Pressures of Pool

Life as a professional pool player is often not what people think. It would be a great life if all I had to do was to practise for 4-5 hours a day and still have a solid income to live on.

But is it realistic?

There are a handful of Pool players in the world that make a living travelling the world playing Pool on a professional basis. I would be lying if I said I shared an ambition to join them. I enjoy security and the ability to play Pool simply to be one of the best. That is my ambition with Pool.

A pool player named Fabio Petroni, who I know very briefly having bumped into him at a tournament a few years ago, spent the night in hospital after headbutting the table during a match. Largely condemned by internet pool forums, it was widely accepted that the pressures of Pool played a part in this outburst.

There are simply not the tournaments around in this country to cover your expenses. You can make a profit, however if you wish to earn minimum wage across a FT week, this is very difficult to do with being a gambler and playing money matches against competant opponents. I do not know of any players (World Champion included) that have a sponsor. Winning one of the big tournaments can net you £25,000 ($50,000) for the US open or $100,000 for winning the world title. But only one player can win these potentially per year!

My new purchase of a set of Aramith pro TV pool balls will help my practise, that I hope to crank up towards the end of the month getting ready for the next pro tournament. I have not played much in the last month, so that will change.

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