Hardships of Professional Pool as a Career

Guy Manges

Registered
Wisdom is the key. If a young man wants to dedicate himself to any endeavor, he must be willing to thoroughly and honestly evaluate reality. The results are fairly uniform: pool can't pay its players enough. That's the reality. Like my Dad used to say, "Son, stop beating your head up against City Hall."

We all love pool or we wouldn't be here. At the same time, we can not deny reality. I admire folks who are willing to chase their dreams. Sadly, dreams won't feed them. And if pool can't feed them, how will it feed their wives and kids? How will it pay for a home or a car?

Pool is an intellectual and physical activity best played with friends. It has proved beyond doubt that it can't financially support its players. It can hardly support the behind-the-lines, day-to-day grunts who keep the wheels turning. Sadly, it looks like the only people who make money in the pool world are guys who successfully sell the dream to us poor dreamers.
It's sad but I must agree with you 100% , We will stay as we are as long as we are... For one thing to be able to watch the viewing audience and the tables ( games at the same time is a big mistake... The whole place looks boring... I see it like watching people in a bus station... I learned over years of viewing that I could get involved in the game by only seeing the table and the bottom half of the players... The first few years of my viewing pool games I could tell , identify most of the players from the waste down, Still can most of the older Philippines... Guy.
 

Guy Manges

Registered
Clear evidence that, at the very least, Mr. Crane understood reality. When they were much younger, the "competitors" of today got too many gold stars and smiley faces. Plus, living the life of the Noble Vagabond Warrior is a powerful aphrodisiac. Everybody wants to be a Rock Star. Holy shith.
This is our direction...
 

Guy Manges

Registered
This has been an issue in pool for decades, although you may be defining it a bit too narrowly.

I have had contact with ESPN myself over the years, so this is first-hand info.

Pool on TV didn't get bad ratings. What it had was bad demographics. Advertisers are looking to reach the 18-49 years old demographic and a high-income demographic, but the data on televised pool showed that it was reaching an older and less affluent demographic.

Nice post!
Stu I just watched Demetrius and Fedor and the old audience in the background, I watched the whole set without enjoying it for myself, Only because Demetrius was playing... I think this is what you are referring to, demographics... Guy , Funny while I was watching i was thinking, this is USA pool...
 
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JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The are two systems that are important for rating or ranking pool players.

One is the Matchroom rankings....

The second system is FargoRate ratings...
Thanks for providing a detailed synopsis of the rating and ranking systems. I'm in the middle of watching Cazoo Masters final and will digest your words of wisdom tomorrow and see if I can understand your explanation better.
 

Oze147

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I didn't read through all of the posts here, but I want to share a conversation I had yesterday with a young player, who has the dream to be a pro.

We were playing a local tournament and we had a talk after he went out after losing his semifinal to a strong local player.
It was really eye opening to hear his view on local tournaments, the preasure to establish himself as a national team player, the expectations of his club buddies when he is competing in EuroTour events, disappointing experience while trying to wrap up a sponsorship with cue companies, work life balance and in the end the decision to quit a job to just focus on pool.

To sum it up, I am so glad, that I am a player who still misses straight in 9balls when under pressure and I will never be in the situation to decide between pool and a "normal" life.
 

Guy Manges

Registered
In the 1990's an influx of Asian players helped keep pool around: Puyat Sports, Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Jose Parica & Alex Pagulayan as examples. Now in the early 2000's to Current, European players with their dominance and their sponsors/ sponsorship's of tournaments have elevated Pocket Billiards here in the US . If this didn't happen, I think trying to make a living here in the US as a tournament player would have stopped around 2004 and major tournaments would just be regulated to regional or local tournament. Does the Professional Bowling Association even exist any longer? I'm not comparing the two as a skilled game, just the business practice. The Top 30+ players on the money list have made a good living from tournament wins (yes most of them have sponsors and well deserved). They are the best in the world and almost all of them are not US players.

Matchroom Sports with the purchase of US 9-ball Championship was a boost to US Pool. When Cornhole is a staple on ESPN (here in the US), you know Professional Pool is done for, at least to the general population. Accu-Stats, YouTube and AZBilliards have been a blessing for the game locally and abroad. However, mostly to people who have played with some deeper interest in the game. The General public in 2023 with the advent of Social Media and access to pretty much everything from one's phone.

