Pro lifestyle

peteypooldude

peteypooldude

I see Edges
Silver Member
How good does pools elite players live,Does Bustamante live the good life in a grand house with money in the bank and fine cars,or how about Archer,he seems to be pretty secure but still plays alot of events.How about Ralph Souqet, I know some of you are pretty informed,and I am just curios
 
No pool players are living the high life. Some are a little more secure than others. Most struggle a little.

But at the end of they day they get to play a game for a living. Seems pretty sweet to me.

Ralf is probably the hardest working professional player I know. I think he is on the road 400 days a year. And he literally puts the profession in professional.

I have said this a bunch of times - if more pros would put in the time that Ralf does they would be much better off.

One pro, who is well known but shall not be named by me, told me that they were living MUCH better before they turned pro, as in when he was on the road gambling. I was told stories of making regular scores in the 10-20k range and having new cars, girls, eating steak every night, clubbing when he wanted to and working when he felt like it. Now he is well known and struggles to be able to afford to get to the next event.
 
I remember an interview with Jose Parica where he stated that he staked his wife $350,000 to start a business. I guess having that much onhand to work with is pretty confortable.

I'm sure the top pros with sponsors that pay for their travel and entry fees do pretty well.

I think the top money maker in pool is Jeanette, but that's almost all endorsements. There was some article about top sports earners in a newspaper and I think she was listed at something like 300k, maybe 600k a year, can't remember the exact number.
 
Jeanette definitely pulls the money in and she deserves it. Closed mouths don't get fed. She proactively markets herself and she reaps the benefits of that.
 
i'd be willing to bet that SVB more then lives the "high life"

Same probably goes for corey deuel though i'm not as sure on that.
 
JB Cases said:
No pool players are living the high life. Some are a little more secure than others. Most struggle a little.

But at the end of they day they get to play a game for a living. Seems pretty sweet to me.

Ralf is probably the hardest working professional player I know. I think he is on the road 400 days a year. And he literally puts the profession in professional.
Click to expand...

Now the real question becomes ... where does he find those extra 35 days? :p
 
Making a living does not equate to having a life. I know a lot of people who make a ton of money and are miserable.
If you love what you do, you will never have to work a day in your life.
Getting paid for what you love to do..priceless.
 
You gotta figure to be top 5/6 in the world in money to break 60k...then figure out travel and expenses, pratice/training etc. Playing pool is not cheap....it reminds me of those MMA fighters.

I have a cousin thats going fight some MMA in colorado that's supposed to be televised. Out of 8 people if he wins he's going to pocket 2K LMFAO. He has to pay for everything, not to mention all the time and money he spends on training etc...

Some one like Shane or say Mika/Effren making all that cash is the DEFINITE EXCEPTION, and no where near the rule.

its a bummer,
Grey GHost
 
There are a handful of players that make a decent income, but the majority of the ones that do are smart business people too and have figured out a way to market themselves well and get their hands in other businesses.
 
Several countries outside of the U.S. sponsor players, Niels Fiejen immediately comes to mind. I'm sure there are many others.

So I'm sure it's much easier for them to make a good income, over a non-government sponsored player.

Good luck getting the U.S. to sponsor players.
 
This question is a great one! A lot of people have a misconception about being a "pro". I get a lot of questions or comments that go along the lines of:

"Wow, you signed a deal with ______ they must be paying you tons!"

or "Must be so nice to have a sponsor that pays for everything and you don't have to work and you can just play pool!"

or "You live the life, you get paid to play pool!"

Unfortunately, pool is not quite like other sports. Sure, everyone wears patches and has sponsors or endorses products but the pool industry is a small industry. Most of the time sponsorship is product sponsorship. Also, keep in mind that the average cost of going to a WPBA event is about $1500 per event. You have to finish in the top 16 to make a small profit. I'm not 100% sure how costly things are for the guys but I have an idea that it is about the same.

I can't speak for the "elite" players but I know that some of them do give lessons non-stop to fill in the blanks between tournaments. Others start small businesses in the pool industry to help earn money.

