WTF is the point of Texas Hold'em pool tournament?

[Lottery Larry]

Stumbled across this on ESPN- it's a 9-ball pool tournament with a $25K prize (not sure if winner take all) where they have an "ante" and the game winner takes the "pot" and has "chip value in their rack" for the next game leading to the "final table" yada yada.

I can't decide yet whether I like the pool tourney format or not, but the use of the poker terminology initially bugged me. It might actually be marketing genius, now that I think of it a little more.

Anyone else seen this? It was held at the Basketball HOF, for some unclear reason.

If nothing else, an interesting signpost on how much gambling/poker is intertwined in the US culture these days..