In brief - There were many big tournaments held annually in the 1990's; The Sands Regency had two a year (Summer and Winter), with the winner getting $10,000 in cash each time. All the best players played at the Sands hoping to get a win there to add to their resume. Earl won more than anyone else (what else is new), Sigel won a couple, Varner, Rempe, Archer and Davenport all were Sands champions. Jimmy Fusco came out from Philly only one time and won it (maybe 1993). The Bicycle Club also had two a year in the same time frame as the Sands, so players could come out here for two big events back to back. They added 25K and first prize was usually around 15K. All the best players in this one as well, with winners like Efren, Francisco and Raphael.
I put on two huge L.A. Opens with Earl winning the first one (over CJ in the finals) and $21,000 on top. Peg Ledman won the women's division and $10,000. Don Mackey didn't like all the attention the women players got and threatened a boycott if they played alongside the men again. So the WPBA went their separate way and Mackey went on to pillage the coffers of the men's association. The second L.A. Open was an all around dominated by Mark Tadd who took down two of the three divisions and scored for $26,000! The women did okay for themselves, getting mostly Indian casinos to sponsor their televised events (all on ESPN). They had 100K purses with the winners getting 15K in each one. That brought Allison and then Karen and Kelly over here to get their share of the good fortune. They could only make penny's playing Snooker in England.
The Camel Pro Tour ran for a few years in the mid 90's, until Mackey killed that with his greed. Each event was a 75K guarantee with 15K on top. Only 64 players were invited to compete. The tour had eight events each year. There was also a $300,000 bonus fund paid out at the end of the season and the best player overall got a 60K bonus! Even 10th place overall was good for $8-10,000 extra. Camel was fully prepared to up the ante until Don Mackey got sticky fingers and they pulled their sponsorship. A settlement was finally made between the men's tour and Camel for a healthy six figures. Mackey stole all that money and headed south to Florida, never to be heard from again.
Jim Willard put on some big tourneys outside Chicago in the early 90's that paid 30K to the winner. Buddy won the last one. The BCA helped launch the North American 9-Ball Championship that evolved into the U.S. Bar Table Championships. The winner of each division got $10,000 with a $5,000 bonus to a player who could win both. It was a the biggest paying bar table tourney of that era.
There was an active tour of poolroom tournaments in the 90's, all with $5-10K in added money. Hard Times Bellflower was the first to add 10K and all the top players (except Sigel) flocked to play there. The owner Chuck Markulis always paid the winners in cash. I handed out a lot of envelopes stuffed with hundreds to Buddy, Swanee, Kim, Varner and Roger Griffis. Johnny won more of these events, mostly held back East, than anyone else. He was the first guy to come along who could beat Buddy and Earl on a regular basis.
We also put on the ill fated Hollywood Open in 1993, that the police tried to shut down the night before it was to start. It took a full night of legal hassling with the city of L.A. to get it going again. Efren won that one, beating Roger Griffis in the finals (10K) and then Roger beat Efren the following week at the Sands in the finals to return the favor.
That's a short synopsis, but you get the idea. It was a good and bad time for pool in America, before all the European champions started to appear. The Filipinos were not yet able to stay here for long periods of time, and only a few of them could get visas. Jose and Efren and Luat left their mark though while they were here. Parica was hands down the best money player on the planet back then and Efren had already begun his domination of One Pocket, a game made for him and his creativity.