How can this change for US pool players who want to be Professional Pool players? Leveling up on their skills to be able to compete with the top 35 players in the world. Be young enough with the absolute hunger to win without a "plan B" (at least till your 30). Marketing yourself on Social Media and to every company in the Billiards industry and even outside of it (if you develop a mass following, sponsorship should follow). Winning, every tournament you get into. People only remember the winners.

BTW, the PBA is still around. Had to google it. Thanks for reading the ramblings.
With that said, We still want the USA Mosconi team to win... Are we Dreamers... Guy
 

maha

from way back when
Silver Member
some observations to consider:--------

most all the sports that are exciting and have vast audiences you can watch for free on tv.

pool you pay an overpriced unprofessional steam to watch

pool is boring compared to the majority of watched sports

there are no regular broadcasts of pool

the big one-- is ---there are no celebrity players that are flamboyant or interesting that people want to relate to.
 

Guy Manges

Registered
It's definitely a sad situation.

Pool payouts are chump change for the most part. The top 3 places might get a little ahead. Even in amateur events the payout is silly. At a sanctioned state tournament my buddy took 2nd in 8 ball standard level. It cost $25 to enter the event. Out of probably 80 people he ended up in 2nd and won a whopping $200. Hotels were anywhere from $70 per night to $250. The event ran multiple days. No way to make money at the amateur level, even though this is a huge event. Every pool discipline costs at least $25 to enter, food is ungodly expensive (we lived out of a cooler packed full of lunch meat and cheese). If you drank, beer was $6 a 12 oz can, bottled water was $4.

I'm not discounting this player's plight. I get it. I'm not even very good in the grand scheme of things, but I love this game. I can only afford to go for a 3 day weekend tournament once or twice a year, and that's if they are only an hour away. It sucks. I love the tournament atmosphere, but it's only gonna happen once or twice a year because it's all expense and no payout. I can't even imagine being at the pro level and having to go through the same type of dilemma.

Pool isn't a career with any kind of security, no matter how you play. It's terrible. Hopefully it can change.
( GREAD ) ... we take all we can get before we fold, Must take it with us... I guess 6$ a can is to keep you from getting drunk ... Guy
 

Boxcar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
And above all, what self respecting soccer Mom (whose husband makes sure she has lots of money) would want their pride and joy to grow up looking like this..................?

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Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The tickets sold for the Mosconi Cup grossed over $500,000. While that may not have covered all of the expenses, it was at least a useful start. In a recent snooker tournament in China, there were 9,000 present for the finals.
The gate at a live event never cover the nut. Helps factor down production costs.
 

Boxcar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Find some viewers and it will fix itself.
In order to find viewers, you must first have something for them to watch. I contend that watching dead money for an afternoon or evening is not very entertaining. People want to see the big sticks, not the tadpoles. People want the autographes of The Magnificent 7, not the JV squad.
 

Boxcar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
OK, so far it's starting to look like the only jing in pool is the gate and dead money. It looks like maybe 10 guys are making a living on the various MR and Predator efforts, but that leaves about 29 million of us out in the cold. What are the choices? What do people really want from pool? Maybe answering that question will guide us toward the future.
 

dendweller

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
OK, so far it's starting to look like the only jing in pool is the gate and dead money. It looks like maybe 10 guys are making a living on the various MR and Predator efforts, but that leaves about 29 million of us out in the cold. What are the choices? What do people really want from pool? Maybe answering that question will guide us toward the future.
Personally I like it just fine, maybe you should go shoot a couple racks and see if you like it too.
 

dendweller

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
OK, so far it's starting to look like the only jing in pool is the gate and dead money. It looks like maybe 10 guys are making a living on the various MR and Predator efforts, but that leaves about 29 million of us out in the cold. What are the choices? What do people really want from pool? Maybe answering that question will guide us toward the future.
Let me apologize ahead of time, I'll do my best to stay out of this thread, have a good night.
 

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Part of the problem is that we have no way to grow our players.

Not at the junior level or the intermediate. We're all expect to swim in the same pond, where the pros or semi-pros are allowed to get in and devour the guppies.

Lou Figueroa
 
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