its perfectly reasonable to people that you play for a living especially if you play online. Lying seems far worse to me than the truth in a quick and discreet way

also theres a bunch of scumbags recs online, I get told to die of cancer atleast 2-3x a week

From a winrate perspective, I don't see any positive value in telling a rec player you play for a living. Can you elaborate?

Haven't thought about it in winrates, but every time this situation comes up its because I'm having good rapport with someone at the table and lying about my profession just feels uncomfortable.

Never noticed anybody playing differently vs me because they know.

I would imagine that your chances of getting invited to private games goes lower once you tell rec players you're a professional. Unless you're a TV star obviously

I played with Brian Lara the other day. Can't say I looked down on him or ignored him. More like I was transfixed by the smoking hot stunner that was with him the whole session. Quite possibly the hottest thing I've ever seen in my life.

Respect.

I don't think so in these forums and certainly not at the tables....outside a casino though it's possibly a different story but then again the average punter probably only thinks of a poker pro as a balling high roller and not an online grinder multi tabling microstakes online.

Missing out on the journey by not engaging others

Good OP. Posting to read the thread later

I know this might sound crazy, but how about another motivation for creating a pleasant atmosphere being that you're not a complete jerk-off and it's pretty ok for people to be nice to each other.

Just sayin'...

what i see online is the "pro's" that do the whining.

yup..must admit thats how i feel

after learning how much of a boss petjax really is i read all his post with awe

inferiority complex. society looks down on poker players so looking down on people who are worse than you at your job makes you feel better about yourself.

I personally feel bad for most poker-players that have to make money to make a living, when i think of it.

And i feel like that because me myself would be really sad to [have? to] do that, because i love the game[nlhe,5 card stud my first introduction to poker,plo as my favorites] and i see the money as bounty/reward of playing the game better and/or more bravely, more aggressive, it is just the whole spectrum of the game i love that IMO no other game got, i just love the game!!.

And then have to and/or choose to do that for my income, would take so much away from my pleasure/love to play the game, and i don't know even if i could, and i am a lifetime winning player, you couldn't buy a house with it, but a real nice car you could i think, and i see that money as a trophy not as financial gain/profit, and i never could/wil/won't want to change that.

Like a old poker mentor said to me when i was 15 years old: there are 3 rules i have:1. if you are afraid to loose your money you will. and 2. never bring more money then you are prepared to loose and 3. discipline is the only thing that can make you a long time winner, and this man made his money solely from poker for 65 years, never had a job, wife or children, and when i asked him why he said: i never loved anything more then i loved poker, it is my blessing and curse, and this man had won and lost 100 of thousands in one session of poker, and he helped hundreds of people and animals in his live too, and to be fair i wouldn't have been where i am today without that mans help and advice, and never play poker for a living was one of them, and he died on a poker-table[like he secretly wished i think], and the last words he spoke where: i am out.

And no matter what a great good man he was and how much i loved him, i never wanted to be him, because he loved poker, but i know he hated it to make his money from it, but it was like i said before his greatest love, but also his biggest curse, but the 500 people that showed up at his funeral,even from belgium, france, england[and this was a man with-out any living relative when he died] said what man he was when he was alive.

And i also never had a job,wife or children[yet?] i went from school into compulsory military service[after a year of playing and learning poker in between], like it was still obligated then in holland, and after that i joined the foreign legion[thanks to my uncle's and the old man's story's, and the fact i didn't know what else to do] and when i came out i started my import/export business, and i played poker when i could to make some extra money, and probably would have kept doing if the old man[like i called him] and my family also talked me out of it, and the fact that my uncle gave me the tip that i could take over a man's import/export licence/business, and since i already since a early age[12-13 years old] made extra money by buying and then selling everything you could think of and i could find, from a single bicycle to 100 wall-sockets to 5000 sheets of ply-wood and anything you could think of, it looked like a perfect fit and it did and i never looked back, and that is why i would never play poker for a living, and ironically the money that the old man made with poker and loaned me to start and expand the business is what brought me where i am today, a happy man with a great family[mother/father/sisters/brother i mean] and friends, retired at 46.

