The Average Salary of a Professional Pool Player

W.Earp said:
I used to enjoy visiting the AZ forums. But I stopped because there are several posters anymore that look for any reason to jump all over someone for what I would consider ridiculous reasons. I visited today for the first time in months, and I see nothing has changed....instead of a constructive conversation there are a few that jump all over the poster about plagiarism and other silly things. REALLY? who gives a rats ass. I thought it was a good post, and I could care less if it was borrowed.
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But don't you care if the info was accurate? Yet you said it was a good post. What criteria do you use? The accurate info was of the remedial sort. The nuts and bolts were flat out incorrect. On top of that, Rhea intended to mislead the folks here by not giving proper attribution. She has a history of doing that, if you didn't already know.
 
Spider1 said:
$30k?!

You can make more than that unloading boxes off trucks at the post office, fedex, or UPS. You can make that much being a flagger on construction sites. Hell, that's like $12 or $13 an hour or something for a full time worker? Good god, that's pathetic. I know pool is a dying/dead sport and there's no money in it...but for a top 10 guy to make $30k? He'd be better off bartending at the pool hall instead of playing. Yikes.


Good luck with that.
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And loading boxes is a lot more fun! Plus you get to work 8-10 hours a day in the Summer. Unlike Pool where you sleep till Noon, have a leisurely afternoon and go to work at 6. You may work three or four hours and earn a few hundred (at 50-100 a game). It's a tough job but someone has to do it! :rolleyes:
 
NYC cue dude said:
But don't you care if the info was accurate? Yet you said it was a good post. What criteria do you use? The accurate info was of the remedial sort. The nuts and bolts were flat out incorrect. On top of that, Rhea intended to mislead the folks here by not giving proper attribution. She has a history of doing that, if you didn't already know.
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Your proving my point. If you don't like what she says, then don't respond. I think there a lot of folks that would like to post a legitimate question or answer but they don't, for fear of being jumped all over for something silly. Im not familiar with Rhea. Just thought I would check out AZ again. But not much changes
 
jay helfert said:
And loading boxes is a lot more fun! Plus you get to work 8-10 hours a day in the Summer. Unlike Pool where you sleep till Noon, have a leisurely afternoon and go to work at 6. You may work three or four hours and earn a few hundred (at 50-100 a game). It's a tough job but someone has to do it! :rolleyes:
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Maybe, but you have to play "Jay Speed" to make that kind of money. I've never seen Jay unload boxes, but I'd bet he's pretty good at that too:wink:
 
Celophanewrap said:
Maybe, but you have to play "Jay Speed" to make that kind of money. I've never seen Jay unload boxes, but I'd bet he's pretty good at that too:wink:
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Maybe Jay dressed up as a fex ex guy and tried to hustle JohnnyT?

These are the questions I bet W.Earp is looking for.
 
W.Earp said:
Your proving my point. If you don't like what she says, then don't respond. I think there a lot of folks that would like to post a legitimate question or answer but they don't, for fear of being jumped all over for something silly. Im not familiar with Rhea. Just thought I would check out AZ again. But not much
changes
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What is this "don't respond" crap? He has as much right to weigh in on this as you do. Maybe it's you who should think about getting out of Dodge.
Not a bad play on words, huh? :smile:
 
jay helfert said:
And loading boxes is a lot more fun! Plus you get to work 8-10 hours a day in the Summer. Unlike Pool where you sleep till Noon, have a leisurely afternoon and go to work at 6. You may work three or four hours and earn a few hundred (at 50-100 a game). It's a tough job but someone has to do it! :rolleyes:
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That's pretty funny , just how many of these players are making 300 a night ,, ding ding very few if any ,, aside from that how many pool players actualy own a house married and have kids they support ,, number is getting smaller by the second
How many of them file taxes on there gambling income ,, I think we are down to single digits now

1
 
one stroke said:
That's pretty funny , just how many of these players are making 300 a night ,, ding ding very few if any ,, aside from that how many pool players actualy own a house married and have kids they support ,, number is getting smaller by the second
How many of them file taxes on there gambling income ,, I think we are down to single digits now

1
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I don't know too many Top best of the best UPS Workers who have slept in their cars for months on end either :)
 
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galipeau said:
You really don't think it's misleading to post something in this way and not provide a source? That's called "plagarism". If you really wanted to be helpful, you would have provided the link to where you copied the information from. Your intentions don't matter when it comes to other peoples intellectual property. Give credit where credit is due.

I wouldn't have know that you didn't write the post if other members here hadn't pointed it out.
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It's called "plagiarism".
 
