I'm sure this is a question thats been asked before...

You can be a working guy that doesn't do drugs and become a pro for sure. I work, never done drugs and I'm a pro. Don't let anyone say you can't.

And that's why I'm a fan of yours :thumbup:. But to be fair, you do not let pool get in the way of your business. You are a pro and play at a very high pro level but in regards to tournaments, it appears you're just feeding your passion for the game by playing in a few tournaments a year and not putting them above your working lifestyle.

If there were a pro tour that had multiple tournaments throughout the year and you played in all of them, I would consider you a true working pro player. Some women do this on a regular basis which I admire. My friends Melissa Little & Laura Smith are two examples (Laura has been a working, full time single parent & tour player for many years).

I don't play at a pro level, but play well enough to beat someone in a short tourney set if the planets are aligned just right, and maybe get in the money...but I can't make money if you know what I mean. I love being able to play in an occassion big tournament (drug free :) ), but my marriage & work come first.

Again, big fan Donny and I loved watching you & Shane play on TAR. Best of luck to you and the original poster,

Dave
 
Nice post J.

You mentioned that you wanted to know about being a professional with a full time job. You couldn't do it because the majority of big tournaments are not Sat Sun tournaments. Even if they were, what happens when you go deep at a tournament in Oregon, and you're from Nevada. Tournament ends at 2AM and you work at 8AM, bit of a dilemma.

The expenses issue is huge. I've been on the road well over 40 years and I can tell you that the amount you have to make just to stay afloat is staggering.

The thing about true pool players not having anything but water at a tournament isn't a joke, lots of time you can't eat at the venue or do anything but play.

Think about how many people play top flight pool who come on here asking for money to play in tournaments. LOTS and LOTS.

If a pool player is fortunate enough to collect $120,000 in prize monies from shooting pool competitively, you can be sure that almost half of that -- YES, I said HALF -- goes to expenses. And let's not forget about taxes.

When you add in hotel, travel expense, entry fees, food, et cetera, it eats up at least half of what anybody earns. And this holds true especially today when you take into consideration that pool players must travel the international globe to keep up with today's tournament trail. It's not just in the States anymore if you want to be a so-called "professional."

Furthermore, if you have a spouse and family, they must be prepared for the fact that you will be on the road, sometimes more often than you are at home. The income source, if only pool, will not be secure. The spouse may have to not only keep the homefront afloat by paying bills, buying food, paying other house-related expenses, but they may have to be the sole breadwinner by getting a job outside of the home. Professional pool today is a rich man's high.

For a single gentleman or lady, if you have no family responsibilities, then it might be fun to live out of a suitcase, with no permanent home to pay for. Traveling around the world could be exciting.

In order to break even on expenses, however, you must come in first, second, or third place in the majority of pool events that you compete in. If you have good credit, you could support yourself for about 5 years on $100,000 charged to your credit line. You will eventually have to pay it back, however, which could result in you having to give up pool permanently and get -- gasp! -- a job. You can live high off the hog for about 5 years on your credit line.

The majority of people today that are able to turn a profit in pool are industry members with product for sale, industry members and/or print media folks who have their expenses paid by another source so they can travel the globe for free, and tournament directors who get paid a fee for their services. Pool players are on the bottom of the totem pole and are merely dancing monkeys who perform for any crumbs that are left over.

Pool players will most likely die broke and alone if they pursue a career in pool for a lifetime. While they are on top of the world and hitting them strong, they are the print media and industry members' darlings. When the pool players can't shoot anymore due to age, they will be discarded and forgotten, oftentimes ridiculed for their choice in life to become a so-called "professional pool player." They end up pariahs. Today's pool culture in these United States is most definitely cruel to its own and deems pool players as no-talent homeless bums that are the scum of the earth.

I hope that helps clarify what it's like to be an American professional pool player in the year 2011. :)
 
I can't say that I've ever seen a working girl at a tournament, that's a new one on me.

It is true there are drugs and working girls around, but you can't blame that on pool. The fact that players are strung out or paying prostitutes is on them, not because they are at a pool tournament. These same people would find some other thing to blame their habits on if they didn't play pool. I play pool, go to professional tournaments, know many guys that do the things you are talking about, but I don't do any of those things myself. All of that is a personal choice, not a result of a lifestyle.
 
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