IPT sold to reputed "gangster"
- Thread starter jungledude
- Start date
John: It's great that last place pays $2000, however, it might be misleading to extrapolate and compare this to full-time workers or the US average. Subtract out say $1000 for travel expenses so that last place really nets $1000. Also factor in the considerable unpaid time spent training and it becomes apparent that this profession doesn't really pay that well for those on the bottom tier.onepocketchump said:
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PoolSharkAllen said:
The Product "IPT" is an infant, still evolving and will do so if someone keeps with it, time.....................................is needed.
O
onepocketchump
Guest
PoolSharkAllen said:
No, "the job" still pays far more than the average wage because the player is not required to play only on the IPT and thus has plenty of other income opportunities. The training cost is spread out over all of these opportunities. It could be argued that the IPT actually increases a player's income potential because the training required makes each IPT player more skilled and physically fitter. The expenses are part of the job and they are basically the same for all major tournaments. The difference is that all major tournaments do not pay just for showing up and no other major tournaments have the income potential of the IPT.
Also my math was flawed. If a player does not advance at all and makes the guaranteed $13,000 then they have essentially earned that for 48 hours of time, being present one day before the tournament starts and one playing day. That is so far above the average wage that we don't need to discuss it anymore.
If the IPT plays out according to Kevin's dream then the bottommost IPT tour player will be earning far in excess of the average wage. In fact, the $100,000 promise guarntees it.
But, for the sake of ending the argument I will agree that $13,000 for three weeks' worth of work and related high expenses is not the dream wage. $13,000 for doing something you do already though, and coupled with a shot at 8 million is definitely not being treated shabbily. You can spend as much trying to win the US Open 9 Ball tournament and take a chance on not even getting paid.
At least that's how I see it. I think that anyone who has a problem with the payouts is being completely nitty.
20 years ago it was a big deal when Nick Varner earned over $100,000 in a single year and he had to win something like ten tournaments to do it. Go back two years - pre IPT and you won't see earnings over $200,000 a year unless there is some kind of special event like the Challenge of Champions included (which everyone doesn't have the same earning opportunity). Next year there will be 150 pool players who will earn at least $100,000 for being pool players. Even if the IPT falls apart and that doesn't come to pass - no one has ever even had enough balls to dream of such an offer much less make one.
John
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Totally agree that the IPT is like a dream to professional poolplayers. My only problem is that the main hope for every player in the tour or who qualified for the tournaments, is to be a cardholder in 2007, where making $100,000 is the bare minimum you are supposedly GUARANTEED. There are tons of players who have spent over $10,000 trying to qualify, maybe even more. I really just can't see the IPT shelling out a MINIMUM of $20 million. There is just no way that it can be done, not that soon.
I think that by now, KT hoped the IPT would be skyrocketing to popularity like poker did. But that's not happening. If you look at the photos from the tournaments, every photo I see behind the players are full of empty seats. There are no spectators. People are hearing about this from word of mouth. They have APA and BCA leagues at the poolhall I go to, and out of the dozens of different league players that are all avid pool players, so far only FOUR out of ALL of them even know what the IPT is. 2006 is more than halfway over and 99.9999999% of the world hasn't even heard of it. There has been no mainstream advertisement for the IPT. I thought that by now, KT would have bought some airspace on mainstream TV channels to advertise. Where is this $20million+ going to come from? Thats my concern. I just hope that the players that are spending tens of thousands to qualify, don't end up screwed out of their life's savings for nothing.
Again, I'm not an IPT naysayer. I support it and have supported it from the beginning. Its just that alot of this isn't making sense, and like someone else said, I can't believe that it was sold for $150 million USD, it can't be worth anywhere near that much.
I think that by now, KT hoped the IPT would be skyrocketing to popularity like poker did. But that's not happening. If you look at the photos from the tournaments, every photo I see behind the players are full of empty seats. There are no spectators. People are hearing about this from word of mouth. They have APA and BCA leagues at the poolhall I go to, and out of the dozens of different league players that are all avid pool players, so far only FOUR out of ALL of them even know what the IPT is. 2006 is more than halfway over and 99.9999999% of the world hasn't even heard of it. There has been no mainstream advertisement for the IPT. I thought that by now, KT would have bought some airspace on mainstream TV channels to advertise. Where is this $20million+ going to come from? Thats my concern. I just hope that the players that are spending tens of thousands to qualify, don't end up screwed out of their life's savings for nothing.
Again, I'm not an IPT naysayer. I support it and have supported it from the beginning. Its just that alot of this isn't making sense, and like someone else said, I can't believe that it was sold for $150 million USD, it can't be worth anywhere near that much.
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O
onepocketchump
Guest
Poker didn't skyrocket to popularity. Poker has always had a loyal number of diehards like us. It didn't get popular with the mainstream until the WPT (World Poker Tour) got it on TV regularly on an obscure cable channel. Who really watched the Travel Channel before the WPT? The guy who invented the WPT format shopped his concept around for several years before someone took a chance on it.
See the parallels? KT is creating and has created tons of high quality content. Enough to show pool for years to come. I am sure that he is right where he wants to be.
John
See the parallels? KT is creating and has created tons of high quality content. Enough to show pool for years to come. I am sure that he is right where he wants to be.
John
onepocketchump said:
I agree that Kevin Trudeau has done more for pool than ANYONE to this date. I believe MOST if not all of the IPT pool players would agree. Let's hope that HO keeps the HO-HO-HO in the IPT. Even if the IPT closed today, KT will have done more for the sport of pool than any other single person to this date. Hope KT netted MUCHO DINERO and I bet even the pool players wish him well. At the very least they have HIM to thank for the largest pay days in the history of pool. It would be great if it continues. Who knows? Who would have believed that ANYONE would be paid $350,000.00 or $500,000.00 for winning a pool tournament?
JoeyA
Several on this site were bagging on KT when he first came up with this IPT saying that the players were going to get screwed. It doesn't look to me like the players got screwed at all. Now another rich man bought the tour and people are thinking the gravy train is over. The players have made more money in the last year playing in tournaments than they ever have before. Let's just give this new guy a chance and see where it goes ok? The worst thing that could happen is that things go back to where they were prior to the IPT, right? If that's the case, how did the players get screwed? They've had a nice year and a half making big money. Hopefully, they'll continue on making big money and until we know for sure that that's not the case, let's just wait and see.
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onepocketchump said:
I believe he also gave a personal guarantee once that Coral Calcium cured cancer.
onepocketchump said:
Would anyone be willing to bet that, now that he has turned a substantial profit from the IPT, Kevin Trudeau could care less what happens to the tour, the players, or the fans?
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gromulan said:
Hellooooo, he has committed another 5 years to the IPT!!! That is fantastic news for the tour. And I believe he deeply cares. Why else would he come and watch matches...inconspicuously sitting in the back, making sure everything is going ok, and dare I say it, enjoying the matches! This is his little baby and he has a lot of his blood, sweat, tears, not to mention MONEY invested in this, not to take an interest in the direction it is going and the players involved.
He does care and wants to offer security to the players with pensions, healthcare and financial management/planners onsite.
As far as getting the word out on the local level, I think they will be addressing that soon.
