Is that the Chinese 8-ball event (as in the "game Chinese 8-ball) that Potts won last year or is that something different?
That is the biggest 1st place prize in pool I have heard about in quite some time. The only comparable prizes I can think of are the old WPC World Championships back in better years.
I wish pool would shift pro pool more and more into 8-ball as the main game played at the pro ranks. With tighter pockets becoming a standard the game is perfect for pro pool and brings ALL of the aspects of pool to the table, ball potting, safety play, strategy, banks, no soft breaks, ect... And it brings familiarity to the masses with regards to pro pool as 8-ball is THE game played by the general public (non-pool players in the pub messing around with their girls friend and/or buddies over a few beers). It also links pro pool to the league system as league is "almost" exclusively 8-ball pool and that is what pool playing amateurs play.
Much like golf, the amateurs should be playing the same game as the pros, the only difference being the pros are playing the game under tougher conditions. In single player sports where you are not directly competing with an opponent's own skill in each moment you must have a tough field of competition to make sure each competitor is given ample opportunities to compete and thus increase the number of samples/attempts at the table and increase the law of averages and ensure that the player playing with a higher level of skill is the likely victor of the day and is not beat by a small sample size. Pool is unlike in Tennis or Basketball where the difficulty in the game does not only come from the field of play but the constant situations and difficulties your opponent can put you in as you both play the game at the same time and affect each situation your opponent is in. The field of play must be tough.