Also, keep in mind that players from other countries are actually highly respected for being professional pool players. Treated like real athletes by their countries.

I give the utmost respect to Jeanette for what she has done in the money making department. She is a true professional. She works hard and has a team of people working for her and because of that, she lives a nice, comfortable life and she deserves every bit of it.

That is just my take on things.

Sarah
 
sarahrousey said:
This question is a great one! A lot of people have a misconception about being a "pro". I get a lot of questions or comments that go along the lines of:

"Wow, you signed a deal with ______ they must be paying you tons!"

or "Must be so nice to have a sponsor that pays for everything and you don't have to work and you can just play pool!"

or "You live the life, you get paid to play pool!"

Unfortunately, pool is not quite like other sports. Sure, everyone wears patches and has sponsors or endorses products but the pool industry is a small industry. Most of the time sponsorship is product sponsorship. Also, keep in mind that the average cost of going to a WPBA event is about $1500 per event. You have to finish in the top 16 to make a small profit. I'm not 100% sure how costly things are for the guys but I have an idea that it is about the same.

I can't speak for the "elite" players but I know that some of them do give lessons non-stop to fill in the blanks between tournaments. Others start small businesses in the pool industry to help earn money.

Also, keep in mind that players from other countries are actually highly respected for being professional pool players. Treated like real athletes by their countries.

I give the utmost respect to Jeanette for what she has done in the money making department. She is a true professional. She works hard and has a team of people working for her and because of that, she lives a nice, comfortable life and she deserves every bit of it.

That is just my take on things.

Sarah
Click to expand...

Thank you for your input Sarah ,It is always good to hear from someone who works hard for the game,Good Luck Sarah
 
If they had MTV Cribs: Pool Players Edition, it'd be a bunch of trailers.

Just kidding. You can see from the numbers that some of them are earning 6 figures but that doesn't show the high expenses, and it's VERY up and down.

Like Efren goes from steady 100k+ per year to 200k to a massive 600k payday (500 of which was basically a one-time thing)... then suddenly it's in the 50k's and then one bad year of just 10k. Now he's back in the 50's early in 2010. I have no idea how gambling affects that. You'd like to think it helps but who's going to play a known top player and give that player the best of it?

It's kind of comical that a guy who makes many "top 5 in the entire world" lists will earn in some years less than the guy who fixes his toilets. Meanwhile about 200 golfers you never heard of consistently average more.

If a pool player isn't smart with his money and has a rough season I can easily see him sleeping in his car. The smart ones could live large for a limited time but instead keep it low key and save money for a rainy year.

I would be curious to see what their houses are like. In efren's case, the money he's earning goes much further in the phillipines than here.
 
CreeDo said:
If they had MTV Cribs: Pool Players Edition, it'd be a bunch of trailers.

Just kidding. You can see from the numbers that some of them are earning 6 figures but that doesn't show the high expenses, and it's VERY up and down.

Like Efren goes from steady 100k+ per year to 200k to a massive 600k payday (500 of which was basically a one-time thing)... then suddenly it's in the 50k's and then one bad year of just 10k. Now he's back in the 50's early in 2010. I have no idea how gambling affects that. You'd like to think it helps but who's going to play a known top player and give that player the best of it?

It's kind of comical that a guy who makes many "top 5 in the entire world" lists will earn in some years less than the guy who fixes his toilets. Meanwhile about 200 golfers you never heard of consistently average more.

If a pool player isn't smart with his money and has a rough season I can easily see him sleeping in his car. The smart ones could live large for a limited time but instead keep it low key and save money for a rainy year.

I would be curious to see what their houses are like. In efren's case, the money he's earning goes much further in the phillipines than here.
Click to expand...

My thought exactly,they need to do a mtv cribs on Busta,efren,ralph and about 5 others Thanks Creedo
 
paksat said:
i'd be willing to bet that SVB more then lives the "high life"

Same probably goes for corey deuel though i'm not as sure on that.
Click to expand...


