Pool shark’s dream deferred
STRUGGLES OF FLEDGLING TOUR AFFECT KIRKWOOD
BY BOB BECKER
PRESS SPORTS EDITOR
GRAND RAPIDS — Jason Kirkwood goes to The Break-room to shoot pool a couple of times a week.
But unlike earlier in the year, when he was in full training mode and didn’t miss a day, he plays when he can and doesn’t worry about missed practice time.
Ten months ago Kirkvood was looking to fulfill a dream, making it big on the International Pool Tour.
Today, he’s back to wait and see, working construction to pay his bills.
“At first I played all the time, six days a week, hours at the table,” he said. “I thought the tour had legs and that there was money to be made.”
Kirkwood made some money, $17,000 in the North American Open in Las Vegas. But then the legs started to come off.
“When Congress passed the law restricting online gambling, the tour lost about 80 percent of its sponsorship money,” he said. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen.”
An announcement on the IPT site indicates the tour’s
Masters, King of the Hill and Tour Card Championships are being rescheduled, with no date set.
The rescheduling, the release says, is because of “recent legislation signed into law relating to online gaming.”
The events “are not canceled, but rather in the process of being rescheduled,” the IPT said.
“But I can’t hang around and wait,” Kirkwood said. “I have two kids to support, so I need to work. A year ago, when the tournament was looking good, the prize money was enough to
take the gamble and work on my game so that I could compete.”
Compete he did. He is ranked 27th of the 234 IPT members.
“But what good is that,” he said, “when there are no events to play in and no prize money to play for?”
Kirkwood started shooting pool when he was 5, toting a footstool around a table at his aunt’s house to enable him to get high enough to shoot.
His parents owned a bar, and as he grew up he perfected his skills on a table there.
“I would like it to be my job, because if the tour works, there is money to be made,” he said.
“The top guys in the world make well into six figures,” he said. “But to do that you have to play every day and be on the road every week.”
The top money winner on the 1FF list is Efren Reyes, with $565,000. Thorsten Hohmann is second at $355,000.
The IPT World Open 8-Ball Championship had $500,000 in prize money. The North American Open offered $350,000.
“It was looking so good,” Kirkwood said. “There was enough money out there to commit the time and go for it. But now everything is on hold, and nobody knows what’s going to happen.”
There are millions of recreation pool players, but does that number translate into a successful tour?
“It wasn’t that many years
ago when poker was just a game people played in their living rooms,” Kirkwood said. “But now look at it. Big money, TV exposure, the biggest names are known across the country.”
Kirkwood will continue to shoot pooi when he can, sometimes for money, but his dreams of a big payday are gone.
“I am discouraged,” he said. “I’m ranked No. 27, and that’s without the work or the experience of most of the guys ahead of me.
“If I really went after it, who knows how high I could get? But the incentive is gone. I have to make a living now.
“It is starting to look like my opportunity came and went.”
E-mail:
bbecker@grpress.com
