Hear, hear, and a tap, tap, tap. Thank you for stating the truth.
Can Pro players get jobs and still compete?
- Thread starter PETROBOY
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Hear, hear, and a tap, tap, tap. Thank you for stating the truth.
Yeah it would be good to hear from a pro player and see what they have to say but it's hard they are all hitting thousands of balls and to busy to read this! Jam where do the players who don't work expect the expense money to come from? I feel asking for a steak is the same as begging but that's just how I see it. Do you really think the players are hitting balls all day everyday? I'm sure there is time in their busy day they could work at something for some cash.
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Far from my intent I really wish pool would boom and these guys made huge money but it's not the case and pro players need to be staked to go to a tournament and I was wondering if players could work to cover their own expenses that's all. Pro pool pays nothing unless you win everything and we know how many are doing that.
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how OLD are they?
seriously. REALLY?
WHY, are WE, brain-storming & solving THEIR problems?
are you kidding me?
i have instilled @ my 12yr old son, since age 2, that he's ON HIS OWN at 18.
i am a single mother, working 100hrs/wk, to keep a roof over his head, with no support, and successful. ____ - me.
perhaps they need a Sugar-Mama
seriously. REALLY?
WHY, are WE, brain-storming & solving THEIR problems?
are you kidding me?
i have instilled @ my 12yr old son, since age 2, that he's ON HIS OWN at 18.
i am a single mother, working 100hrs/wk, to keep a roof over his head, with no support, and successful. ____ - me.
perhaps they need a Sugar-Mama
Joe Balsis was a butcher. Neither of them gambled as far as I know. Mosconi's job was doing exhibitions for Brunswick, same with Caras.
A lot of pros survive by having a backer and gambling.
No, I'm not acting like it is a terrible shame that you are asking pros to get a job like everyone else. I am saying that you have no idea what it takes, the time involved as well as effort, to be a professional pool player and compete on a high level.
But let's all keep knocking them down and making fun of them like they're outcasts. That's what makes AzBilliards, a so-called pool forum, fun.
It is okay to say they should pay their own way, but to state a pro player in 2014 can have a full-time job flipping burgers or selling hot dogs to get by is assine.
minimum wage @ CA just hit $12/hr. and rent is at an all-time low.
Hey that's a great idea, they should apply at Brunswick for jobs doing exhibitions !
JKing !
I know. Everybody brings up players from the '50s and '60s. Heck, Cigarettes cost 25 cents a pack in the '60s, and a gallon of gasoline was 25 cents, and if you filled your tank, you got a free set of steak knives. :grin-square:
Times have changed since the era of players working full-time and playing pool.
Plus, the pool tournaments today pay the EXACT SAME AMOUNT as the pool tournaments of the '60s. Yet, the cost of living has at least quadrupled.
How many pros made above poverty level money playing pool ,, Mike Davis just finished 4 last weekend and has a full time job now ,, Brandon Shuff just finished 14th in a similar field ,, who's better off ,
Most American pro's are seen regularly in weekly tourneys and Regionals that are many time won by a working Joe
We often hear the story's here of Hustling under assumed name wearing fake glasses and such ,,
These are the things that keep the Pro pool players intertwined with the average joe and the main reason why they are treated the way they are
Only a select few have earned respect ,, it does not come free
1
Most pros are BANNED from regional tournaments today.
And to pick out one pool tournament is not statistically significant at all.
Mike hasn't even worked a full year yet. LOL
JAM,
i think a lot of us on this forum do understand what it takes to succeed and be at the top of our field. I started working at the age of thirteen, not at something fun or that i enjoyed, just a regular part time job.
I worked hared, finished school & then went out & found a regular job.
Worked hard at several different shops & then found a permanent full time job.
For the last 25 years i have worked between 50 & 60 hours per week + farmed at home + do volunteer work + have hobbies..
My wife went to college & works full time in the medical field + takes care of 40 miniature horses + successfully shows the horses on the national level & takes care of me.
The amazing thing is we are not unusual, most people who are willing to work hard & make commitments live the same kind if lives.
We just cant do exactly what we want to all the time.
SLIM
This is a world that takes money to live and that crack that I dont know what it takes is just a shot at me you have no idea what I know about pro pool or what it takes to be good. In 2014 these pro players that are broke not the ones living off a girlfriend or wife how do they pay for the expenses to travel to tournaments? how is asking if they should have jobs making fun of them? How can you say they shouldnt have jobs when pool doesnt pay the bills? These players are all adults if they dont want to work thats up to them I was wondering what everyone else thought. Everyone knows that if you didnt work and only played pool you would be a better player but that doesnt pay the bills and that is my point.
