Welcome Dave! I'm a UK ex-pat whose been living out in the wilds of darkest Southern California for 6 years now. It's 6000 miles from the nearest decent cup of tea, and don't even get me started on what they call "Cider" round here.
I used to play UK 8 Ball in pubs and clubs around London and the pool scene here is very different. (At least different from how it was 6 years ago, I understand there's been some big changes with 9 ball taking off in the UK over the last few years)
Gambling is much more part of the general pool scene here than in the UK. There are plenty of bars with casual social players like the UK who either don't gamble or play for very low stakes, but go into almost any organized Pool Hall and you'll find people who regularly play for money, and others who hang around on the sidelines beting on other people playing. You can find "name" Pro players playing for money if you look for them. especially if you visit Pool halls when tournaments are running with large prize funds. (Anything $1000 or over will typically attract the best local players, some of whom may play at a Pro level.)
Pro players succesful enough to make regular TV appearances in general have a good income from sponsorship and endorsements so do not have to rely on gambling as a source of income. Unfortunately at present the number of male pro players in this category is very small. (Just look at the Pro player tournament earnings on this website to get an idea of how little money there is in the US game)
Lower-end Pro players (Men anyway) have a pretty limited choices in the US. They can gamble on private games for money as their sole source of income, which involves a lot of hassle, travel and risk, and once your skill level is know you will be expected to give up substantial handicaps to other non-Pro players. Generally you have to have a financial backer(s) to make this work, and they will take a cut of course.
They can play in Pro tournaments regularly, but as the payouts are low you have to play in a lot to make a living, which again involes lots of hassle, travel and risk.
Therefore a lot of good players with a Pro-quality game have to compromise, holding down "Real" jobs and playing part-time, picking up occasional money games and playing in local tournaments but not travelling. As a consequence a lot of good local players will never make it to major tournaments and have a shot at the big titles, so you'll never hear of them.
Finally there are players who are not very good but love the action. These players might setup games with much better players but with a large handicap. Negotiating the handicap is a skill some people can master to a much higher level than their pool shooting skill.
Some players, notably the Philipine players like Reyes, Bustamante and Parica grew up playing nothing but money games and feel it was integral in their development as top players. You know that because they became succesful and give interviews. However you never hear about all the players who ended up peniless on the streets because of gambling, because those guys don't get interviewed in the press.
If you are interested in learning more about the US scene I recommend you read the excellent "Playing Off The Rail" by David McCumber. (You should be able to get it from Amazon.co.uk if you can't find it in a local book store.)
I've never seen Steve Knight play. He was on the Mosconi Cup squad a few years ago, I guess he's been dropped in favor of stronger European players like Souquet and Immonen. I did get to go to Vegas for the Mosconi Cup last year and got watch Steve Davis beat Earl Strickland 5-0. Now that was a good time!
If you ever make over this side of the Pond send me an message, maybe we can play a frame or two.
Aunty Dan
