I read the OP like I would read a novel. Interesting read, but I don't take any of it as fact.

The guy has made some observations and picked examples to try and beef up his story. At no point in the post did I read "this is fact and you must accept what I write".

I often find when I make general sweeping statements the most vitriolic responses come from the insecure people who think I'm talking about them.

lol, nice level. touche.

Of all the things in this thread that stood out, this took the cake. What the **** is a "Kentucky basement gossip queen"?

+1

Also some people are just very competitive. It doesn't matter that they just lost $1, it matters that they didn't win the pot/tourney.

Doesn’t matter how good you are, cards are largely based on luck at the end of the day.

I disagree with a lot that you say, mainly because your making assumptions based on nothing really, but the sentence above really annoys me.

Most of these guys made their money playing poker, and lost it doing other things, so at the end of the day IT DOES matter how good you are at poker as that is what will always get you money. Ivey losing $13 mil. or whatever on craps in no way holds any bearing on anything poker related with him, that loss is outside the game of poker other than it's his SKILL at poker that allows him to be able to lose that kind of money and be ok.

I'm really not a big fan of assumptions as they are made without having all the facts and in most cases 1/2 the facts. I knew a guy worth $15 mil that most would think was a minimum wage earning guy as he bought all his clothes at walgreens and had no furniture in his house. Warren Buffett one of the richest guys in the world still lives in a house that he paid $60,000 for back in the day.
I mean these guys are spending 12+hours in the casino, why do they need to be dressed up all fancy? They NEED to be comfortable, after all there are no TV cameras around so no need to dress up and look respectable.

I don't know I guess my whole ramble is basically saying your reading into things too much, IMHO

If you are getting broke than money you can't be made if ever was a question for them?

I think the OP would make a good basis for a comedy sketch.

Agreed, Why was that post so long, I am now the dumber for reading it

Without PTR and the like no one would know what Nanonoko's sick graph would look like. He was crushing the mid stakes games relentlessly he didn't win a bunch of money in a donkament and sit 100/200 with 80% of his net worth at the table. People who play within their means and play a game that they can beat consistently are always going to be a cut above, IMO.

Look. I'm very very convinced that there are huge winners in this game. And constant ones. But the constant winners are the ones that grind. And when I say grind, I mean grind the 1/2, 2/5, and maybe soft 5/10 games. The true winners or ~99% of them aren't the ones playing WAAAY to high to make the tv shows. The constant winners are Bob and Sam and Joey (average guys) that play the 2/5 game 5 days a week and saves his money.

IMO, what you see on tv is the glitz and glamor of poker. Its the extreme scenarios. The outliers, so to speak. Guys like that probably think their famous after showing up on tv, and feel like rockstars after a winning session. Its very hard to maintain a steady bankroll while living it up like you're Steven Tyler or something, lol.

There are plenty of people, at least in the area I play, Tampa/Miami, that just sit at 2/5 games or 1/2, or 1/3 games and nit the F--- out of it and grind it. Here, there are such bad players, that doing that proves to be VERY profitable over the long run. And to make things better, we don't have craps, and roulette, and sports betting. We have your basic BJ games, and Pai Gow type games, but thats about it. Boring, in my book.

Just my 2 cents of course.

Blatant speculation.

Like I said, I don't know 1 rich, or even "well off" poker player. We can all sit here and guess, but the reality is I've met a lot of poker players in my area and they are all in unenviable situations (that I know of).

lmao


hilarious

To kind of elaborate on this point, which I believe could be a good theory, when Dwan wins $5m from Guy, Dwan may spend 100k of it on bull **** b/c hes on happy life tilt. Then, he loses $4.9M to Isildur, who spends half a million on a car and more bull **** b/c he just had a big score. Then, he loses 4.4M to Hastings, who also blows a piece of it, b/c he. Hes a baller now after that win. The money slowly disappears, and the people who end up with it is, guess who? The business owners of the car dealerships, or real estate agents, fine watch dealers, etc etc etc.

So if this theory is correct, the businessmen are the constant winners.

lol

Just too intune. well done

Here's something to think about:

Let's assume only 100 players can afford to buy into the Main Event (and the casino takes out 6% of their buyins). Now let's also assume that the prize pool is distributed to those 100 players somewhat evenly, regardless of who wins or loses the tournament (e.g., Mike Matasow wins the Main Event and then gives all of his winnings to stake other players in the Main Event the following year). How many of the original 100 players can afford to buy into the Main Event the following year using only money from the prize pool? How about X years later?

Year 1: 100
Year 2: 94
Year 3: 88
Year 4: 83
Year 5: 78
Year 6: 73
Year 7: 69
Year 8: 65
Year 9: 61
Year 10: 57
Year 11: 54
Year 12: 51
Year 13: 48

That's right--by year 13, less than half of the original 100 players can afford to buy into the Main Event simply because of the casino's 6% takeout.

RC

Yeah, but how much did they WIN?

http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/...ely-to-go-bust
5.5% actually

This is part of the reason these guys are rich duhh they still take poker seriously and don't piss about just because they have alot of money.

Professional poker players in general do not have a dream lifestyle. They have occassional financial pressures and job related mood swings. Obviously TV sells a more appealing false reality to attract viewers and add to the mystique. However, many of your statements are laughable, as you seem to go to the opposite extreme of the television producers and make intelligent financially successful professional players seem like they are struggling degenerates. The reality is generally in the middle.

I suspect your are at best a break even player with latent hostility towards the guys who usually get the best of you at the poker table. Furthermore you had an over glamorized vision of professional poker players in the first place. Unfortunately professional players have to work hard and deal with stressful situations like most people who earn a good income.

This is the reason why blackjack and roulette died years ago.

he was probably playing with ellix powers. hell of a nice guy.

I don't know if i agree with your thoughts. it may seem that way but they are under a lot of stress and i think that has some to do with it.