Money Management

[Johnnyt]

I think the one thing that all up and coming pool players that gamble should be taught very early is money management. We all know that the majority of the great pool players die broke. Some of the legends that are still playing live from day to day.

Why? Because they don’t manage their bank roll right. Some will give outrageous spots just to get into action. Some will lose their winnings at the casino. Some at cards ...your a pool player not a card shark.

Guys that have played for and won hundreds of thousands of dollars in their lifetime are broke. It happens in other sports too, but nothing like pool. Johnnyt

 

[tpdtom]

I don't know if they're pool players who like to gamble, or compulsive gamblers who also play pool, but you're definitely right. Unless they become a bookie, or buy a business when they really have a windfall, I've never known a bigtime player/gambler who through his own means, had much more than a nice car, a wardrobe, and a bankroll in his pocket. Naturally, when they go off, they're living from hand to mouth, but I think many of them wouldn't have it any other way ...Tom

 

[roddyc]

I think gambling, like everything is great in moderation. But just like anything else addictive, the key word is moderation. The big difference between gambling on pool and other addictive behaviors is that everyone who plays at a higher level is so competetive. No one wants to look like a pansy in the eyes of their peers so I think a lot of these guys will make bad games just to maintain an image or prove themselves. And then of course, there are just those guys that can't get a fix unless they have everything they own riding on the line. And when it gets to that point, what's the real difference between a gambler and an alcoholic or junkie?

 

[td873]

I think the one thing that all up and coming pool players that gamble should be taught very early is money management. We all know that the majority of the great pool players die broke. Some of the legends that are still playing live from day to day.

A large percentage of the Americans work well into their retirement years, still relying on a "month to month" (week to week) paycheck to make ends meet. Those that choose pool as their job are no exception. There aren't a lot of jobs where you can just "get rich" so that you don't have to manage your money.

Money management is a skill that everyone - including pool players - should have.

-td

 

[Blackjack]

I think the one thing that all up and coming pool players that gamble should be taught very early is money management. We all know that the majority of the great pool players die broke. Some of the legends that are still playing live from day to day.

Why? Because they don’t manage their bank roll right. Some will give outrageous spots just to get into action. Some will lose their winnings at the casino. Some at cards ...your a pool player not a card shark.

Guys that have played for and won hundreds of thousands of dollars in their lifetime are broke. It happens in other sports too, but nothing like pool. Johnnyt

Excessive gambling is fueled by emotional insecurity. End of story. Send your comments and responses to:

Gamblers Anonymous
International Service Office
P.O. Box 17173, Los Angeles, CA 90017

 

[ShootingArts]

gamble and money management

Johnny,

I think that gambling and managing money are almost incompatible. People who do one don't do the other. When you run into the maybe one in a hundred person that wagers and manages his money well, he isn't a gambler! Most of the other ninety-nine players think they manage money well but they are mistaken.

I never respected money won gambling and often bet back all I won at the track. Card games and such, money was just a way of keeping score and I never risked much. Pool was my cash cow for a lot of years but only occasionally was I gambling and even then it was more a way of keeping score than gambling. None of the money was real until I woke up with it the next morning, a mistake no good money manager makes.

Pool players who have all of their assets in their pocket, on their back, and in the parking lot are pretty much doomed to end their lives broke. There are a few smart players who realize that hot streaks are bound to end and put some aside for a rainy day but they are few and far between.

Teaching the theories of money management is easy. getting someone to do it is much much harder. I told all three of my children that they could retire early if they simply put five dollars a week into savings and if they started doing this when they started work. I even ran the numbers for them and showed them how huge that five dollars a week became. None of the three tried saving for something that was that far away. I ran the numbers for people working for me too. None tried saving for any length of time.

Of course when I discovered this I only needed to put twenty dollars a week into the bank myself and never did so I am not the one in a hundred either.

Hu

I think the one thing that all up and coming pool players that gamble should be taught very early is money management. We all know that the majority of the great pool players die broke. Some of the legends that are still playing live from day to day.

