Because it's the easy money the most difficult to get...

I have found most players that I know who have failed have failed because of poor bankroll management and overlooking the need to build vital muscle memory (training, emotional reaction control and outcome attachment) other than hand strategy.

Life gets in the way real fast.

You're 25, you're a pro player. You meet a nice girl.

Although you may be able to handle wild swings in your income, can she?

Another big problem is that if you're smart enough to be a pro poker player you're smart enough to excel at about a million different things that require way less skill.

You'll have an idiotic friend with some mundane banking job making 80K a year, taking his bonus and putting it into Tesla, Bitcoin or a million other things. And laughing at you making 40K from poker and needing to keep a huge pile of cash around for bankroll insurance.

So what's the ****ing point of poker then?

Thought I was a baller at 2/5 averaging 5k/month, lasted about 2.5 years taking tinder dates out to fancy restaurants, bought a poor man's porsche etc, eventually had a 4 month downswing and thats all it took to wipe me out leaving me with 3 months life roll to get a job in a cubicle again. In retrospect I should have just stuck with it and let myself go completely busto.

The short version is that I was usually too busy thinking about Vegas and the mirage.

Blinded by delusion, years later I couldn't see the good bets from the bad bets anymore. Flirted with the cruddy life. Was going to lose girlfriend of 9 years if I didnt attend a gamblers anonymous meeting. I went and listened. They asked me if I had anything to say. "I cant see the good bets from the bad bets anymore. Used to be able to. About to lose the love of my life so here I am."

Then I had to start winning battles with myself. Took some time. Strayed the course a bit. Then I didnt gamble a penny for 2 months to prove to myself I could.

The meeting was exactly a year ago. An auxiliary change was firing my psychiatrist, getting new one, and switching meds that week(cliffs: **** abilify. See gambling lawsuit if this **** sounds familiar).

Now I try to only play games that I'm good at. Turns out I'm good at small field no limit tourneys. And I'm somewhat proficient at nl husng. Everything else I play is either very casual stakes, or an error in my game selection.

Playing better than ever, but the glory days of poker have passed. Its basically social for me now with benefits of profit if I play well. I think thats how it should be for the vast vast majority. If u didnt make it already like squid and the others speaking gospel above, I'm sorry to say that ship has sailed.

That's why semi-pro is just so the answer for most. Some small % full pro is fine, but for most semi is golden. Little to no pressure.

Sir.

I have Complex post traumatic stress disorder and it sucks big time. My ultimate goal is to be as sharp as you are, setting my potential free at last. This too can only happen organically. Poker is a tool I use sporadically to test myself in this way. Your message is one of the kind that reminds me I can do it. Cheers and congrats, thanks for your success!

thank you for the kind words sir. On march 1 2006 I got into a life changing accident. I pretty much lost 3 years of my life recovering from it (i had to relearn how to play poker). Seriously. I have had issues with PTSD from from the accident but I had felt like they were behind me and I handled it. I had not had a ptsd event in a long time. Last week I was watching a movie with my woman and a scene just set me off. Big Time. I was beyond shocked at how much the ptsd just stays with me even though it had been "dormant" for a long time

Talk about encouragement here!
To me, C-PTSD is by definition, the ultimate ''dealing with chaos'' condition... poker, you saw the parallel, being its physical equivalent as an activity, kind of a continuation of it on the field.

There has to be some synchronicity to come out of the very fact of having to fight just to get access to one's bliss. I feel this illness is something that obstructs my access to the very ability to manage it... but not quite anymore, actually. Fighting pays. Poker has yet to do just that though.

Time to get to it.

Thanks, sorry for the late response.

Poker can be a nice distraction from mental illness for many of us since it requires concentration and our minds aren't wandering elsewhere while we are playing.

Just wanted to add the ability to adapt to changing environments is a big requirement to be successful long term, whether that means improving your game or changing games altogether. For me, that has meant switching from a drying up and increasingly tough hold 'em field to a much softer, more profitable plo field. I still play hold 'em while waiting or a plo seat to open up but it's not my main source of income anymore, plo is just so much juicier.

Great post DT, evolving and moving foreword is critical to a long term career. My GF SPC is a PLO specialist and has fully switched from NLH to PLO. I thought about playing plo seriously and have studied the game quite a bit and have been coached up by SPC and some pals who are highly skilled as well. I just can not handle the swings of plo. This kind of highlights yet another problem people face. A lack of self awareness as to what they can handle and what they cant (strengths/weaknesses).

I started working on plo after being a pro for over 2 decades. Being able to self reflect with 20+ years of experience in advantage gambling I realized that playing that game would drive me fcuking nuts. I just do not have the fortitude

FWIW, I’m way more of a poker degen now than I ever thought imaginable.

Along these lines, I know a guy who has an eating disorder, is well over 100 pounds overweight, but absolutely will not leave the poker table to eat even for free feasts. I have to take him peanuts to the table to get him to eat anything. Poker obsession can displace normal indulgence patterns strongly.

Hi my name is Berna and i wanna learn more about poker game. Where should i start to learn the basics? And how can i prevent from failing afterwards?

Hey Malagueno,

Currently, many sources of information can help beginners and experienced players. Among others, the following resources are popular:

https://carrotcorner.com/

https://www.pokercode.com/

https://upswingpoker.com/

https://www.udemy.com/

https://redchippoker.com/

https://www.runitonce.com/

Choose what suits you best and good luck on your poker journey!

Thank you so much for helping me out to learn more about poker. Let's all be successful.

I was never a full-time pro. Due to the new laws in Germany, I postponed my goal of "full-time poker" in 2021, but I'm currently thinking about starting it semi-professionally and maybe leaving the country to do it.

what many don't see:
It is probably the wrong image that is being suggested. Playing poker whenever and wherever you want sounds nice. Until you realize that you have to grind the long lonely hours every day. even when things aren't going well. when you grind for weeks at a loss and question your skill. This makes you play worse again. bad vicious circle. I believe that even some of the best grinders often have doubts about whether they can beat the games. the mindset part cannot be addressed often enough.

and as described previously. I still think it makes sense in 2024 to start at the bottom of the limits. This takes time but is essential. Only when you clearly beat the worst pool will you be able to compete in the higher stakes without being eaten straight away. You have to realize that where you can make a living playing poker, there are often no fish at the table, or at most only one. The entire profit of all regs at the table then comes from one or two players. You should know exactly what you are doing.

At the beginning I would also advise everyone to do 2/3 grinding and 1/3 study with a direct attempt to implement the theory. If you study more, you sit at the table and are completely overstimulated, so don't study too much.