W.Earp said:
I used to enjoy visiting the AZ forums. But I stopped because there are several posters anymore that look for any reason to jump all over someone for what I would consider ridiculous reasons. I visited today for the first time in months, and I see nothing has changed....instead of a constructive conversation there are a few that jump all over the poster about plagiarism and other silly things. REALLY? who gives a rats ass. I thought it was a good post, and I could care less if it was borrowed.
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Not trying to attack you here, but didn't you just do the exact same thing that you are saying you are opposed to, which is jumping on people? Why is it ok for you to do it but not for others? The reason is because you just like most of the rest of humanity are biased and only find a problem with "jumping on someone" when you don't agree with the reason for their being jumped on. But when you do agree with the reasoning, not only are you ok with it but you do it yourself, as with this post. Just wanted to point out that your issue is not at all with jumping on people (made obvious by your post where you are jumping on people), just that in this particular case you just didn't happen to like or agree with the reason a person was "jumped on".

That said, I disagree with you and totally agree with calling someone out in the case of someone plagiarizing. It is never ok to quote someone without crediting the quote. It is seen as (and almost always actually is) someone lying and trying to pass it off as their own words or idea, and nobody likes a liar. When you are quoting someone or relating someone else's idea credit must always be given.
 
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Rhea said:
What Is the Average Salary of a Professional Pool Player?


If you really enjoy shooting pool and are considering becoming a professional pool player, you may be wondering what the average salary is for someone who wants to pursue this particular career path. Unlike other jobs that have a steady salary, a professional pool player's income will vary depending on how well they do in tournaments.

Making Money
Pool players earn their living by winning prize money and collecting money from sponsors. And since you are more likely to get lucrative sponsorships if you are winning tournaments, you need to be able to play pool very well and be able to handle pressure well. In order to determine if your skill level is good enough to become a pro, you need to start counting how many balls you can run.

Most pros can run a minimum of 150 balls in straight pool, and they also can consistently run at least 80 balls. If you have this kind of skill level, you need to be aware that you will earn very little money as a professional pool player, when compared to the pros in other sports.

Mid-level pool players usually make less than $50,000 per year, with the average earnings being closer to $30,000 annually. When compared with the average earnings of many Americans, it's not a bad living, because you will be working only for a few hours. However, if you compare it to a golf pro, for example, you will not be making in one year what they could potentially earn in one tournament.

Becoming A Pro
The process of becoming a professional pool player is quite easy. All you need to do is sign up with a few of the professional organizations like Billiard Congress of America (BCA), United States Professional Poolplayers Association (UPA) and World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). Once you have paid your annual dues, you can start entering pool tournaments. Many times the entry fees for these tournaments ranges from $200-$400, but you will have to come up with the cash because doing well in these tournaments is really the only way to get your name known.

If you consistently have high rankings, you can become established and won't have to win qualifier events in order to play in certain tournaments; instead, you can be seeded in these tournaments without qualifying since you already have a solid reputation as a skillful player. Even in some so-called "opens" (open to anyone who is willing to pay the entry fee), you still may have to have specific credentials in order to play. You should become familiar with the various regional tours, like:

Fury
Joss
Midwest
NYC
Pechauer
Southeast
Viking

Tips
Pool players spend a great deal of time traveling from one tournament to the next. In addition, you can expect to incur lots of travel related expenses like the cost of hotels, transportation and eating out. In order to supplement your income, you can try to get endorsements, give pool lessons, hold exhibitions and even gamble at the local pool hall. Although the life of pool players is uncertain, if you are someone who really loves the game, it may just be the life of your dreams.
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The math doesn't seem right because the line that defines a "pro" pool player is vague. Any player good enough to ONLY play pool and make a living at it has to be pretty damned good, like "elite" good. And how many of them are there.And do they make up for those who play at the bottom end. I'm guessing that the so-called "average" income is top-heavy, carried by those few who do really well.
 
when second tier players view stealing coins from a car wash as a necessity, might be time to reassess career choices.

Id rather be night manager at mcdonalds than be 25th best pool player in US, because it pays better im guessing.
 
So according to the 2014 money list, there are 6 players in the US who won $30,000 or more (before expenses). That means that there are 12 pro pool players in the US, more or less. Considering that the source of the original article was a site about career advice, I think they should have mentioned that the prospective pool pro needs to get into the top 10 or so to be "average".
 
Bob Jewett said:
Last year the 25th top men's US earner was Shane McMinn with about $7500.
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Less entry fees...I'm guessing he cleared $999, but before paying for motels. Am I far off?

BTW, don't take up Pro Archery either and then wonder why you can't make money like golfers
 
i know a guy in chicago that was a professional caliber pool player, and at one time, a world class foosball player (really no shit).....i never thought to ask him which one payed better.....lol
 
Any article on the future as a pool player that ends with ",,,if you are someone who really loves the game, it may just be the life of your dreams.", is borderline insane.
 
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Streaming will double the $$ earned as more and more advertisers of all sorts start investing. The past has been horrific except for a few top earners that get backing. Besides that a dress code for tv and time clock are necessary.
 
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