Why? Because they don’t manage their bank roll right. Some will give outrageous spots just to get into action. Some will lose their winnings at the casino. Some at cards ...your a pool player not a card shark.

Guys that have played for and won hundreds of thousands of dollars in their lifetime are broke. It happens in other sports too, but nothing like pool. Johnnyt

 

[prewarhero]

Johnny,

I think that gambling and managing money are almost incompatible. People who do one don't do the other. When you run into the maybe one in a hundred person that wagers and manages his money well, he isn't a gambler! Most of the other ninety-nine players think they manage money well but they are mistaken.

I never respected money won gambling and often bet back all I won at the track. Card games and such, money was just a way of keeping score and I never risked much. Pool was my cash cow for a lot of years but only occasionally was I gambling and even then it was more a way of keeping score than gambling. None of the money was real until I woke up with it the next morning, a mistake no good money manager makes.

Pool players who have all of their assets in their pocket, on their back, and in the parking lot are pretty much doomed to end their lives broke. There are a few smart players who realize that hot streaks are bound to end and put some aside for a rainy day but they are few and far between.

Teaching the theories of money management is easy. getting someone to do it is much much harder. I told all three of my children that they could retire early if they simply put five dollars a week into savings and if they started doing this when they started work. I even ran the numbers for them and showed them how huge that five dollars a week became. None of the three tried saving for something that was that far away. I ran the numbers for people working for me too. None tried saving for any length of time.

Of course when I discovered this I only needed to put twenty dollars a week into the bank myself and never did so I am not the one in a hundred either.

Hu

Hu, you are spot on. Have you tried to establish a qualified plan for those that work for you? When I establish new plans at start ups we see a 30 percent participation rate. After we do a seminar for the employees it jumps to close to 80 percent. We show them the same stuff you showed you kids with the exception that we add a little more gloom and doom as to what retierment will cost and the possible pitfals and how much money is really needed.

Pool players need to establish the same thing. It is much different if they have a wife and children since they now have an obligation to protect them. I am sure Johnny Archer (pool pro and family man) has plenty of life insuarance, Ira's, a roth, and financial planner.

 

[ShootingArts]

this was years ago

This was years ago. I am now largely retired and I am my workforce.

I never employed over a half-dozen people or so at my businesses and I did offer them payroll deduction into their personal savings account at the bank but nothing special. This was back in the early and mid-eighties and the IRA's and such were unknown to me or non-existent.

Hu

Hu, you are spot on. Have you tried to establish a qualified plan for those that work for you? When I establish new plans at start ups we see a 30 percent participation rate. After we do a seminar for the employees it jumps to close to 80 percent. We show them the same stuff you showed you kids with the exception that we add a little more gloom and doom as to what retierment will cost and the possible pitfals and how much money is really needed.

Pool players need to establish the same thing. It is much different if they have a wife and children since they now have an obligation to protect them. I am sure Johnny Archer (pool pro and family man) has plenty of life insuarance, Ira's, a roth, and financial planner.

 

[emtguy]

I bet on pool and i play for 10 or 20 bucks a game. Most the time well play for 2hrs or more and sometimes you win 2-300 bucks and sometimes you loose it but one thing i know is that me and my regular players pretty much end up swaping the same money over and over, i had 320 bucks that i won one night and i decided to keep it in my pool case pocket and just play on that too see if we were really swapping cash. I played on that money for 5 months...never got lower than 60 and never got above 400 or so. It was a way of keeping score.
Now in my everyday life i am a stickler on saving and retirement funds...i dont buy anything unless i can pay cash for it, dang a 600.00 a month car payment. I can easily afford it but WHY? I can drive my 99 payed for truck and get from point to point easily and put that 600 a month im saving into mutual funds or smoething,which i do. I am 32 and at 55 im retiring.I have been saving and planning on it for a long time and thats my goal.Money managment is all it takes and also not creating needless bills. House payment is all i owe.