Quote:
Originally Posted by Titaniums
Poker is a sport in which you are competing with others for money. You are not exactly producing a tangible or usable good. That is why people will never respect you the same way they would respect a doctor or an engineer. You would have to be REALLY good at it (and your opponents really bad and loaded in general) to make a decent steady living.
Afterall, you need to have a cushion for variance and pay your living expenses too, not to mention the rake. The money has to come from somewhere. If you made $50K in a year after rake, someone had to lose $100K. And for someone to lose enough to pay a good player's living + rake + Poker related expenses, they'd have to be really stupid, loaded or both, right?
That is why people frown upon Poker players.
Also, in order for people to respect your "job" in which you are not producing anything, you have to be good at a very high level. If you hustled at Pool or foosball at your local bar, you'd be a scumbag. But if you competed in major arenas in a sport making millions, you'd be a Hero.
If you loan sharked degenerate gamblers for a fixed high interest, you'd be a criminal and a scumbag. But if you literally stole billions of dollars in hidden fees and interests earned on other people's moneies, you'd be one of the most respected entities in the nation.
But that's true of anything. You have to be really good at baseball to make the majors, and you have to be really good at music to get a slot in a major symphony.
What you say about poker players (that most aren't good enough to make a living at it) is just as true of, for example, lawyers.
To make a living as a lawyer, you have a much better chance if you get into a good college, which means you have to do well in high school. When you get to college, you have to get your undergraduate degree. Then you have to pass the LSAT. Then you have to be accepted to law school, preferably one that is highly ranked. You have to graduate from law school, but the higher your class standing, the better chance you have to get a decent job.
So in a way, becoming a lawyer is like becoming a pro who can support yourself with poker. Jane really wants to be a lawyer, but she might not have good enough grades in high school, or college. She might not pass the LSAT.
Jane might make it into law school, but after a year, decide that it's not what she wants to do. Or she might graduate from law school, but with a low class rank that holds her back from getting that big job in New York. Instead of the lucrative job at a big law firm, she ends up as a public defender in a city of 30,000 people.
So, Jane could get tripped up at any level. Just like a tournament poker player might crush $1 online MTTs, then $5, come out a little ahead at $10, but not be good enough to play any higher.
Yes, poker is like anything else. The top 5 or 10% are the ones that are going to make the real money. But that's true for CEOs, athletes, and almost any other profession. The ones with the most talent and the ones that work the hardest will rise to the top. That shouldn't be news to anyone.
The only question is, do you have what it takes? Try these questions:
Are you naturally good at games, or math?
Do you manage your money well in general?
Do you understand proper bankroll management in poker, and can you stick to it?
Do you take your study time as seriously as your playing time?
Will you play for 10 hours when you have a juicy cash table?
Are you willing to put in some 60-hour weeks when online poker comes back to the US and starts the next poker boom?
Are you willing to work on every facet of the game (math, tells, changing gears, memorization, telling a story, etc.)?
If your answer to most of the above questions is no, you'll never make a living playing poker. If the answer to most of the above questions is yes, you might have a shot.
