I concur.

A real job requires skill, and in return provides security and the "amercian dream".

Most poker players are just dreamers, hoping to get "lucky", but not willing or able to put the the work.

The thing is, if you can play poker professionally, you have the intellect to attain the 'legit skills' to make real money.

Saying 'poker > crappy job' is not a good comparison. The better question is, "Given that I have the intellect, is poker > legit job?"

Now, if you have some severe social issues and think you're one of those "I can never answer to anybody else" types, then poker > crappy job is more appropriate. Still, you could probably use your intellect to do something where you don't have to interact with human beings.

The other side of the coin that the ceiling for pro poker playing is higher than most legit jobs. But as far as earning potential goes, most legit jobs > most poker players. (Understanding that we all like to think we're special.)

Another aspect of poker v job is the loneliness of being a poker player. When you have a job you have workmates in turn end up at happy hours christmas parties and whatever other social functions that come with work. Maybe working on group projects...things that make one feel like there on a team. In poker its just you and the felt and if you are doing it right then you are surounding yourself with losers every day you go to play.

Solid read, thanks to all for contributing.

I think many of these comparisons are missing a key point. Being a poker pro is not a job that should be compared to other possible jobs to determine if one is better or worse. Being a poker pro is being a business owner (albeit a business of one). So the appropriate comparison is being an entrepreneur vs being an employee.

The pros and cons of that distinction are pretty well known. Entrepreneurs trade the financial security of being an employee for the unlimited profit potential of having a business. They also accept the possibility of going broke or not making enough to meet their needs. But they have decided that the potential reward outweighs the risks.

Those potential rewards are not just financial. It may be the enjoyment of doing something you love. It may be that your success or failure is directly tied to your own work ethic, intelligence, and motivation. You are the boss. You set the hours, etc. You sink or swim primarily on your own.

However, most business owners quickly learn that the "setting your own hours" part is largely a myth. Most realize to achieve their financial goals, to improve their skills, to keep up with ever improving competitors that they must work their ass off. So while business owners get to set their own hours, most end up "setting" them at about 60-90 hours a week. (It's great to be the boss!) I always smile when I read how poker players say they like that they can take off any time they want, for weeks or more. That's true, if you can afford to make no income for weeks at a time. And I'm sure the top people can. Somehow I suspect someone grinding 2/5NL will find they need to play as much as possible to support a reasonable lifestyle, especially if they have a family.

Some people thrive in this environment, but for some the uncertainty on income constantly weighs on their minds, and that pressure and stress makes their life miserable. So they leave the business world and go back to work for a company.

But "jobs" have their own issues. I have had jobs where I loved going to work, and made relatively little money. I had a job where I made incredible money, but at times dreaded going into the office. Making big money is exciting at first, but believe it or not, once you have it, you find that other things determine whether you are happy or miserable at work and away from work. And usually the higher up the corporate ladder you go, the more responsibilities you have, and even though you may not be in the office 24/7, you will find that you are constantly thinking/working on pending problems pretty much 24/7.

Every option requires sacrifices and trade offs. For some people it is important to them to enjoy their work, and if they don't, it also makes it difficult to enjoy the other, off work time they have with their families. To others, work is simply what they do to make money to support their "real life" and don't look to work for any sense of fulfillment. They get their enjoyment in life outside of work.

Office cube land is full of the same diversity of people you find in the poker rooms. So you will work with degenerates, idiots, rude people as well as with very impressive people. No one should think that life in a company is magically wonderful where everyone likes each other and goes out for drinks after work. It's not a beer commercial. Also, the vast majority of people work in jobs where they don't leave each day feeling like they made some great contribution to society. So that knock of poker playing is odd to me.

It's very hard to be a successful entrepreneur, and being a successful poker pro is no different. But there are a lot of pluses if you are the right person with the right skills and motivation. IMO there is no negative aspect of being a poker pro that is unique to poker; there are the negatives of attempting to run your own business vs being an employee.

I dunno if I regret it, but I certainly question it a lot. I spent 18 months right out of college at a major tech company doing software, and over that time I just never got super motivated or excited about my job. Over time it showed in my performance, and earlier this year I resigned (pretty much mutual, my manager was like, "you're probably the smartest person on this team, but..."). Had the crazy notion to grind up a roll and hit the WSOP this summer, so I did that.

Along with paying for the massive house I was renting (with roommates), my car payments, and a somewhat lavish lifestyle (lavish for a 20-something at least, i.e. steak dinners, going out drinking, etc.), all leftover from when I had a good job, I also somehow managed to run pretty hot at my $2/5NL game for about 2 months and ground my $3k shot-taking roll into about $10k, and went to Vegas with that measly amount ($10k that I was prepared to lose, with another ~3 months of savings in the bank).

