I totally agree with you on this one. Once this internet fad is over, pool will finally be back on top!:thumbup:
What's hurt pool since I've been working in and around it for the last 34yrs.
- Thread starter realkingcobra
- Start date
I totally agree with you on this one. Once this internet fad is over, pool will finally be back on top!:thumbup:
Video Gaming Tournaments
Looks like Video Gaming Tournaments pay out better than Pool Tournaments in America.
Only a handful 40+ make decent money just like Pool.
As of 2013, the 15 highest-paid professional gamers in the world earned between $226,776 and $454,544. Over the course of about two or three years, these pro gamers participated in an average of 30 tournaments around the world.
Some top prizes clock in at $100,000 to $200,000 for a single victory. In some exceptional cases, tournaments offer prize pools reaching into the millions of dollars, but that amount is typically divided among a winning team of about five or six players in a competitive multi-player game.
Reality Check
Being able to subsist solely on a pro gaming salary is a lofty dream indeed. "Business Insider" and e-Sports Earnings reported that only 60 professional gamers worldwide have earned more than $100,000 in prize money, as of 2013. Speaking to “The New York Times” in 2012, Sundance Giovanni of Major League Gaming estimates that “only about 40 people in the U.S. can make a living playing video games. I'd like to get it to a hundred. I think we're a year or two away from that.”
How is Professional Pool doing?
Looks like Video Gaming Tournaments pay out better than Pool Tournaments in America.
Only a handful 40+ make decent money just like Pool.
As of 2013, the 15 highest-paid professional gamers in the world earned between $226,776 and $454,544. Over the course of about two or three years, these pro gamers participated in an average of 30 tournaments around the world.
Some top prizes clock in at $100,000 to $200,000 for a single victory. In some exceptional cases, tournaments offer prize pools reaching into the millions of dollars, but that amount is typically divided among a winning team of about five or six players in a competitive multi-player game.
Reality Check
Being able to subsist solely on a pro gaming salary is a lofty dream indeed. "Business Insider" and e-Sports Earnings reported that only 60 professional gamers worldwide have earned more than $100,000 in prize money, as of 2013. Speaking to “The New York Times” in 2012, Sundance Giovanni of Major League Gaming estimates that “only about 40 people in the U.S. can make a living playing video games. I'd like to get it to a hundred. I think we're a year or two away from that.”
How is Professional Pool doing?
A) Worsted woolen cloths, ie; Simonis, Championship and all the rest.
B) Racking aids.
C) Jump cues.
D) Double elimination tournaments.
E) Shorter races.
F) No Pro player division.
G) No Semi Pro division.
H) Pool table manufactures.
I) Aramith pool ball manufacturing.
J) Cell phones.
K) The internet.
L) Tournament promoters.
M) Tighter pockets.
N) Constantly changing rules for play.
O) Alternating breaks.
P) People that constantly complain about the "state of pool" but never lift a finger to change anything.
B) Racking aids.
C) Jump cues.
D) Double elimination tournaments.
E) Shorter races.
F) No Pro player division.
G) No Semi Pro division.
H) Pool table manufactures.
I) Aramith pool ball manufacturing.
J) Cell phones.
K) The internet.
L) Tournament promoters.
M) Tighter pockets.
N) Constantly changing rules for play.
O) Alternating breaks.
P) People that constantly complain about the "state of pool" but never lift a finger to change anything.
Johnnybgood
Banned
You hit it on the head! This is the single biggest issue in pool. It's the paramount problem. All the other points are negligible. Pay the players more and you will elevate the sport. Everything about it will be lifted including up and coming players and pool room owners.
Sent from my iPhone using AzBilliards Forums
So the question is.....
Where does the money come from?
Sales of what?
Cues?
Tables?
Pay per View?
Commercial time on pool shows?
Donations?
Throwing money at Tournaments will not bring new people into the sport.
Where does the money come from?
Sales of what?
Cues?
Tables?
Pay per View?
Commercial time on pool shows?
Donations?
Throwing money at Tournaments will not bring new people into the sport.
