Not me. I enjoy playing when I want to play, when I'm having a good time. If I had to play for a living, I wouldn't be playing anymore, I'd be working. Poker can be lots of fun, but it can also be stressful. I like to minimize the stress in my life, not add to it. So, I'll continue to enjoy watching the Pros work; while personally playing with fellow amateurs who don't need to win to put bread on the table. But, that's just me.
depends what you mean by living. Do I think I could make a living wage from the game?
absolutely I know this for a fact and have statistically significant results to back this up.
Do I think I could do it for a living in terms of a career? probably not. and thats not a reflection of me specifically its the circumstances.
online poker is under big threat from multiple sources
1. a lot of poker sites seem to be moving away from offering beatable games to offering scratch card luck based games its questionable whether beatable games will even exist in the future online.
2. tax changes and law changes may affect the reliability of this in the future, certain tax changes could make the game unbeatable and whilst not immediately likely we have to acknowledge this as a threat.
3. bots are a major threat and what we have seen so far is nothing compared to what we are likely going to see in coming years.
4 whilst i like to emphasize my mathematical ability maths is becoming much less useful in poker as time goes on. this is not because poker is not mathematical there is a huge amount of maths for poker. the problem is many very highly astute mathematicians have broken down the math and simplified the results. so that now people with little to no mathematical ability can play a highly precise mathematical game due to what they learned from software programmed by the maths guys or simple rules taught to them which involved very complicated maths to find.
of course one can adapt and use new math to find an edge but that potential edge keeps getting smaller and smaller.
sure I can make a living wage from poker today, the question should be will I be able to make a living wage from the game in ten years time? and the answer there is a lot more doubtful.
now so far My talk has all been about internet poker. Life poker is more interesting I think its an area the bots will likely never come to, and there will always be a lot more casuals who did not learn all the finer points.
the drawback to this is if we want to be a tournament player there is a lot of traveling and hotel bills etc that will eat into our earnings a lot and may even make the whole thing loss making.
we could play cash games but normally its hard to find live cash games that can provide a decent income. the best cash games I know of in the uk are in London and yes you actually can make a decent wage there with the right table selecting if your a decent player.
the problem is london is a very expensive place to live so your take home pay will likely be hit hard by traveling expenses and food etc, or by your rent.
I think with hard work and a lot of effort I could probably take a nice comfortable income from live poker, however with the same hard work and effort I could probably get a more reliable career that payed more anyway.
Poker has always been a source of income to me that no one can say to me with. that will always offer me those additional outs.
But its not something id want to stake my life on.
absolutely I know this for a fact and have statistically significant results to back this up.
Do I think I could do it for a living in terms of a career? probably not. and thats not a reflection of me specifically its the circumstances.
online poker is under big threat from multiple sources
1. a lot of poker sites seem to be moving away from offering beatable games to offering scratch card luck based games its questionable whether beatable games will even exist in the future online.
2. tax changes and law changes may affect the reliability of this in the future, certain tax changes could make the game unbeatable and whilst not immediately likely we have to acknowledge this as a threat.
3. bots are a major threat and what we have seen so far is nothing compared to what we are likely going to see in coming years.
4 whilst i like to emphasize my mathematical ability maths is becoming much less useful in poker as time goes on. this is not because poker is not mathematical there is a huge amount of maths for poker. the problem is many very highly astute mathematicians have broken down the math and simplified the results. so that now people with little to no mathematical ability can play a highly precise mathematical game due to what they learned from software programmed by the maths guys or simple rules taught to them which involved very complicated maths to find.
of course one can adapt and use new math to find an edge but that potential edge keeps getting smaller and smaller.
sure I can make a living wage from poker today, the question should be will I be able to make a living wage from the game in ten years time? and the answer there is a lot more doubtful.
now so far My talk has all been about internet poker. Life poker is more interesting I think its an area the bots will likely never come to, and there will always be a lot more casuals who did not learn all the finer points.
the drawback to this is if we want to be a tournament player there is a lot of traveling and hotel bills etc that will eat into our earnings a lot and may even make the whole thing loss making.
we could play cash games but normally its hard to find live cash games that can provide a decent income. the best cash games I know of in the uk are in London and yes you actually can make a decent wage there with the right table selecting if your a decent player.
the problem is london is a very expensive place to live so your take home pay will likely be hit hard by traveling expenses and food etc, or by your rent.