I got a pretty good grip on cash games and ran decently well, with something like a $70/hr winrate for ~200hrs of $2/5NL at the Aria and Venetian, and also took my tourney shots, mostly based off a sick ROI in satellites (something like 500%). Up to the main event, my total ROI was about +20% with ~$15k in buyins. I then binked a main event seat on my 3rd try, and decided **** it, it's my first main, I can "afford" it, despite my total bankroll being something like $25k lol. Somehow, I managed to have a top 20 stack at the end of my day 1, and even had the Pokernews chip lead at one point in the day (lol at my friends/family taking screenshots of this and texting me etc.). Then I dumped off ~120k in 3 levels on day 2, and that was that. So I left Vegas with a -20% ROI cuz of the main (tourney-wise), but I don't regret that one bit.

Afterwards, I kinda got the itch. Not so much because I just love live poker so much (it ****** blows... the table talk at my games is just the most godawful ******ed crap I've ever heard, but I'm stubborn and don't like wearing headphones cuz I know I'll miss out on useful info), but because I wanted another shot at playing the series next summer, given that I had played exactly 2 live tournaments (and maybe like 50 lifetime online) prior to last summer.

So now? I've still got about a $70/hr winrate at $2/5, but I'm lazy as *** (played like 60 hrs total last month). I moved into a smaller apartment and cut down on living expenses. I'm basically just a live robot now at the tables, hardly talk to anyone (because they're either all ******s or regs with their own headphones), and just read **** on my phone while counting down the hours until I can go home while feeling like I've put in a decent day's "work." It's decent money, probably about as much as I could make if I went looking for a software job again (though with benefits obv a job would win out), but really I just wanna grind up like a $50k roll and go back to the WSOP and try for "glory" (holy *** that sounds lame).

I dunno why I gave you my life story, but maybe it's kinda somewhat an answer to your question.

I don't think I have ever met a person who doesn't complain about their job/career

To those complaining about $20 an hour no benefits being a meager living or something, I have 4 close friends who make <$15 an hour no benefits working temp jobs/random bull**** jobs 5 years out of graduating college. There can be an argument made that they probably should have moved from Michigan or worked harder, but these people aren't exactly dumb people. My brother in law has had to relocate twice, has a specialized degree from a solid college that was supposedly in demand and still is only making 35-40k a year 10 years out of college. Luckily the cost of living in the midwest is very reasonable.

That being said grinding 1/2 live for a living would be pretty brutal. i think it would only be a temporary solution for me if I literally was broke and had to borrow money to play until I could move up to 2/5.

If you haven't heard any big winning online players complain about hating the lifestyle than you simply haven't been reading the same blogs or talking to the same players as me, there are plenty out there who are unhappy but feel sort of locked in to grinding out the money. I see my friends with similar degrees as me struggling on 30-40k a year hating life so I don't really see many options for myself in life even though I don't enjoy the game much anymore.

It doesn't scare me so much thinking about my future as it frustrates me that we live in such an advanced society and people are still forced to work so much harder nowadays for less job security, less benefits, and less income. I have one friend who I would say is actually happy with his job 5 years after graduating and he worked is ass off to become an actuary.

Making $20 per hour playing poker is probably the equivalent to playing minor league baseball. Is anyone not giving up their jobs to take a shot at the big leagues? Please, anyone knocking making a profit playing poker clearly doesn't make a profit.

Everyone who is thinking of going pro needs to read this. Once you go with poker, its so difficult to get out. No one wants to hire someone who has done nothing for a few years and no one wants to see poker on a resume.

Work hard enough so you make more than $30/hr and don't need to find another career?

Great post. I might just add along the same lines that there is a certain feeling of pride that comes with doing things well. Poker is a trade and like any other it's mastery can be both an enlightening journey and a worthy end.

20$ an hour is a LOT of money in some countries

Most of the live pros I meet at the casino are annoying jerks. I'm talking about 1/2 pros. When they get bad beat they are some of the nastiest people at the table. They are very nice when chatting up fish, but when things don't go their way it is unpleasant to be around them. I'm sure the higher up players are more respectful but the lower stakes guys sure aren't.

lol at being a professional playing 1/2 live

Comparing $20 an hour at poker from $20 an hour from a normal job isn't really relevant. Poker doesn't have benefits (health insurance, OASDI, retirement, paid vacation, life ins/other misc. small benefits) that probably add something like $10/hr to your pay at a normal job.

