Quote:
Originally Posted by JayKon
Because it won't last. Also, once you're in the life, it's really, really hard to get out.
I mean, let's say you make $60K and clear $50K versus making $500K and clearing, I don't know, $325K? Looks like every year it lasts equals 6.5 years of income in the 9-to-5. If you live off the same amount you would have for a couple years and invest the rest wisely in a diversified home and a house, you're coming out waaaaaay ahead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueSpade84
Maybe I was unclear. I was saying pausing a year to focus on poker. I still finished my degree and can easily get a job in my field next year.
This is wise. I think it's probably smart for most young people to compare the lifestyle of a regular job in a field they're good at and hopefully enjoy/don't hate with the poker life. They're VERY different, and neither is for everybody. But the opportunity to really dive into it all the way in one's early-to-mid 20's is incomparable. I didn't get into poker as a full-time job until I was approaching 30, and I often think about how much fun it would have been to be like a 25 year old pro just doing six month stints here and there in cool places. Some you can make work earlier on in your career, but not later, because you can't get a regular 2/5+ game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by squid face
Inflation and rake. What if casinos go to be more like australia and drill you with obscene rake?
This is a legit concern. Rake will never go down and will keep going up. I would assume every 3-7 years, most casinos will add a dollar to the rake, keeping pace with (or surpassing) inflation. On the other hand, the games mostly stay the same size. It's not like 2/5 is going to turn into 3/6 NL or 4/8 NL to keep up with inflation. The question is do people move up in stakes to offset it? I don't think they do at the same pace.
Quote:
Originally Posted by squid face
What if we experience inflation like we did in the 70's?
In this case, either people start making more money in their regular jobs to keep up with the inflation and thus play higher stakes or people with regular jobs are just as screwed as poker pros. It's a legit concern, but I don't know if it specifically applies to poker any more than any other line of work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayKon
Something else about being in cardrooms constantly is that there are some rather scummy people you have no choice but to interact with. Yes, some of the best people I know are poker players, but then again there are also the degenerates. People who come in sick, never seem to take a bath and are about as trustworthy as a viper.
I'm not trying to **** all over lower stakes or lower stakes players in general, because there are tons of good people playing the smaller games. That said, the percentage of people who would fit the description you laid out has gone down every time I've jumped up in stakes. So for people trying to climb the ranks to play full-time 5/T+, I think this is a lot less of a concern.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JayKon
It's a complicated life and once there is a big gap in your resume, it's hard to get out.
Depends how long the gap is, what field you're trying to get into, and whether you can put anything else on your resume. I would imagine, "Right after school I freelanced at XYZ for a couple years and traveled while I had the opportunity," is going to be totally fine... and if that keeps you from getting a particular job, the boss doing the hiring was probably going to be a nightmare to work for. The longer the gap, the bigger the issue may become, obviously.
I think the bigger issue to consider in that regard is not the resume gap blocking you from getting hired, it's the experience deficit forcing you to start out at a lower rung making entry-level money.
But for a lot of us the biggest difficulty in getting out is that we would never want to work for someone else after having as much freedom as we have playing poker. I'd have to get a significant raise to even consider taking a 9-to-5 job outside of like two or three very specific ones (that would fulfill a passion, like poker does) that would never fall into my lap.