of 25% of the billiard pro's net income should come solely from playing pool to be defined as a pool pro. The rest can come from supplemental income to meet or exceed the 50% threshold.
 
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