Exactly. My friends pretty much all know I play for good money, but they might not understand to what extent. Wheter I win 5k or lose that, it ALWAYS seems like a brag or like I'm a degen, and I'm not comfortable telling he girl I see once every other month who's waiting my table and is just a friend of a friend that I made 5x her summer in a day.

So, what I usually do is, say that I'm doing good and when they press for amounts just say I'm living alright or w/e (at that point I sometimes grin unvoluntarily, it's hard not to). But, my friend (one of the few who actually knows pretty much everything) today commented that I sometimes looked like I was bragging when I was saying that. Any better tips on avoiding amounts?

#1 most asked question for me.....

"How do you get your money off of the internet?"

Standard reply -

"I'm not sure if I can. I never really looked into it."

"If you push allin, do these poker sites have immediate access to your bank account?"

some people really think poker is something like this.

Yeah people tell me they'd give me money(like $100 lol) to run up...then I tell them I'd need like a 10K stake to make it worth it and no one takes me up on it

The variation of this that I used to get online in $5 SNG is, "I can't believe you played that hand and sucked out on the river. What a lucky moron." What I want to say is, "I stayed in the pot because your weak little bets were giving me the pot odds to draw for the flush. Try reading a poker book sometime."

I just say "I did OK" or "it didn't go too well today" and if they want dollar amounts and they aren't poker players, I'll just say something like "Sorry, I can't really say becayse I'll either look like I'm boasting or like I'm a degenerate - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose"

That educates them. It's also pretty rude. I just ignore it, which is also good for your table image

He knows that, it just annoys him and that's what he WANTS to type in chat.

Personally I type "LALALALA I CANT HEAR YOU I CANT HEAR YOU LALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU" into chat in such situations.

it actually is depending on what you mean by " all your capital "

Also, I should have noted that those stupid player comments are good for notetaking: "bets small, doesn't understand pot odds." There was a recent thread about whether leaving chat on is + or -EV. I think you miss way too much by leaving it off.

yeah it is like stealing from your backer. that sucks

i love how when someone finds out that you won money they immediately ask you, "well, did you cash out.?"

I listened to a web-radio interview with Hevad Khan, maybe on cardplayer.com can't remember for sure. But here's a basic outline of what he said:

It takes a while to lose your ego in this game. You'll think that everyone will be happy for your success, but they're not. You'll run into someone from high school who was really smart and went to an Ivy League school and is working at a $200K per year job. You think he's going to be happy for you when you tell him that you cleared $200K last month? No way. He just thinks, "Kahn what a lucky scrub" Even other poker players they'll be on the rail and they'll all talk amongst themselves, "How could he get it all in with AQ there, what an idiot." What you have to realize is that nobody cares about you. Nobody wants to see you do well in poker. Nobody wants you to be successful in life. Just remember that and you'll be an all-star.

I used to think Hevad was just a loud doofus but that interview always stuck with me. Since I've started playing a lot and taking poker seriously I keep that in mind when ever I think about telling someone I play online, and just keep that info to myself for the most part.

+1 imho

This thread proves time and time again why there is still money to be made at online poker.

Dad: " you actually trust online poker? one day son, youll lose 10K in a rigged pot, believe me, stop playing"

before this year ends i want to slap him in the face with a balla 10K money brick

I've been sayin this for years. When I'm at the table I constantly remind myself of this and think about my wife and family and good friends and it makes me want to take these mother****ers money so much more. I become the poker player terminator who hates poker players and wants to exterminate every last one of their pathetic little bankrolls and turn them into railbirds 1 by 1.

i told one of my friends about a series of sessions i had, where i'd be up 500, down 600, up 1k, down 500, and so on. he said "so basically, winning money at poker is about stopping before you lose it all"

yeah i guess

this, this, and more of this

I don't tell them because I suck at it.

I used to be a Stand-up comic / Improv actor. All of these stories pale to the constant "Tell me a joke" and "Be funny!" demands you get when you do that for a living.

There is also the "I'm funny! What do you think about this Joke/Sketch Idea/Sitcom idea/movie idea?" followed by something like "My friends and I will just get drunk and go around with a camera. We're hysterical when we're drunk! It would be soooo perfect for HBO, could you help me get that going?" (actual 'show idea' someone told me... several times)

There is also the: "you are pretty funny.... but what you need are jokes about N*ggers." That happened more than once and it was always said in all seriousness like blatent racism was really the piece of the puzzle that would rocket you off to stardom and get you your own sitcom. Next... a very special episode of "Everybody Loves The N*gger Guy" on ABC.

Also, the hecklers who think they were "helping the show" who look for thanks after the show.... those were great. Yeah, thanks, it really helped me out when instead of performing my act which I had written out and practiced for hours to have to talk over your drunk ass screaming "you suck!" over and over again. That was great. Really... no, I can't thank you enough.

Good times... but seriously, compared to that crap, questions about playing poker are really no big deal.

lol that part about the Hecklers reminded me of an Andrew Dice Clay skit I downloaded once. Called "The argument"

I am a physician and I play poker for about 4, eight-hour live sessions per month.

I am asked medically related questions almost every day. I rarely find them offensive or intrusive. People are grateful for any insight and are easily satisfied if I deflect their questions. They are almost always respectful of me and my time.

I get asked poker related questions much more rarely. They usually suggest that I am either an addict whose life is spiraling out of control or a predatory beast taking advantage of addicts and losers.

Questions and comments about medicine are usually fun or neutral. Questions and comments about poker are usually offensive and a pain in the ass.

The difference seems to be that in my role as a physician, I am a respected leader in my community. As a poker player, I am given no respect.

People, specially the oldest ones have a strange idea of job/life. For my parents, and I think, many of your parents, the best life option is working 7-8 hours per day, with a 8-10$ per hours. This is the best for 'em. They don't realize that it isn't the only option, so, they can't understand. It's like the card games=losses concept, many thinks card games or any other form of gabling will lead us to a loss but, obv, they don't know nothing about it.
Trying to change the ideas regarding poker is -EV:
- frustration
- time loss
- we will fail 95% of the times

gd i hate when people say that