Here's a good test of whether someone has what it takes to be a winning player. Hand him a poker book, and if he glances through it, sees a chart, graph or any kind of math and immediately hands the book back to you like it has cooties, he's a lifetime fish.

not a good idea to share you play poker.
most people will think you spend every cent of your pay check on poker and gambling, they have little to no understanding. unless you rock up to there house or where ever you work if you work.. in a brand new $50,000+ car that's unexplained they'll just try to avoid you. Or they'll think his hit a lucky street or something. They fail to realize you aren't playing with every dollar you've got you're playing with in most cases less then 2% of your total bank worth and if you were to bust your bank roll it wouldn't even effect you because you already made that money 10x+ over

I think people think oh his probably got about $10,000 in his bank account so his gambling with $1,000.

I mean ****, if you had $10,000 in your bank account I'd be surprised if you even felt comfortable playing $2 cash game tables you're better of playing 2c tournaments.

lolwat? Let me guess, you don't own a home or have kids?

I use fairly strict bankroll management. I usually don't play a tournament at a level where I don't have at least 100 buy-ins. When I played on PokerStars, there were players that wouldn't play the large-field $100 tournaments without 300 buy-ins.

This is the first time I've seen anyone recommend 500,000 buy-ins.

variance can be a bitch tho. 500k buy-ins sounds about right.

Wait, there are people that keep more money in their bank account than on Stars? ****ing nits

I want to throw something at the screen every time someone says something about the "poker gods".

im getting staked to play and my family doesn't understand this, they think i now owe money to loan sharks who will shoot me and bury me if i dont win, lololol i tried explaining to them that the contract is that 50/50 winnings to each party and they stake my buyins. then they get confused and say "that is stupid, its like me giving $10 to a complete stranger to play the slot machines and if they win jackpot I get half, I'll just play it myself."

I will not bring up online poker to anyone ever again. lesson learned. I used to think its cool to bring it up and tell everyone, especially since Im a winning player. but what I've learned is that "I played 75k hands and ran at 6bb/100" translate to something completely different to non poker players, and no matter how well I explain it to them, all they will hear is "I gambled and got lucky this month"

And wheres the proof it wont be like that?

At a party in flat opposite me, after about 15mins of successful flirtation/banter:

Hot girl: What do you do for a living?
Me: I play poker
Hot Girl: *Bursts into tears. Her father was a gambling addict and alcoholic

Next 30mins consoling her. FML

What do you say guys?? Guys love it, but unfortunately girls in general hate it. I've considered lying and talking about past career etc, but can't deal with tha liieesss. Also saying something like 'investment' is pretty impossible if people start probing you.

Just move on. I dated several girls that had that reaction, and they will never get over it. When I met my wife, she totally understood the concepts and was totally on board with it. She's a bangup poker player in her own right now.

Criminy. Sounds like you met a hot emotional basket case.

When you think about it, there are a lot of occupations that are tougher on a relationship or family than poker. Some women go crazy wondering if their cop husband is going to get killed that night. Ask a PK (preacher's kid) how much fun it is to have their behavior scrutinized by their peers to see if they ever curse, drink beer, or otherwise "do something bad." I could give other examples, but you get the idea.

Housemate will walk in and see me in a tourney with 500k or so, ask me is that real money, ask me if I can cash out now and then ask why I don't play for a living.

Some people just don't understand

"Those are points"

telling a family member i'm playing poker as part-time work during uni, got the classic questions

"how much do you win?"
"but how much do you lose?"
"are you addicted?"

[QUOTE=Jyzz;45016675]telling a family member i'm playing poker as part-time work during uni, got the classic questions

"how much do you win?"
"but how much do you lose?"
"are you addicted?"[/QUOTE]


If you take poker seriously and you're making money, I don't get the whole addiction thing at all. If you make 30K* picking up garbage or working in an office, that's fine. If you're a full-time poker player and you make 30K you're addicted.

I just don't get it.

----------

*There will always be an argument in these forums about how much profit means success for a poker player. If you live in San Francisco or Manhattan, you might barely be able to pay the rent making 30K . If you live where I do in Michigan, you can raise kids and own a decent house (three bedrooms and a full basement) on a household income of 30.

Even so, there will always be players on these forums who will throw out a number like 50K and say, if you can't make at least that, don't bother.

[QUOTE=Poker Clif;45018060] What is so hard to get? Garbage collecting is not a potentially addictive activity in the same way that gambling is. A better comparison would be someone who drinks beer for a living. It's not completely crazy that someone would ask that question. Heck, a lot of professional gamblers ARE addicted to gambling.

just tell her that you exploit an equity advantage over weaker opposition in a dynamic strategic environment and watch her head assplode

Eloquently put my man! Nice work.

Enough said.. thread should end here . well played sir

i was watching two dudes talk about picking up chicks at a starbucks once. he was like when talking about your business be sure to describe it as dynamic, use it over and over to desribe each aspect of the business, chicks eat it up.

So she will think of her dad being exploited.

if you're a mcjob employee making min wage, and you can make 50k a year playing a card game then go for it. if you are making 100k a year at a job with lots of benefits and security, maybe its better to wait till you can make at least half of that before going pro. but if you just want the freedom to do whatever you want, i'll be content with even 35k a year. but i just love the ones that insist they cant survive on $40/hr and they're single with no attachments.

op lies, He told me about 10 yrs ago he plays poker in Toronto =D