J, K, and M (in my opinion). For a good many years, from the early 1990's anyway, the Internet has confined millions of people to their homes, glued to chairs in front of bulky monitors, now flat screens and laptops. I wonder how many of these people would've become pool players? Nowadays, every kid has a mobile phone, usually beginning around 10 years old or earlier. It's a form of entertainment, along with virtual reality gaming, that is so much more convenient than playing baseball or any other classic activity/sport, pool included.
Tighter pockets may cause enough frustration for beginners that they simply give up on trying to learn how to play pool. I love going to pool halls that accommodate weaker/recreational players by having a few easy (big pocket) tables in the place. This helps keep potential pool players involved in the game. It's much more fun to pocket balls than miss balls. If they're having fun they'll come back, they'll stick with it, and eventually a percentage of those recreational players will be playing on the tougher tables, hooked like the rest of us!! LoL
As I think someone else already posted, good billiard apps/graphic gaming may actually help drive a few people back to real pool tables.
I think this problem is only in America.
Do we have the same problem in Asia and Europe?
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I lived in TX in 74'-75' stationed at FT Hood, played a lot of pool in bars in that area, and never came across any Simonis cloth anywhere. Stationed at CT Carson CO also in 1979-80 played a lot of pool there also, Scott Smith had a pool room there, Grady Matthews had a room there, 5 corner pocket pool roomz in the area, never played on Simonis. First time i ever seen Simonis cloth was in 1986 when i tried it for the first time installing it on a bar table, Simonis 760 green. Covered about 1,000 tables with it over a 2 year period, then pioneered the Granito cloth in about 1988, then Championship tour edition started sbowing up around 1990 or so which was when i decided to quit playing pool because i didn't like the direction pool was headed with the worsed woolen cloths, Stevens 22oz super weave was what we were all playing on at the time, closest cloth to the Stevens today would be the Championship Titan cloth, still requires a stroke to get around the table, less ball skids, easy to use a full length cue to jump on, but you can't putt your balls on it like todays players do...putt putt pool.
I don't know.....the biggest surges in the the number of people becoming interested in pool (in the US anyway) occurred following the release of the film, The Hustler, back in the 1960's, and again in the 1980's after The Color of Money hit the theaters. Both movies glamorized the sleazy, gambling side of the game, which is what appealed to most people. They wanted to be Fats, or Fast Eddie, or Vince. A few years ago, when I was struggling with trying to make a buck in the billiards retail industry, we expected Poolhall Junkies to provide another big boost, but it fell flat on it's face. I liked the movie, regardless of the over-the-top unrealistic use of profanity. Maybe the movie would've done better if the dialogue would've been geared toward a more mature audience instead of a teenage audience. Hard to tell.
My point exactly.
Everyone in America loves Gangsters.
Why do think Rap is so popular with White Kids?
What about 9 Ball the movie?
The two best rappers on the planet are white. Eminem and Lil Dicky.
I did not say Rappers were not White.
I said that the people who purchase the vast majority of Rap are White
and romanticize The Thug Life.
I wonder in today's Facebook world, if this would work:
Every table in the pool hall has a stream, and when a banger goes to play, they live stream it on their Facebook page.
FB seems all about letting people know what you are doing, (the check in feature, for example). If people see something you are doing as interesting, they might come join you.
Every table in the pool hall has a stream, and when a banger goes to play, they live stream it on their Facebook page.
FB seems all about letting people know what you are doing, (the check in feature, for example). If people see something you are doing as interesting, they might come join you.
All these things or any of them may or may not have played a part in the current status of pool in the U.S., but here's a fact: all things of this nature go through periods where they wax and wane. Sometimes there is an identifiable reason or set of reasons, sometimes not. It's just the nature of the universe.
Sadly, pool right now is on the wane. Live long enough and you'll likely see it come back.
Sadly, pool right now is on the wane. Live long enough and you'll likely see it come back.
I would love it if the table had an overhead camera that you could get a download of for a small fee.
Start a "Strava" like website for people to post and compare plays.
Kinda like the Buffalo and the Dodo Bird?