So You Become A Professional Pool Player

Scaramouche

Scaramouche

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You don’t know anybody. You don’t know where to go. You don’t even know who the tournament director is.

You spend the first two weeks of your professional career wondering why you bothered.

On the first day of any job you are shown what to do: where to go, who to speak to, what your duties are. A new professional is just expected to turn up with a cue and start playing.

You have not had it explained to you what your professional duties actually are.

There’s been no media training, no financial advice, no steers on dealing with managers and obtaining personal sponsorship.

Pool is your passion and you need help in other areas.

It seems like a dream profession to many but away from the actual playing it can be boring, lonely and often overwhelming: all that time to think about what can go wrong.

New playing opportunities are of course exciting but even this brings additional pressure: making sure the entries are in on time, booking hotels and flights, practising enough but not too much, pacing throughout a long season.

You are in the public eye, where your every action and decision is endlessly analysed and criticised. Sometimes that criticism is warranted.

Adapted from
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2011/08/sticking-up-for-players.html
 
MahnaMahna said:
They only contribute to this forum when they want something, such as the ABP rounding up support, people needing votes for the Mosconi Cup, people needing to sell a cue, etc.
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Yes, but those who have stuck around share opinions, tips and tricks often get targeted and flamed. John Schmidt and Donny Mills are the only consistent posters left, and they don't post THAT consistently (though I'm sure both are rather busy).
 
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I would think that by the time you are good enough to be a pro you would know where the tournaments are. You have been in enough and probably got the encouragement from players that you beat in the local tournaments.

I don't think there are very many players that become pro by just jumping into it without being around the block a few times. Some "no name" may win the championship but you can bet that he was a champ in many tournamnets before he entered. Mike Davis, Shane, and Gabe were virtually unknown but they weren't novices to the game.

With the Internet today it is a lot easier to keep informed and make travel arrangements than it was years ago. Plus there has to be some other players at the pro level that will give some advice, tips, advice and etc about what, when, and where the next stops are.



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I'd like to see Earl get pissed off at the keyboard trying to type a paragraph with one finger hitting more than one letter with his extensions.
 
C.Milian said:
I'd like to see Earl get pissed off at the keyboard trying to type a paragraph with one finger hitting more than one letter with his extensions.
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LOLOLOLOLOL! :rotflmao1::rotflmao1::rotflmao1:

Truth be told, posting on a pool forum isn't part of the pro player's lifestyle. I'd venture to guess that most of them spend the same amount of time playing pool as we do here posting. :embarrassed2:

With the anonymous posters, multiple-identities trolls, and banned members posting, AzBilliards is not a welcoming environment for pro players.

Though there are some well-meaning posters who would welcome the colloquy, there will be others who take glee in posting vulgarities, mean-spirited words, in the guise of "playing with their toys" and/or "expressing their truthful opinions," even if those opinions are laced with nasty words that they'd never say to that player's face in person.

I've witnessed some bullies rip pro players apart on forums, sometimes writing lies in an effort to not only flame but deliberately, with malice aforethought, try to hurt that pro player's feelings. These bullies believe this is the equivalent of having fun and that the Internet shouldn't be taken seriously. I see these same bullies in person at a pool tournament thereafter standing in line asking for the autograph of the very pro player they ripped to shreds with their lies.
 
Jam:

Thats sucks when freedom of speech gets threatened. That's why we need earl.

There are a few simple things that can take a shortstop over the top because they have the prerequisites to understand the concepts painted by the masters of the game---Their art form is words. I find it easy to feel blessed being in the presence of people of such character.....how can you not? Further, how can one feel esteemed from the degradation of those with the ability to lead us out of the forest?

The other day I shed light on a topic to a person that had taken me many years to understand. I did not need thanks or recognition. A simple, "oh I did not know that", was enough for me to feel happy I did a favor for a supposed friend. It was really big. But he cared less about the value he had just walked into. Instead, his reply was,

"I knew that".

People that know more than you will usually know the extent of your knowledge on a subject. Especially if they have seen you execute.
 
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