This is true.

I'm from Australia, and if I lived in Australia it would be like living in Thailand... haha. **** in the US of A is ridiculously cheap.

Housing is basically free in the USA, a typical 2 bedroom house in a DECENT (and I say decent, not nice) suburb in my city is looking like at least 350-450k.

Automobiles - Also basically free, with all of the big auto companies in USA that are going out of business like anything, you guys are basically giving your cars away. A Jeep Wrangler in Australia is currently $44,000.

Food - Don't even get me started, I see McDonalds meals for like $6... You're looking at about $10 here.

And GAS? I paid $1.80/L for premium the other day... I thought that was robbery.




However,

we do have that nice healthcare. Which I think is more than worth the big price differences.

I think this thread as many has gotten derailed into whether or not some1 should become a professional poker player. I would advise u to look into that more as you mentioned that casually but have questions that should be obvious before you decide this.

Playing PLO for a living is of course possible. If your playing live poker as I'm guessing you are it's more difficult as the games are rarer then nlhe. Most people learn holdem as well so they can play when the PLO games aren't running but if you move to the right location this is avoidable. I would seriously look into the intricacies of playing poker for a living more before you make a decision but yes there are people who play PLO primarily or solely for a living even live and if u have more questions for them about it there are people here who can guide u.

Is it possible? Yes.
Should you do it, No!

Underground ground home game action always better than casino. By far. Prepare for swings. Just climbed out of the biggest downswing of my life.

yes its possible. Ive never really played anything besides PLO.

Yes, but significant success is far tougher than just making a living, poker is a much more difficult career than many out there.

Because, in what I have seen, failing at poker boxes you in a corner more than other ventures. It's much harder to go from failed poker player to entrepreneur than from one failed business venture to the next. You learn useful real world skills in the real world; you don't playing cards (past a certain point).

How many poker players you know sucessfully transitioned to something else? How many do you think will successfully transition to something else when survival of the fittest will kick them out of the poker economy?

By failure at poker, do you mean failure at specifically playing it (after which one can transition to another activity dealing with poker) or the fall of the poker industry in general? The latter is a serious concern indeed The problem is that we're already hooked, and some of us don't have or even have never had a remotely pleasant plan B.

Both. If survival of the fittest gets a player, even if he was a success for 8 years, he becomes a failure then. Becoming a failure early is probably easier; you don't fall into the trap of thinking you are successful when all you have is a little built up capital and little-to-no real world skills.

Some people (even those making 6 figures playing this year) should already get working on their exit plan pronto IMHO. You don't know the road ahead. What we do know is that every time the market shrinks, a seat is taken out of our little game of musical chair.

If you want to guess where the road is heading, you don't need to look very far to see what's going on:





The worst part is, 2014 is a year where nothing particular happened in poker (that's probably part of the problem). So the best guess is: unless something happens, the trend continues

i think in live poker it is still the year 2005. I make about the same amount of $ from live games per month as i do from online just because the games are so good in live even though i play much more hands online. I think some folks will just have to transition into playing more live. But i think somebody that is making 6 figures online should have no problem beating live plo for the next 10+ years .

This is mostly true

of all the people i have getting introduced in poker and have quit since and i have kept in contact with, i haven't seen anyone have trouble transitioning to something else.

and i don't see any problems doing it either, it depends on the person. i mean if you are lazy at poker, you will most likely be lazy at other domains too. doesn't always have much to do with transitioning from poker to "real life"-structure itself. very individual cases.

for example at the bank i worked in i met a few (4 or 5) junior level employees over 5 years that had played pro poker after college but decided to do something else and they got hired in the bank after internships. a friend of mine from back home transitioned from poker/sports betting to a sea captain

obviously this is a sample size issue for both of us if you ask me "how many people you know that successfully transitioned.."...meaningless samples.

that's my personal experience and i'm sure there are many many poker -> "real life" failures as well. i just haven't heard of them or if there are, i can't think of any.

i do agree with you though that poker players do need to develop other skills as well, there are many wonderful online university courses that offer good knowledge. players making $100k+ should definitely look at investing etc...as you indicated, putting all eggs in one basket is not smart.

Those are seasonal changes - people play less when the weather is better, don't they? Look at year-over-year reports, there is some fall but less grave - 10-15%.

The positive things that have happened in poker in 2014 are Vicky Coren's second EPT title and Mark Newhouse's back-to-back November Nine. They've showed to the society that there's a significant skill component in poker.

The traffic has failed to rebound after the World Cup, though

I can't find those, could you send me a link?

Played plo one year online, part time, starting from study and plo2, now playing plo25 and running under ev, but whatever, it takes me still years to get to plo400, if i make it there, that i doubt but i have no options.

In the usa, i would live in vegas, play plo when its running, building it if need be, done that online too. I know there are not many plo games running in vegas, but it does run there. I play strong enough lh to do well with it there, and i can most likely improve further, my strongest natural game.

Mixed games are interesting also, and i could play those also, if they have them, not really bothering to become an expert at any more of them, to play them but at mixed games, like when older maybe, as the older one is, the stronger mixed player one likely is. Before that, online practise.

Nlh, not everyone understand it. I could possibly make it there, but nlh really isnt my area.

If i could pick my professional path, i would aim for engineering, but its too late for me now. Though if from the usa, live poker option would probably make me pick poker, though i dont recommend such for anyone but for those having no better option anymore. But i would go and test it and then decide. Ideas are usually not the same thing as experience.

Pokerscout weekly traffic update - 21-27.07.14 (these weekly updates are found on the news page at the bottom of its right column).

the better question is:
can someone be pro if he is stupid?


the answer to both questions is yes

haha true words

Probably not.
You don't risk a whole lot of your own money and your own livelihood facing day to day corporate cubical decisions.

Not to mention there's significant opportunity cost.

One doesn't need to risk the entire livelihood in poker, can risk whatever s/he's comfortable with. Good players roll with 100-200 BI just because they're not afraid, and are rewarded by bigger hourlies than at a real job, whereas if they were BR nits, they'd earn just as much as at a real job (but would enjoy non-monetary benefits, varying by person, e.g. a 'freer' schedule and lifestyle, the absence of an annoying boss).

We were talking about entrepreneurial lifestyles, I think. Obviously working under people requires little of this since the boundaries are imposed externally

invest your tuition money @ the nearest casino asap im