Being a professional player pool is not easy. And if you devote yourself to Pool, even less. It’s a little bit professionalized minority televised sport that moves much lower than other disciplines or even other forms of billiards, snooker and figures. Why in the world very few players can live well off their game. In this week ‘s article we look at how much they earn approximately Pool billiard players that are in the elite.

By David Muñoz

It is impossible to know exactly the total revenue figure of a professional billiard player. As a player, every season is different. It depends primarily on winning tournaments and sponsorship agreements you signed. These two awards for results and sponsors are usually their main sources of income. But there are many others that we will see later.

To have a certain vision of what they earn billiard players , the only figures that are available are the tournament prizes. AZBilliards . com has a ranking of overall profits that covers most of international competitions. According to this list, now enter the top 20 players $ 40,000 euros a year. Darren Appleton heads the list with $ 146,978, considering that this year won one of the best paid tournaments: the Chinese 8-Ball World Championship.  

The other tournaments highest paid Pool: World Cup of Pool (euros 60,000 per couple), World 10 Ball Championship (40,000), China Open (40,000), US Open 9 Ball (40,000) World 9 Ball Championship (30,000) and World Pool Masters (20,000). Winning one of these prestigious competitions makes you climb the list and opens the doors of the sponsors. This year, for example, Albin Ouschan won the China Open and so is ranked No. 10. Then there are many tournaments that reward the winner with 5 to 10,000 dollars. The winner of tests Eurotour takes only 3,500 euros.

If we consult the list of gains throughout the race, we see that up to eight players over a million dollars, accumulated after decades competing. Efren Reyes is king, partly because of its glory years between 2001 and 2006. In six years he won only award a million and a half dollars. In 2006 he broke all records of a player’s winnings of $ 644,000 getting Pool end of the season after winning IPT World Open 8-Ball 2006 (500,000 for the champion).

What about the professionals Pool? As usual, the numbers are significantly lower. Which it is ranked 20 just enters $ 5,000 a year for tournaments, the top five earning at least 32,000 and tops the list, Bai Ge, accumulates $ 66,200. 12 of the top 20 players are Asian (mostly Chinese), which shows that the level of professionalism is much higher in this region compared to Europe or the United States.

A prize for tournaments and sponsorships, we must add other sources of income. Elite players compete in games for money, money games, money wagered by brand or any people, so that the winner of that match a percentage of the bet is carried. It is common for billiard players also give classes and sell sports equipment or training courses, such as Perfect Practice Darren Appleton. Finally, depending on the country, they may also receive grants from the National Federation of Billiards, as in Holland, where players get good results in the European Championships receive an annual salary.

It may seem that all these revenue streams, Pool players live quite well, but keep in mind that very few are at the top of the rankings and compete supposed them many travel expenses, accommodation and registration. If you think a lot, compare it to the income of Snooker.

What do you think of these figures? Do you think the awards of the most important competitions should be higher? Escíbelo in the comments.