Take that, Europe! We are USA Strong!

[afittsch]

The "no money in Pool" thing gets repeated over and over again, and the fact is that a good player can make a decent living and a very good player can do even better.

I agree, even though i made that exact statment.

The money these players make comes from the pool community. Yes there is added money in these tournaments, but just "added". So every non-world-class player pays his tournament entry fees and makes it possible for pros to survive. There is nothing wrong with this approach, it just doesn't scale that well
So, with this model in mind, we need as many players as possible to thrive. Right now, i do not see much room for businesses to enter the pool world and make big money in this fragile eco system.

What i said is related to US/Europe, i have no idea how tournaments in Asia get funded.

 

[Poolshootindon]

Good post but I will refute one claim of yours. The "no money in Pool" thing gets repeated over and over again, and the fact is that a good player can make a decent living and a very good player can do even better. True, it's not golf or tennis money, but it's still money when you win $15,000 like Roberto Gomez just did at Chinook Winds. Shane picked up a cool $8,000 in the Ten Ball Challenge there as well. Take a look on the front page of AZ and check out the top money winners list sometime. Someone is getting a nice chunk of change at each event being played. And the other top finishers get a healthy pay check as well. Domestic travel is not that expensive (especially when you have sponsors) and room rates are not that exorbitant with shared rooms.

There is a semblance of a pool tour right here in the USA if you follow the tourneys from state to state. That's why you see so many Filipinos playing over here. They see opportunity where others see drought. Dennis hasn't done so badly plying his trade in the USA, winning in excess of 50-75K a year consistently for the last several years, spending only part time here. I won't go into the details, but Shane has set himself up well for retirement some day with his real estate holdings, and he's only 33. I suspect he will be well set to retire from full time pool by age 40, and not have to give lessons to survive! P.S. He did it all from playing pool for a living!

Then for the top players they have quite a few international events in Asia, Europe and the Middle East with healthy six figure prize funds. First prize is anywhere from thirty to fifty thousand in each of these events, similar to our own U.S. Open and Derby City events. So a top player can earn over 100K a year and several do each year. The good players get the support of sponsors, so they are essentially playing with no expenses.

There is a reason why the really good players stay involved in the game. They are doing something they love and making a living while doing it. There is also a sense of camaraderie with their fellow players. Sorry to upset all the knockers who constantly complain about "no money" in pool. It's there, you just have to have the skills to win it! :thumbup:

One last thing, that was real money Dennis won last week (he got a very fair share!) and some of us who profited along with him gave him a little bonus as well. Like Shane, Dennis has invested wisely in the PI, following in the footsteps of Efren, who is a major property owner in his community. These guys are not all dummies in case you didn't know.

Ummm... Gomez won $10,000 at Chinook winds. The field did not fill and they decided to pay the lesser sum.

 

[Ekojasiloop]

Good post but I will refute one claim of yours. The "no money in Pool" thing gets repeated over and over again, and the fact is that a good player can make a decent living and a very good player can do even better. True, it's not golf or tennis money, but it's still money when you win $15,000 like Roberto Gomez just did at Chinook Winds. Shane picked up a cool $8,000 in the Ten Ball Challenge there as well. Take a look on the front page of AZ and check out the top money winners list sometime. Someone is getting a nice chunk of change at each event being played. And the other top finishers get a healthy pay check as well. Domestic travel is not that expensive (especially when you have sponsors) and room rates are not that exorbitant with shared rooms.

There is a semblance of a pool tour right here in the USA if you follow the tourneys from state to state. That's why you see so many Filipinos playing over here. They see opportunity where others see drought. Dennis hasn't done so badly plying his trade in the USA, winning in excess of 50-75K a year consistently for the last several years, spending only part time here. I won't go into the details, but Shane has set himself up well for retirement some day with his real estate holdings, and he's only 33. I suspect he will be well set to retire from full time pool by age 40, and not have to give lessons to survive! P.S. He did it all from playing pool for a living!

Then for the top players they have quite a few international events in Asia, Europe and the Middle East with healthy six figure prize funds. First prize is anywhere from thirty to fifty thousand in each of these events, similar to our own U.S. Open and Derby City events. So a top player can earn over 100K a year and several do each year. The good players get the support of sponsors, so they are essentially playing with no expenses.

There is a reason why the really good players stay involved in the game. They are doing something they love and making a living while doing it. There is also a sense of camaraderie with their fellow players. Sorry to upset all the knockers who constantly complain about "no money" in pool. It's there, you just have to have the skills to win it! :thumbup:

One last thing, that was real money Dennis won last week (he got a very fair share!) and some of us who profited along with him gave him a little bonus as well. Like Shane, Dennis has invested wisely in the PI, following in the footsteps of Efren, who is a major property owner in his community. These guys are not all dummies in case you didn't know.

I buy what you've said and I appreciate your comments. However, when it gets mentioned that there is no money in pool, of course we're not necessarily talking about two of the best ball strikers that have ever lived as you mentioned. Yes, a select few can make a very good living playing pool. However, the reason people become interested in things is usually money and or prestige. If two 16 year old kids go play golf today, they come home and see Rory McElroy on espn and it's really a spectacle. If the same two kids head out to play pool, they're never going to come home and get excited about seeing anything, or notice how well the game can be played at its highest level. ESPN doesn't care about a sporting event where the winner, after expenses, is getting 7 grand. The interest has to be completely, 100% self motivated with pool, which in life is quite rare.

