Would you tell the same to all kids in minor sports leagues, dreaming to, one day, play in the #1 league?

There's what, like just a few thousands players who get to play for millions, in any sport.

I think the OP undervalues having fun while working. I was making 50k a year working for the government at 21 years old and I was bored to tears. I hated getting up in the morning.

I would gladly trade that for 27k a year playing a game...

I read the first three paragraphs, but I can safely assume OP is a losing player who can't figure out why, so you feel everyone else does the same thing.

Inb4 rigtard?

I don't think we'll ever know if your inb4 is right, because the OP made this thread on March 20, 2010.

The last post was on April 5, 2010, until someone resurrected it 3 days ago.

What? No, there is no rule that states I have to strive to move towards any color. I am my own person, and so long as I'm not harming anyone I'm free to live how I so choose.

I'm not sure why it's so hard to understand that some people don't want to live the existence that has been deemed standard by society.

This is probably the worst piece of "analysis"...
That I ever skimmed before I gave up.

The OP is a complete fish...
Has no business playing poker, etc...
Or anything else requiring human intelligence.

Have you ever considered working with your hands?

There are many satisfying trades for a dude like you...
Maybe you can be lifeguard and chase dogs on the beach.

looool

If OP were taught how to swim there's a good chance he'd forget how to walk on land.

Doc Holiday made money playing poker and that was 130 years ago. I think poker is only going to grow. It translates well on tv and the internet is perfect for hosting games as we have found in the past decade. When laws change, it will only get bigger. People who are saying it is going to die are losing bitter players and really don't seem to know how long the history of the game really is. Its here to stay folks.

well we pay taxes..rite?

Not in the UK we don't

how fortunate. well here in america if your a "real pro" as in you make your income just from playing professionally the u.s govt bites your ass for a decent chunk, i think 30-35%.

way too much imo.

while reading the OP,
i was really looking forward to reading the motivational replies

@ Darraess

pls don't take offense if the way I write things seems aggressive. this is just how I normally talk and also english is not my mother language. I don't have the energy right now to write a well thought out answer, I'll just ask you one question: you've been a broadcast engineer for 20 years. I don't dispute that you prob know many times more about broadcast engineering than I'll ever know. based on a quick wikipedia search I've made my own conclusions about being a broadcast engineer but I sure as hell wont argue w you about them coz I know you know the intricacies of this work and how to make it interesting. otoh you've been playing poker for how many years for how many hours per day, and you've put how many hours into thinking about your strategy? what makes you think that you know that much about poker to make the kind of judgements you made in your post?

k, my english isn't good but i try to explain it how i see things.

You think poker dies in 10 years? how come man, poker was invented in 19th century, today is 21st century and games are still goin' on. you can always find games if you want to.
online poker is also big business and prolly will stay as long as internet, sorry USA.
tho i think in few years or maybe less US is back in online poker too...

now you think it's waste cuz u don't see guys going prflp all in with T5o and that kind of s*hit? so what, life is hard, so is poker. you have to work hard, play alot, improve your game, play A game as much as possible to be the best. just playin 2hrs a day wont make you win millions.

why poker isnt waste for me is that, every1 isn't from the US where you guys make 25-40k$? with ur regular job.
where i live avg salary is 800€/month so with bonuses about 10-10.5k€/year.

for example poker is my saviour, i almost droped out of high school, even tho i graduated it i never learned math or physics or that s*it cuz i cutted classes and smoked blunts rather than doin math tests. so what are my options? all i know is how to play poker, fight or sell drugs and i dont want to get in troubles anymore so obv i chose poker. i put in decent volume on eurosite and i make ~1k€ in rb+bonuses (thats more than avg salary ) + winnings... [thats only nl20€]. but with my high school education best job i could get is like 2.80€/h in mcdonalds doin 12 shifts with stinkin' *******s or maybe a f*cking builder for 4€/h. i love poker, i can play when i want, how long i want and where i want plus i make more than most average work people here,working for 180hrs in a month doin' a job they really hate.