I think with hard work and a lot of effort I could probably take a nice comfortable income from live poker, however with the same hard work and effort I could probably get a more reliable career that payed more anyway.
Poker has always been a source of income to me that no one can say to me with. that will always offer me those additional outs.
But its not something id want to stake my life on.
well , you can live during 'winingstreak',bankroll ' upswings ', it may look , that you becoming Pro online poker player , you start to watch and manage your bankroll more closely , but when comes ' Donwswing' hundreds of mtt's and s n go's with no winings bad beats mistakes 'and etc. , with bigger and bigger buy - ins , offcourse it depends how you will manage to deal with that 'bad' bankroll time even if you never had 'good' bankroll time yet. (buyins,stakes,compulsion) to be profitable player in a long run.
lionking_kg said:
Yes and no - you need a big bankroll to earn a living at poker. BUT, you only need a very small one plus a lot of determination, dedication and yes, skill, to turn that small bankroll into a big one. It's like most things in life - if you have the will, there IS a way.
So no, it's not impossible, but it is difficult.
I have played professionally online myself for many years so yes I know it is possible. I also have tons of friends who play for a living.
With that said, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Playing professionally (online or live) takes a ton of discipline, emotional control, work ethic and a continued dedication to learning more and improving.
For anyone who is interested I have actually written in depth before about what it takes to become a professional poker player on my blog here:
http://www.blackrain79.com/2014/09/becoming-online-professional-poker.html
With that said, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Playing professionally (online or live) takes a ton of discipline, emotional control, work ethic and a continued dedication to learning more and improving.
For anyone who is interested I have actually written in depth before about what it takes to become a professional poker player on my blog here:
http://www.blackrain79.com/2014/09/becoming-online-professional-poker.html
Delenia said:
This is also my exact reaction when thinking about it...
I probably could if i wanted, but then it would be more as a job, and i don't know if i'd be able to motivate myself enough when having a downswing to keep this up (as everything depends on whether you're a winning or losing player then, like food expenses, mortgage, wife and kids, ...). It just would cease to be fun because of the extra pressure...
Of course you can! It's just really, really, really, really, really hard.
No one tells you that at first.. lol 😀
It's not that playing poker is particularly hard, although it gets complex and challenging the general act of playing poker is fairly simple and very doable. Now, when you're talking about making a living out of it, quite the different story.
The stress will make you want to rip your hair out.
If you can avoid the gambling and fast life that truly makes poker so alluring in the first place, and genuinely practice and play every day working hard on your game.. It is very possible to make a steady income. But you will have to battle others who are trying to do the same thing as you. Possibly more intelligent, controlled, and experienced players.
Either way this is not to discourage you, but simply to give you insight on the life of a pro poker player; from someone who has been dedicated to making a pretty penny himself. The game is truly beautiful and complex, and definitely worth picking up as a hobby, but it will become a grind once you try to make a steady income. I guess it loses some of it's allure you can say. The important thing is to keep having fun with it and to keep learning!
No one tells you that at first.. lol 😀
It's not that playing poker is particularly hard, although it gets complex and challenging the general act of playing poker is fairly simple and very doable. Now, when you're talking about making a living out of it, quite the different story.
The stress will make you want to rip your hair out.
If you can avoid the gambling and fast life that truly makes poker so alluring in the first place, and genuinely practice and play every day working hard on your game.. It is very possible to make a steady income. But you will have to battle others who are trying to do the same thing as you. Possibly more intelligent, controlled, and experienced players.
Either way this is not to discourage you, but simply to give you insight on the life of a pro poker player; from someone who has been dedicated to making a pretty penny himself. The game is truly beautiful and complex, and definitely worth picking up as a hobby, but it will become a grind once you try to make a steady income. I guess it loses some of it's allure you can say. The important thing is to keep having fun with it and to keep learning!