I'm not arguing with you on that, but this is a pool forum here. People on this pool forum are ridiculing and demeaning pro players because they can't afford to compete anymore due to a fractured pool industry. They suggest that they flip burgers and sell hot dogs. I mean, the nerve!
Sure, if somebody needs money, they should get a job. I agree with this logic. But a pro player cannot complete at a high level if he's flipping burgers on a full-time job. There is not enough time to practice, number one, and then most employers won't let them take time off to attend pool tournaments as often as is needed.
It seems like members of this forum like to wipe their feet on pro players as if they're scum of the earth, but they're the sames one in the front row at pool events cheering them on. Sickening.
i'm not arguing with you on that, but this is a pool forum here. People on this pool forum are ridiculing and demeaning pro players because they can't afford to compete anymore due to a fractured pool industry. They suggest that they flip burgers and sell hot dogs. I mean, the nerve!
Sure, if somebody needs money, they should get a job. I agree with this logic. But a pro player cannot complete at a high level if he's flipping burgers on a full-time job. There is not enough time to practice, number one, and then most employers won't let them take time off to attend pool tournaments as often as is needed.
It seems like members of this forum like to wipe their feet on pro players as if they're scum of the earth, but they're the sames one in the front row at pool events cheering them on. Sickening.
JAM,
i disagree.
If a player worked a day job.
Practices at home or in a pool hall till midnight.
Went home, got some sleep.
Got up, went to work.
Used vacation to do a couple big tourneys.
Went on weekend trips to smaller tourneys, i think they could survive.
It's that going home getting some sleep thing that i think most players lack the fortitude for.
I realize this is a pool forum, however pool is just a part of life, like everything else.
SLIM
I think that also depends on where you live. I live in a small town, and the nearest large tournaments are hours away, at least. I'd spend A LOT of money just getting to the tournaments, including food and gas, and it'd be tough to make that make money for me on a consistent basis. What would be my dream job? To make enough money to survive, not be rich, but survive, within the pool community by using my graphics design and commercial production skills. Making money at what you love is the definition of dream job. Have I done that yet? No. Will I be able to? You never know. Heck, I'd do some stuff for free just to get my foot in the door. YOU HEAR THAT POVPOOL and INSIDE POOL! LOL!
I know. Everybody brings up players from the '50s and '60s. Heck, Cigarettes cost 25 cents a pack in the '60s, and a gallon of gasoline was 25 cents, and if you filled your tank, you got a free set of steak knives. :grin-square:
Times have changed since the era of players working full-time and playing pool.
Plus, the pool tournaments today pay the EXACT SAME AMOUNT as the pool tournaments of the '60s. Yet, the cost of living has at least quadrupled.
JAM -
I have interviewed just about all of the OLD pros, years ago.
Most were broke. Things really havent changed.
I was interviewing Ray Martin at his house in Florida years ago. It was small, very modest. I asked Ray about some pool players his age, including a number of HOF players that were absolutely broke. Ray considered himself very fortunate to have what he had and he thought he was better off than almost all of them.
So thinking the old guard were rich isnt right either. The ones that have made a ton in the pool industry made it from other than the money made gambling or tournaments. Hopkins, Varner, etc.
The pool player that is most successful today isnt the best pool player by far. It is one that has leveraged pool into other things, and that is Jeanette Lee. Again years ago, when I was doing some writing she made over $400K in endorsements and advertising, and probably $30K max from tournaments.
The folks that are successful in pool, IMO, would have been successful without pool.
But whining about how little money is in pool, years and years, reminds me of the liberals and the 99%ers who think they are entitled to something. IF you want to be successfull go do the work to be successfull, dont go belly aching about the price of gas in 1960 and the payouts in tournaments.
Both of my daughters went to college and are teachers. Teachers start at $34K a year, but I dont stomp my feet and whine and blame the BCA, blame the fans, blame everyone. My kids knew how much they were going to make as teachers and still went into the field.
Pool players could and can ask anyone, unless you really have something on the ball you are going to make very little money, it is expensive to go and play, and more than likely going to be broke most of their lives.
SVB is the best in the country, makes $100K. Almost any engineer in the country makes more than that when they are upper end performers.
I dont really care, but damn can you please quit whinning about it, nobody is entitled to anything....just go out there and earn it.
Ken