A new pool tour with a controversial big-money backer is bringing together the world's top shooters

	Hohmann (above) enjoyed a big payday in Vegas, thanks to Trudeau. Courtesy of J.R. Calvert/IPT
	Chalk Picks The best players in the world are in Reno this week, vying for the largest payday in pool history. Here are five players to keep an eye on. PLAYER AGE COUNTRY Johnny Archer 37 U.S. The Scorpion is an eight-time player of the year and has topped pool's scoring system, the Simonis Power Index, for three straight years. Thorsten Hohmann 27 Germany He served five years in the military before his breakout year, 2003; won $350,000 at July's IPT event in Vegas. Efren Reyes 52 Philippines Known as the Magician for his spectacular shotmaking, he is pool's answer to Michael Jordan. Earl Strickland 45 U.S. Earl the Pearl has won more than 100 nine-ball titles and was named to the billiards Hall of Fame this year. Nick van den Berg 26 Netherlands El Niño was Europe's top-rated player when he was just 22 and is now making a name for himself in the U.S.

To traffic in understatement, the sport of pool -- and let's be clear up front: it is a sport -- had struggled to capitalize on its popularity. Pool is played semi-regularly by 50 million Americans, making it a bigger participatory sport than golf. Yet, until lately anyway, the winner of a run-of-the-mill pro pool tournament might take home $7,500 and a top player might be lucky to make $50,000 a year in prize money. For perspective, the No. 100 player on the 2006 PGA Tour money list has already banked more than $500,000.

Some of pool's problems are inherent. The sport has never translated particularly well to television -- too many lulls in the action; too hard to discern spin and ball configurations through cathode rays -- and broadcast rights fees are, of course, the lifeblood of contemporary sports. Plus, the cast of shadowy characters, the rampant gambling and smoke-filled aura that gives pool so much of its soul and flavor, can make it a tough sell with sponsors.

But the other problem has been one of leadership. So shrewd and calculating and reflexively skeptical when making a game, the top players have been remarkably gullible when considering the larger economic picture, often entrusting their tour to men ill-equipped to run a hot dog stand.

The history of pro pool is a rich compendium of corruption and in-fighting. Earlier this decade, the Pro Billiards Tour and its sponsor, R.J. Reynolds, ended up suing each other. After a theater-of-the absurd trial in a Greensboro federal court -- "We now call The Machine Gun to the stand" -- a jury awarded the PBT a reported $886,000. The lawyers got paid. The commissioner got paid and promptly retired to Florida. Virtually nothing was left for the players.

When he emcees for pro events, Scott Smith, the pool firmament's answer to Michael Buffer, likes to entertain the crowd. "What do you call a pool player without a girlfriend?" Smith has been known to ask. "Homeless." No one is quite sure whether this is a joke or simply an observation.

Against this backdrop, the pool world nearly choked on its chalk last year when the International Pool Tour (IPT) was inaugurated. An international circuit, the IPT vowed to follow the PGA blueprint. Players earning their "tour card" would be accorded the right to enter events. With an integrated circuit attracting the best players from around the globe, international television rights-holders and sponsors would line up. Whereas most previous tours featured a 9-ball format, the IPT would feature 8-ball (solids and stripes), a variation friendlier to both fans and television. A dress code and a code of conduct would assure a level of professionalism sometimes lacking from preceding circuits.

Above all, there was the money. Gobs of it. Unfathomable amounts to players who often struggle to stay out of debt. When the IPT World Open 8-ball Championship kicked off at the Grand Sierra resort in Reno on Sept. 2, the field was competing for a purse of $3 million. The winner will take home $500,000. A first-round loser, who could fail to pocket a single ball, will still make $5,000. In pool, this akin to increasing the minimum wage by a factor of ten.