oh yea I can it would be listening to the ****wit too

i think the poker community vastly underestimates how much of a poor decision it is to be a pro poker player long-term. this is talking about a large group so obviously we are speaking generally. generally speaking, i think the number of people that will have full time poker pro be +ev long term is very very small

studies show that there is a massive amount of depression in the winters of sweden. studies show that the most depressed areas of the united states have the most cloudy days. the weather is the most dominant factor in depression when talking about large groups (not individuals). do you know what the punishment for someone misbehaving in jail is? solitary confinement. we are social animals. isolation is brutal. studies prove this just by looking at how much babies are held and the life long consequences. we all know that if daddy isnt around then the chances of trinity ending up on the pole go up astronomically. we're social animals, isolation and social relationships are a huge part of our happiness which is what "success" actually is. online poker is isolating and i dont think the general poker population has the social skills to justify adding another social hurdle. generally i think the skills needed to be a good online pro come along with weaker social skills than the general population. isolating them is creating an uphill battle twice

another issue is the act of gambling. is it actually rewarding? going to the casino or the horse track can be better than drugs for rec gamblers. obviously if they did it every day, win or lose, thats going to change. same with sitting on a beach and sipping pina coladas. at a certain point youre going to want to gtfo. people want to feel like they have a purpose or contribute in some meaningful way. poker is obviously extremely low in this area. the other issue with gambling is the constant spikes of dopamine or whatever is happening in your dome begins to numb. theres no proof to this but constantly dealing with these spikes and/or the numbing of them, may be a bad thing for your overall mental state

the freedom fallacy. poker players love to talk about 25 hour work weeks in their underwear. again long-term i think this is negative ev on your happiness. it sounds sexy but being productive, having responsibility, and getting **** done is actually more rewarding for most. it kind of goes back to the pina colada on the beach theory. at some point it just gets sad. im confident that a vast majority of people will look at the 25 hour week in their underwear along with countless hours on forums and youtube as a huge regret. its not productive and being productive actually makes people happy (long term). the alternative isnt some form of cubicle hell. thats a convenient story to tell yourself

financial misconceptions. we all know by now that money doesnt make you happy. what poker player seem to underestimate is how much more important money should be to them. with a set of skills that make you employable, your current income and bank roll become less important. when you have limited skills and employability as a poker player you need and rely on money far more. your pov is much closer to a retiree than it is a highly employable person with a secure job. thats stressful

another financial misconception that is talked about is the opportunity cost. obviously making money in poker can get you way ahead but when you leave, those in the work force will be 4 or 5 steps up the ladder from you. i think the misconception that isnt really talked about is the fact that poker players get crushed both personally and financially on the way out of the game. they either start to win less, break even, or lose on the way out. if their decision to leave is financial then they have a transition period. that big stack of paper poker earned you gets a lot smaller once you are fully transitioned. if the reason for leaving poker is personal then the costs associated are obvious and large

there are very few examples of long term success both personal and financial in poker. i think the number of players that have left the game un happy with the game itself, their social life, or by finances has absolutely dwarfed the number of players that have had success in those areas long term. then if you take the number of long term successful poker pros you need to look at how many of them are relying on table winnings vs other ventures and sponsorship. the number of long term success stories plummets from tiny to miniscule. as an online pro what % actually get a sponsorship and how many of those sponsorships are even all that great?

we are all different and theres not a singular reason to say why being an online pro is a bad idea but as a whole i think its just a terrible idea long-term. there is a significant list of reasons for this that will affect different people with a different weight. i think poker just creates so many uphill battles that it just takes blind ignorance to soldier on with no plan b

all that said there is a place for poker and it is very beneficial if dealt with properly imo. i think getting ahead financially early in life is massively + ev. i think theres massive benefits in challenging yourself with anything. being real with yourself in how you earned your success and how/where you may have failed is a valuable life lesson. i just think poker needs to be approached properly and a huge part of the population ranges from slightly delusional to completely oblivious. this is not a long term endevour. if you dont have a plan b you need to be working on one. your mind set should be its a tool to supplement income, or its a way to make a pile of cash and then gtfo. either way you need a plan b. if you happen to be the 1% of the 1% that can be happy and successful long term in poker then it will just happen, you shouldnt focus 100% of your attention and energy on that. plan b should be the top priority for online pros