i'm young and i can take risks with poker at the moment, if everything goes wrong i can always go to college or work or w/e. but i want to move on, get better, beat other players, try to learn, play more hours etc... and my goal is in 3-5 years to play nl5k, even tho i know it's going to be very hard it isn't impossible, you have to have the skill and the will, but the will must be stronger than the skill... and anyone who tells you different is a f*cking lethargic devil.

over and out

I guess this thread is old by now but OP ...your bitter attitude towards to the game and people who make a living/aspire to make a living playing cards just shows that you failed at being successful playing poker at one time in your life. You made a post to justify your negative attitude towards poker. The fact of the matter is poker is a strategic skill game that can be beaten. However probably the most important quality of being a successful poker player is discipline over many aspects of the game.

Even if the players playing today either get better or quit. There will always be players at different skill levels in the game. People will always aspire to be a pro try and fail, or try and succeed. So the experienced players will always have players to make money off of. This in itself will make sure poker wont die.

As for players getting better or quitting. I ask players all the time why they played a hand that way. They come up with some reason that they think is rational when in fact they got lucky on the hand and are results oriented. People are too proud to admit they need improvement. For those that do need improvement. What percentage actually possess the work ethic it takes to get good. I have been a winning low stakes player online and live and I have a ton of leaks. 1 money management, 2 tilt which comes from entitlement feeling when my aces that I 4 bet pre gets beat by J4 cause some idiot thought I was restealing and shoved on me. But I recognize my leaks and work hard on them. Not everyone can even admit they made a mistake. So these people will always blame bad luck not bad play and will always donate money.

Not to mention the recreational players that play just for fun. They can afford to lose the money they come for the game and social competition. They hope to win but if they dont oh well.

There will always be money in poker. Its like anything else in life its not easy and takes adjustment along the way.

Did OP just write a post that says there are 5 million poker pros in the world?

I don't think there are even 5 million professional athletes in the world, let alone poker pros.

I will definitely read dates more closely. :facepalm:

The difference between poker and another job is that you can be average at other jobs and still earn money.
Also, people will keep losing money because they - unlike you - are gamblers and/or have poker as a hobby.

I turned pro late 2007. I profited about 80k in 4 months and decided I was going to play for a living. The following year I lost money, I was struggling to earn money, but not recognizing the reasons for why I wasn't being successful.

The year following that, I turned back into a solid winning player. What changed? I realized that the game is in constant evolution and even if you are a winning player for some span of time, if you don't keep up with the games and continue to study you will definitely fall into the category of losing player--just like I did.

I agree with OP on a lot of the things he said and think the guys who are calling him an idiot definitely don't get it. OP was trying to point out that it's no longer a get-rich-quick idea. Back in 2005 it definitely was. Probably all the way until 2007 it was. There used to be a play they called "the move of glory" or something like that where pros would just open ship 100bb all in preflop w/ AA and they'd get called by people willing to gamble with like J8s or whatever. Clearly this doesn't happen anymore, it's no longer a race to build a bankroll big enough to play 25/50.

On the coaching aspect, I've coached well >100 different players. I'd estimate the majority of them have moved on to become solid winning players, but some just can't because they won't put in the work or have certain preconceived notions about the way things are supposed to be (i.e. feelings of entitlement) or they just don't have the personality necessary to sustain a living as a pro.

And lastly on whether or not poker will die. As long as it's a game played by humans, it can't and won't die because as previously stated in this thread, humans make mistakes (i.e. they tilt), and are often times unable to control themselves and thus make poor choices. I'm probably at the current moment declining in skill as I haven't been working much on my game over the last few months while others who weren't as good as me are now pulling ahead. Once I come back and start playing more consistently I'll have to put in more work and effort to figure out what those guys are now doing in order to beat them again. It's the way of the world.

The OP is wrong. He should buy into it. He played for a while, stopped, someone else started, and the rest of the world isn't SOL.

Crossing the street via the North Pole...
Makes you an idiot.

The OP needs to go back in a time machine...
And get his Grade School certificate...
So he can write a coherent sentence or two.

Thread should be moved to Psychology imo