How Much Do Chinese Pool Tournaments Pay?

Joe Rogan says winners of pool tournaments in China are paid like half a million dollars, on tables whose corner pockets and side pockets curve like a snooker table. Outside China, only a handful of players, maybe ten or maybe 20, make a very good living at pool, even with more tournament money than when he was playing eight hours a day.

Pool is geometry. A player splits the table into sections, picks where the cue ball should finish, and chooses the angle so the next ball is waiting. On a normal pool table a ball can be fired down the rail with follow and still drop, so the cue ball can travel on to the next shot. Curved pockets do not take a ball down the rail. It has to be rolled in gently. The pocket is tiny, with a curved edge on each side, and the shot needs pinpoint accuracy. Change the pocket shape and every angle on the table changes. Players who try to switch run into a real problem.

The prize money is for a more boring game. Everybody misses all the time.