How does one get pro status?
- Thread starter Brizzle
- Start date
Fargo Rate may have an opinion....
Step 1: Buy or borrow a cue Step 2: Walk into nearest pool room Step 3: Pronounce yourself to be a pro. Done.
The labels Pro and Semi-pro have nothing to do with skill. Professional means that is how you make a living. Semi-pro means you make money at it but not enough to quit your day job. Amateur means you do it as a hobby without regard to making money.
I can't believe no one has posted this. I think it is the same for golf and other sports. Not sure.
If you enter a pro event and you place in the money, ie. you get paid, you are designated a pro and are no longer eligible to enter any amateur event. This is permanent. You cannot go back to amateur status.
Anyone can enter a pro tournament. I have several times. It is getting paid to play that makes you a professional.
If you enter a pro event and you place in the money, ie. you get paid, you are designated a pro and are no longer eligible to enter any amateur event. This is permanent. You cannot go back to amateur status.
Anyone can enter a pro tournament. I have several times. It is getting paid to play that makes you a professional.
Pool has no such structure. Very ambiguous/arbitrary. In golf you can not accept ANY cash prizes and are limited to $750 in vouchers, gift cert., etc.
Your answer begs a new and different question.
What decides the difference between a "pro" tournament and an "amateur" tournament?
Right this minute the SidePocket Open tournament is being held in Shreveport, LA. There are just a smattering of what we would call "professionals" attending (Roberto Gomez and James Aranas just to name a couple). IMHO, I do not believe that this tournament would qualify as a professional tournament what with the bulk of the players being amateur/semi-pro. Yet at least two, the two I named above, and probably some others that have certainly not only earned money at a professional event, but has actually won some of them are playing in it.
By your definition those two wouldn't be allowed to participate in it.
You may counter by saying that the SidePocket Open is a professional event. If that is so, then why so few "professionals" are actually there?
IMO, the only pool tournaments in America that should be labeled "professional" are the ones that generate points for Mosconi Cup play. All others should just be labeled "Pool Tournaments".
My $0.02.
Maniac
There may be some amateur organization that uses this guideline but it is by no means definitive. Pool is just scrambled all up. There is one set of “who can’t play in the us amateur championships” that considers pool instructors to be pros. Anyone who gets paid an appearance fee to show up in a pool hall, for whatever, is a pro.
In the SBE pro level players are allowed to play as amateurs as long as they haven’t cashed top 3 in certain big name events *the previous year.
Nothing is permanent in this situation I think unless your a Named Pro that most pool junkies would recognize
I have seen some area/local tournaments have this restriction, even if you just play in a bigger event you could be barred from playing in some tournaments which is silly. Anyone with the money can enter the US Open, etc... they can be a D player. Without a national ranking and league systems there are no "Pro" pool players, just Pro level skill players that happen to make money playing pool. When was the last time we read about some college senior pool player leaving school early to sign up with the "Chicago Stripes" to play "Pro Pool"? That would be never. Even things like being sponsored in tournaments and equipment is not a good way to tell if you are a Pro, since there are plenty of B and A players with "sponsors". Pool has gone by "known ability" to determine rankings not any sort of tour or membership in a league system ranking. Even in the days of the Pro Billiards Tour, I'm pretty sure you could just show up at an event and play without needing a tour card. The closest recently was that short lived player association that was pretty much formed only to make sure the US Open payed out the players and then dissipated again.
WPA, BCA and Matchroom should sit in some office for a bit and sort out some sort of agreement about an actual national and world-wide pool tour with rankings, tour cards, unions, whatever, then we can have "Pro" pool players.
You hold some local qualifiers, top 3 from each area get a tour card to play in higher level events. Or just use the Fargo rating, if you are 750 and up, you get a tour card for events, if under you need to play in a qualifier. Then those players can call themselves Pros and be excluded from leagues like APA based on actual pro status vs some nebulous random thing that people think a pro pool player is.
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I’ll say it again
Go win
Simple as that. Fargo smargo, leagues don’t count, local pool tourney’s are local yokels. That’s all no words and noise.
Pro speed don’t equal pro. I’ve known guys who played pro speed and couldn’t take they game out of their local room-social anxiety or something, who knows who cares?
When you can go “win” anywhere anytime and get the $ and that what you do-your a pro. Until then you aren’t.
Go win
Simple as that. Fargo smargo, leagues don’t count, local pool tourney’s are local yokels. That’s all no words and noise.
Pro speed don’t equal pro. I’ve known guys who played pro speed and couldn’t take they game out of their local room-social anxiety or something, who knows who cares?
When you can go “win” anywhere anytime and get the $ and that what you do-your a pro. Until then you aren’t.
Amen to that.
Having siad that, most of them are more or less homeless and sleep wherever they can from town to town. Usually on someone's couch or worse.
Lets not even talk about their health as they get older from that lifestyle.
One thing is for sure, we may not know what they're doing now but, we all know for sure where they will eventually be:
Foodstamp (EBT) line....off our backs!
SSI check ..................off our backs!
Free health care ......off our backs!
You know what? Something else I just realized....lol....:
They hustled "us" while young and able play....then, after getting to old or sick to hustle us at pool.....lol......they hustle us out of our tax money....
They got it figured out, huh?
Jeff
I agree 100%
You described me to a "T".
Champ at home but, when I go out to run with the big dogs I don't last to long, unless I steer clear of the mid-level and up pros. If I play only lower tier pros, I can usually hang for a few days before my weaker fundamentals and consistency fails me.
Jeff
Then you're eliminating the U.S. Open as a pro event???
I know better than to get into a Barton-esque debate with THE realkingcobra, but your reasoning leads straight back to one of the original questions:
Where is the separation between the "anyone" and the "pro"? There has to be a line drawn somewhere.
Who draws that line? Where is the information posted for one to look at?
It's too complicated and disorganized to differentiate between amateur/semi-pro/pro without stepping on some toes.
It's similar to the MLB's All-Star team picks. Someone deserving always gets left out.
Maniac
Organization!
Pool is all over the place.
Pool reminds me of tiny mice fighting over the same piece of cheese.
It would go a long ways to have a "standard" in equipment that had to be met to be considered pro equipment. The same for the games and rules.
Also, if someone could control all the tournaments through one body and then let viewership pay the bill with online and tv.
It could be done. It's not something that would be easy but, I truly believe that someone will and when they do, lol....their gonna make a ton of money.
Think:
Netflix
Hulu
Comcast
And pretty much any ppv company that has adds.
It's there, it just needs someone thag has the connections, knowledge and desire to do it.
Jeff
It's been tried more than once. Problems seem to arise because of the power/control issues between the organizations and the players.
I agree with your post on all accounts though.
Maniac
What do ya call a pro poolplayer with a pissed off girlfriend? Homeless! LOL
Scott Lee
Director, SPF National Pool School Tour
Scott Lee
Director, SPF National Pool School Tour