+1. Such a horrible and lame thread

Yes i know me too

Every poker player whether he's pro or rec has his opinion/reasoning for the game. Sometimes you'll hear some guy say "You have to raise to know where you stand" or "I put you on FD", and although most of us probably won't react to what they're saying we're all thinking the same thing ("lol u donk").

So unconciously you're already creating an image of him being inferior, and because most of the time you never see them outside the tables you'll rarely be rebuilding that image to something you look up to. Until you actually talk about their lives and what they're good at and like to do.

But that's just how the brain works, it's got nothing to do with poker players.

...

Nice

FYP

Where in my post am I recommending anyone to tell fish they are stupid? I'm referring to what I think. In my head. That stuff stays there. Even the thread title says "... poker players look at rec..."

Well in my experience it was the arrogance of a "pro" poker-player that got me wanting to beat him, and it did cost me some "learning-money" but i did beat him for 5 times what he won from me[with help from the old man i have to say], and i stayed in the plus against him ever since that time.

Because arrogance and over-confidence from a so called bread/pro player can be exploited, because i have noticed on more then one occasion that a fair deal of that sort of players are playing a fair deal of the time the same game/trick? and don't have much variance in their game likely because they play many different people thru the week/time.

And i made a mistake in my previous post where i said what my favorite games where, i meant to say 5 card draw where i said 5 card stud.
And i still love that game, because of the rush and bluffing opportunities the game gives for instance, but it is also the game you need imo a lot of discipline, and fast profit or loss.

And in that time[mid 80s] nlhe was not played as much in the netherlands in private games.

And according to kyle loman tod brunson won 5 million dollars from business-man andy beal in a 50k/100k lhe game, to show there is a difference between pro's and amateurs when it comes to it? lol

I would expect a rec to know at least the abc good play until he plays micros, in case it is up to him what he wants to do with his money and if it matters i have always been thinking a tournament book or few and playing all kinds of tournaments, online and live, would be a good way to go for most recs, the limitations though being in getting a game instantly.

But i expect the recs above that to know how to play well enough. They dont do it as a major hobby like the regs, and not as full time pros. None of these are having a good life or bad life playing, it being up to u.

I started as rec player, then became part time as my job allows that for me easily, working as much or little i need, and as it is a brainless work, i get the rest i need, would need anyway, so i am happy and couldnt have things much better.

I also like my other life as a poker player, it being my life from major part and i am fortunate to have the opportunity to be a poker player, and i consider myself a reg rather than a semi pro, and i dont have major monetary pressures, and i enjoy being a poker player, playing many forms also, and i enjoy my rest time when working, and so i dont that much feel like i am just working in neither job.

With recs and not just regs who all have a variety of high rankings, is something fortunate and one should be aware of that. My style also helps things as i give looser action especially to recs, and so they are not from my part feeling they are in some rock garden, nor do i hammer them with aggression as much as some, it anyway not being the right strategy from some parts.

So, i dont see a problem in being a rec, reg or pro, it all being about what u like about it and how u view all those players. Personally, i have always had a good life with poker because i like it and i dont feel i am missing something better in my life as i like playing, get enough rest, get enough outdoor on the side of my work when it isnt fully inside, plus all travel, shopping and scooterings, visiting places. I am content enough to my life as so, just having further aims as a better weather and full time pro in a cheaper country the latest on pension and cant think of anything else that would give me a better life than i already have.

It being the same as with anyone whose major life is in his hobby, and some people just do that hobby less or less professionally and can also have a good life doing so.

Surprised no one's mentioned it yet but it's standard video game culture. I play sc2 for fun and am not very good, which means I get matched up against other people who aren't very good either. Yet without fail every so often after a win I am cursed and completely reamed out for how lucky I got and how absolutely terrible I am.

Smarmy, hostile condescension is rampant throughout our culture. It's modeled in all the media, on TV and especially on the hate radio stations. So it's no surprise to see a lot of it at the poker table from both winners and losers.