SVB dosent live the "High Life" he is a close personal friend, therefore I wont put his biz in the street. But I will say this he is triple smart with his $$$, and dosent do drugs, barly drinks, and plays pool 8-10 hours a day. He does eat in good resteraunts(when I pay for it).


Pretty much for Cory he aint reckless with his $$$, he is triple smart too.



There is no por pool player living it up, the Snooker players in the UK do have good lifes but they make 5-10 times more $$ than pool players do.

And believe me I know what I'm talking about here, I'm a $$$ guy, so players(pro's) talk to me about $$$, I ask them about geting better at pool. So I know alot of pro's and been around for 25 years. I'm trusted and thats something I will never sell out on. I never put their biz in the street-but when I see "High life" I will correct that notion.
 
Falcon Eddie said:
Making a living does not equate to having a life. I know a lot of people who make a ton of money and are miserable.
If you love what you do, you will never have to work a day in your life.
Getting paid for what you love to do..priceless.
Click to expand...



Couldn't be said better!
 
JB Cases said:
No pool players are living the high life. Some are a little more secure than others. Most struggle a little.

But at the end of they day they get to play a game for a living. Seems pretty sweet to me.

Ralf is probably the hardest working professional player I know. I think he is on the road 400 days a year. And he literally puts the profession in professional.

I have said this a bunch of times - if more pros would put in the time that Ralf does they would be much better off.

One pro, who is well known but shall not be named by me, told me that they were living MUCH better before they turned pro, as in when he was on the road gambling. I was told stories of making regular scores in the 10-20k range and having new cars, girls, eating steak every night, clubbing when he wanted to and working when he felt like it. Now he is well known and struggles to be able to afford to get to the next event.
Click to expand...

Im gonna guess we are talking about Stevie here- He has won over 37K on average each of the last 4 years-After expenses that is probably more like $20K-Coolie wages-Brutal.
 
tap, tap, tap, Sarah! Most people don't realize that being a 'sponsored" player for a majority of players, means "HERE, play with this CUE"! The few U.S. poolplayers that get significant outside cash money can definitely be counted on, at BEST, fingers and toes. I didn't realize that finishing 12-16 in the WPBA even got you $1500. It's not that way for the majority of men's events (outside of the U.S. Open and Mark Griffin's Vegas tournaments). Even the DCC events pay nowhere near that...and of course, as you mentioned, the payouts are BEFORE expenses, which are HUGE! As someone who spends 200 days a year on the road, I can tell you, if you travel much, the DEAD MINIMUM you can get by with (without sleeping in your car) is roughly $150-$200/day. This includes gas, motel, food, and misc. expenses (as long as they're VERY small)...and I promise you that is not "living the high life". I am fortunate to do a job that I am passionate about. I get to set my own schedule, and go wherever I want, pretty much whenever I want. I also get to meet a LOT of really nice people...all of them poolplayers!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

sarahrousey said:
This question is a great one! A lot of people have a misconception about being a "pro". I get a lot of questions or comments that go along the lines of:

"Wow, you signed a deal with ______ they must be paying you tons!"

or "Must be so nice to have a sponsor that pays for everything and you don't have to work and you can just play pool!"

or "You live the life, you get paid to play pool!"

Unfortunately, pool is not quite like other sports. Sure, everyone wears patches and has sponsors or endorses products but the pool industry is a small industry. Most of the time sponsorship is product sponsorship. Also, keep in mind that the average cost of going to a WPBA event is about $1500 per event. You have to finish in the top 16 to make a small profit. I'm not 100% sure how costly things are for the guys but I have an idea that it is about the same.

I can't speak for the "elite" players but I know that some of them do give lessons non-stop to fill in the blanks between tournaments. Others start small businesses in the pool industry to help earn money.

Also, keep in mind that players from other countries are actually highly respected for being professional pool players. Treated like real athletes by their countries.

I give the utmost respect to Jeanette for what she has done in the money making department. She is a true professional. She works hard and has a team of people working for her and because of that, she lives a nice, comfortable life and she deserves every bit of it.

That is just my take on things.

Sarah
Click to expand...
 
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