Quote:
Originally Posted by SomeoneAnonymous
Can I ask for details? Why not?
Short: If millions of players begged and put in hours, the program would still be up, obviously. We'd find a way.
Detail:
Making it work means absolute dedication from students and coaches. We were the only ones making it work at scale over many years, so we can always recommend our products with pride "knowing they work in the real world" , not only in a theoretical sense.
Having that said, without a # of dedicated players putting in crazy hours (that always supported the program for the Jack Smiths, who just wanted to learn a bit of poker) it doesn't make sense.
The type of young guy with hours and motivation today is more likely to venture into crypto or perhaps super small % into MTTs.
It is also harder to make 100k in 9months than 10 years ago.
In other words, the economy is slowly trending towards "GTO". By that i mean, when people said poker was dead 10yrs ago and some mid-iq guy just starts and makes 100k/year, you know something is "unbalanced". You can check this thread, all is time stamped.
A good measurement is to see if training sites/streamers/commentators/pundits who "suck" at poker make more money than amazing players. That means the "braindead easy money playing" is gone and it turns more towards a hobby sport with interested lovers of the game and a few professionals.
No sport in the world (that i know of) finances itself from players paying money to compete vs better players. Poker to some degree still does. Otherwise it's all indirect via fan-dom, generating media attention etc. I believe this is where poker has to be heading. Luckily there is always that illusion of skill / "luck factor" that simply doesn't exist in other sports.
I had a short discussion recently with a former student Bencb (who does very well as player/streamer and his own site), he does disagree with me on the topic and mentions how the # of live MTT players is increasing. He has more insight ofc into MTTs, but poker as of today is no longer a legitimate get-rich-quick-scheme, that it has always been. It was one of the "too good be true" that actually was true.
Hard work and dedication (and talent!) will still get you there. But that's not unique to poker. And you compete with 14yo's with unlimited time, who memorise "solver lines". The 40yo dad stands no chance.
Mid-IQs making big money is as impossible as it is at chess. All high earning poker players of the future will be brilliant minds. You can hardly say that about the past ("old live pros caugh caugh").
Or put another way, i can no longer say with a good conscience to "go and play poker" if a young ambitious guy asks how and where to build a financial foundation. Those times are over.
Again, this post would NEVER stop somebody like me from trying if he really wanted. And i hope it doesn't stop an ambitious reader. This is purely an objective statement. If you're born special, you know it and nothing will stop you.
- Gordon