I don't think anyone is knocking making $20/hr playing poker; however, if you plan to do it full-time with that hourly expectation, then be prepared for a very tough road. The reason why is the closer you are to earning what you require hourly to meet your monthly nut, the more significant the swings will be.

If you're making $20/hr but you require $18/hr to live, then you are ****ed - you can't withstand the normal fluctuations using a reasonable bankroll and liferoll; if you're making $20/hr and you only require $5/hr to live, then that's entirely different.

The nice thing about poker is you don't have to give up your job. You can continue to refine your game until you can play for stakes that can better ensure your longevity in the game as a profession.

I can see how a 1-2 player making 15-20 an hour playing poker in the USA might be a problem because of the cost of medical insurance. That alone can put a huge dent in your income. Maybe not as 25 year old, but as you get older, premiums increase and can get disgustingly high, I'm sure.
I live in Canada where health insurance is provided by provincial governments. Furthermore, because of the tax system, making 20$/hour playing poker is equivalent to a 35-40$/ hour job because gambling profits are exempt of taxes.
Though there is a way to declare gambling revenues in order to have some kind of access to credit and what not.
Plus you can collect social assistance check for like 800$/mo. Unethical, maybe, but not a bad deal if you ask me.

Btw. I'm not a live pro. Or any kind of pro for that matter.

Jobs that provide said benefits aren't really available to the vast majority of American citizens these days. Even with a college degree. And even if you get said benefits they certainly aren't "free." They take money out of your check for health insurance. Consider yourself EXTREMELY LUCKY to get a 50/50 split with your employer...and that's basically unheard of nowadays.

Most folks work for around 10-12 an hour with no benefits...if they can find the work. Recent college graduates are left with 100k debt and can't even find a job.

That is reality. What you mentioned isn't.

This feeling can relate to any career and income level

Are there any bartenders that regret their decision to work restaurants?

are there any dentists that regret their decision to smell teeth all day?

The key is balance, play poker and take up a small business, when you get tired of one the other can take up your time, it's worked for me

Sure, but there's not too many dentists that say, "I lost $15,000 grinding teeth today."

Very few people here seem to want get a real job and use poker to supplement their income....it's always poker or a job/ college, never both.

I quit online poker this year but I used to work a 9-6 office job making good money and them come home and play online from 9pm to 1 or 2am 3 nights a week and add another $20k a year tax free(in my country).

I'm just wondering, and maybe this doesn't concern me, but why would you quit something that puts 20,000$ in your pocket every year?

I think it's pretty indisputable that if someone is good enough to win online then it is undoubtedly the better way to go. You have the freedom to play live if you want on the side for big tourneys or cash games that come around, while keeping your primary grind online. I'm 26 years old and have played professionally for about 5 years now. Never have had a losing month, averaged 450/hr 2007-2009, hourly is down some now after black friday of course but still is more than enough for great salary if just increasing volume. With online poker, you get to take months off for vacation if you wish, travel around with friends to different countries, play poker during the day time, and go out at night time to live it up to see the city at night, and experience a lifestyle and standard of living that trumps the "college years" by far, that many people defer to as the best years of their lives.

I feel as though poker has been an amazing gift to my life personally and know many other young poker friends who feel the same way. Am currently in the process though of transitioning from poker into business because I feel like the only way it can really get better from here is to move money into investments to start generating more passive forms of income and acquiring assets. Pretty typical stepping stone for a lot of online guys. Have been enjoying the transition quite nicely so far.

I tend to think that if someone is hating poker for a living then they are either doing the poker part or the living part wrong. For the poker part, if you're not winning enough to maintain a comfortable lifestyle then that's obviously going to change your perspective on poker. For the living part, if you're not balanced, grounded, organized, well bankrolled, and responsible then you are going to have some problems. But if you are good about keeping a work schedule (much harder live), staying healthy with diet and gym, managing your bankroll and expenses, and balancing your social life, then comparing poker to your typical job becomes a bit disrespectful to people who actually are waking up every morning and grinding out a 9-5. The reality though is that like with anything else in life, many people have life leaks that tend to manifest themselves into the poker lifestyle. Some more so than others.

To say that a 50/50 split is basically unheard of nowadays just does not reflect reality. Most corporations do provide pretty excellent benefits to their employees, not just health care plans, but also 401K plans with matching, etc.

It's also part of the Obamacare package that requires companies to make healthcare available to their employees, or face fines. The only companies that don't provide healthcare to employees are generally small businesses.