Permit me to use an example. There's a player who's run 400 balls on two different occasions. I don't know of any modern day player other than him who's even done this. I'm not a straight pool historian, but how many players in history have done that? You used efren and shane in your post as good examples, but I'll use this player in mine, and as you know there are many like him. Perhaps one of the best ball strikers that's ever lived, not even hardly making it to tournaments. And, it's not like he hates pool, and doesn't want anything to do with the game. No, he loves pool. So, if you play like John Schmidt, you still can't make enough money. How's that to the psyche of an up and coming player.

I'd like to see how many golfers we'd have going out and making a living if one or two US players could make say 100k a year. There'd be nobody left playing! That's why I think all the results and everything sort of have an asterisk next to them. I suppose Europe does play quite a bit better than the US I just don't think that means very much is all, and espn doesn't either.

 

[Ekojasiloop]

Ummm... Gomez won $10,000 at Chinook winds. The field did not fill and they decided to pay the lesser sum.

Heavy hitters showed and maybe many decided not to play? Just guessing. I love these tournaments that barley don't fill and the first prize payout goes down like 30%. That happens a lot with smaller tournaments too it's so maddening. The winners never complain because they just won, and nobody else cares so it's always just fine.

I've been thinking how that format is going to become more and more popular. I know you play a lot of bar pool in Oregon, but these bar tournaments really have a sort of poker appeal to them. Don't they? It's almost everyone's chance to beat an orcollo in a race to seven and tell their grandkids about it. I could see events like this one really taking over.

 

[Straightpool_99]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_8Pma1vHmw:dance:

The European Mosconi cup team should change uniforms. Those diode ties are pretty cool!

Actually it's pretty hillarious to hear someone refer to players like Immonen and Appleton as emotionless robots, lol. If anything, Mika needs to work on keeping his emotions in check more, he has the most unfitting nickname in all of pool! Appleton goes completely straight jacket nuts every time he wins! How about Marcus Chamat, he is a robot now? Pff...

 

[Grantstew]

At the annual Derby City Classic, an event that not only measures ability by bankroll size, but encourages that measuring system, some of America’s top young professional talent was on display. Skyler Woodward, Justin Bergamn, Josh Roberts and Billy Thorpe were just a few of the young hotshots testing their skills against the world’s top players. In the same tournament room, young European players were also measuring themselves against the games standards. Sixteen-year-old Russian, Fedor Gorst, posted a pair of high finishes. Other young Russians like Maxim Dudanets showed glimpses of what the future looks like at the pro level. The young Americans, however, were never overmatched, particularly Thorpe, who stood head and shoulders above the rest, winning the One-Pocket title and barely missing out on the Master of the Table crown -- Mike Panozzo, BD Publisher

Take that, Europe!

Okay, I don't agree with EVERY opinion in his op-ed, but I agree with 95 percent of it.

Billiards Digest publisher Mike Panozzo knows what time of day it is --> HERE

Why do you have sand in your vagina over the Europeans? Come on JAM, what's the real story?

 

[marek]

Good post but I will refute one claim of yours. The "no money in Pool" thing gets repeated over and over again, and the fact is that a good player can make a decent living and a very good player can do even better. True, it's not golf or tennis money, but it's still money when you win $15,000 like Roberto Gomez just did at Chinook Winds. Shane picked up a cool $8,000 in the Ten Ball Challenge there as well. Take a look on the front page of AZ and check out the top money winners list sometime. Someone is getting a nice chunk of change at each event being played. And the other top finishers get a healthy pay check as well. Domestic travel is not that expensive (especially when you have sponsors) and room rates are not that exorbitant with shared rooms.

There is a semblance of a pool tour right here in the USA if you follow the tourneys from state to state. That's why you see so many Filipinos playing over here. They see opportunity where others see drought. Dennis hasn't done so badly plying his trade in the USA, winning in excess of 50-75K a year consistently for the last several years, spending only part time here. I won't go into the details, but Shane has set himself up well for retirement some day with his real estate holdings, and he's only 33. I suspect he will be well set to retire from full time pool by age 40, and not have to give lessons to survive! P.S. He did it all from playing pool for a living!

Then for the top players they have quite a few international events in Asia, Europe and the Middle East with healthy six figure prize funds. First prize is anywhere from thirty to fifty thousand in each of these events, similar to our own U.S. Open and Derby City events. So a top player can earn over 100K a year and several do each year. The good players get the support of sponsors, so they are essentially playing with no expenses.

There is a reason why the really good players stay involved in the game. They are doing something they love and making a living while doing it. There is also a sense of camaraderie with their fellow players. Sorry to upset all the knockers who constantly complain about "no money" in pool. It's there, you just have to have the skills to win it! :thumbup:

One last thing, that was real money Dennis won last week (he got a very fair share!) and some of us who profited along with him gave him a little bonus as well. Like Shane, Dennis has invested wisely in the PI, following in the footsteps of Efren, who is a major property owner in his community. These guys are not all dummies in case you didn't know.

Very good post. About 3 weeks ago Jayson Shaw posted on his FB a pic of his new Louis Vuitton shoes. And someone commented in a way "haha they say there are no money in pool" to which Jayson replied something like "Yes there are money in pool but you have to work really hard". And I like that mentality, Jayson just loves the game and does everything he can to be well off of it

 

[JAM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_8Pma1vHmw:dance:

The European Mosconi cup team should change uniforms. Those diode ties are pretty cool!

Actually it's pretty hillarious to hear someone refer to players like Immonen and Appleton as emotionless robots, lol. If anything, Mika needs to work on keeping his emotions in check more, he has the most unfitting nickname in all of pool! Appleton goes completely straight jacket nuts every time he wins! How about Marcus Chamat, he is a robot now? Pff...

Marcus is cool. He got most of his pool suaveness when he lived in America for a while and traveled with American pool players. Ask him.