It sounds like you enjoy bragging about it but only if someone asks first

You could always decline to answer and not care whether some random, with obviously poor manners, thinks you don't make a lot of money

I always interpreted it as 'so you're always playing with the same bunch of no life degenerate slobs right?'

I can't tell if you're a real person or not.

Never had anyone ask me how many people play, but this is a pretty good question for you if you're having trouble making the game sound legitimate - "oh, there're maybe 100k people playing for real money online right this second"

As for "how much do you make", I just say "how much do you make at your job?" and will tell them my ytd if they tell me theirs. You don't have to outright tell people that poker is a real way to make money. You have to act as if it's a regular job and reply in a similar way as you would for that.

I got a couple of these from random acquaintances who know I work for PS and assume it isn't a real job. I got someone sending me an ad for £18k doing CSR stuff...

The one I get a lot is when I explain that in the past eight years I've played poker for three and worked for PS for five. They say "so they pay you to play poker on their site?" and it's pretty hard to shake them of this idea. People don't realise that there're a few online poker sites worth safely north of $1bn and they have to employ people to get there.

What I hear a lot is 'I never win with pocket Aces, Rag Rag is my hand though'

Also when people offer you money so you can double it or whatever they must assume you are a winning player. So why the hell would you want to use their money and pay them back more instead of using your own roll?

All my flat mates know i play poker ... one of the girls is constantly using the over repeated statements spread throughout this thread. How much did u loose ect.

today she told me how her and her ex boyfriend made this plan to enter her in the games and she can play the part of the "dumb girl" and take their money when they think she can't play. Of course she still needs to use a hand ranking card when playing friendly games at all times.

she will be very convincing then, dont see how that could go wrong

I told a few friends that I play poker. Now whenever they play like $0.05/$0.10 poker, they always invite me.

actually, I don't mind, it's pretty fun! Sorry for nitting up the thread

You're not really getting into the spirit of things are you?

...so I minraised to 100 from utg with my aa leaving 150 chips behind and this guy had qq and shoved for 200 chips and hit his ****ing queen on the river and then even said i was the worst player of all time and a queer and ****.

what an ass hole and aa never wins


^^
that's why i don't tell people i play poker.

Because it is just never worth it. People always ask you how the 'gambling' is going with that condescending look in their eyes.

Then you start to explain that it is not gambling and half way through you see them looking at you like you are some poor deluded moron.

The worst is when other people who have no clue about the game introduce you to someone else and say that you are a gambler.

Because it is just never worth it. People always ask you how the 'gambling' is going with that condescending look in their eyes.

Then you start to explain that it is not gambling and half way through you see them looking at you like you are some poor deluded moron.

The worst is when other people who have no clue about the game introduce you to someone else and say that you are a gambler.

the problem with that is, it's a lose-lose situation..
you don't play with them for the money, I assume.

if you crush, they're like "yeah it's no fun playing with you, you're a pro"
if you lose, they might be like "oooh what's the matter, phil hellmuth?"

I generally break even by playing VP$IP 100%. It's fun!

There's a group of guys I've known since high school that play 20NL (but they only buy-in for $10). Playing with them when I was back in school is actually how I got started in poker. I still play with them, though the stakes don't mean ****. But yeah, it is pretty fun.

It sounds like you haven't really listened to a damn thing I've said.

Lol the 1st thing some old college friends ask when they see me is "how's the poker thing going?" Sometimes they ask "so, u drunk yet?" first, but that's immediately followed by "how's the poker thing going?".

It's not inappropriate. It's normal. Most of the questions "dumb" people ask in this thread are perfectly normal ones to be curious about if you are clueless about poker, and if you can't understand why people ask those, you are pretty damn narrow minded.

When you tell people you play poker people get curious. They have heard the stories about people making millions playin gonline poker, and for all they know you could be making $1M/month or $50/month, both are equally as plausible to them. So of course they ask the question if you tell them you play poker. WTF do you expect? Do you expect them to be quiet so that they don't do the mistake of asking a question which sounds funny to a 2p2er? Guess what? They are not 2p2ers.

By letting them know you play poker professionally you are alluding to them that you could very well be making $1M/month, but hey, let's keep them guessing. I would get really annoyed by your attitude if I was your non-poker playing friend.

As per the title of the thread, either don't tell, or if you tell don't get annoyed you get questions like "how much do you win" or "what's the biggest pot you have lost". Telling people that you play poker and then getting annoyed by the perfectly normal questions you know they are going to ask is just pure stupid.

LOL

At least around here... if u tell someone u play poker 95% of the ppl here (Brazil) will automatically assume ur losing money. If u say otherwise, not only will they keep believing u lose money, they'll also classify u as a degenerate gambler and a lier. Unless ur driving around in a Mercedes or something and tell ppl u "hove no job, just play poker", nothing good comes out of telling ppl u play poker.

I bought a lap top with my online poker winnings a while ago and my own mother still don't believe the poker sites actually "paid me money", lol.

Oh, and every****ingbody has a ****ing story about how some stupid-ass relative "lost it all to gabling".

That's such a weak argument. Since they're curious, that makes it not inappropriate for them to ask? Uhh, what? There are plenty of times when, after someone tells me what they do, I become curious about how much they make. Do I ask them, though? No, I know better than that; I know it's an inappropriate thing to ask.

Why should professional poker playing be treated differently that any other profession in this situation? I think the reason most people do this is because they don't regard poker as a real job (even after I've told them I've done it consistently for several years).

What...? It should be seen as a poor question by anyone who knows that it's inappropriate to ask someone about their income. I'm not sure why you would think that would be 2p2 specific.

I'm not going to lie about what I do, or be dishonest by masking it as something else such as "investing". It's not like I try to bring it up in a conversation; I do the opposite. I make sure to not bring it up myself, because I know where it usually leads. If someone does bring it up and ask me what I do though, I answer truthfully. Due to that, I have no right to get annoyed by any following questions? That's a pretty ridiculous view.

The fact that it's a fairly normal question does not mean it's an appropriate question. Normal != appropriate.

FWIW, not everyone asks it. There have been a few people who have asked me a bunch of questions about playing poker, but never my income. They actually knew it was inappropriate. What do you make of that (small) group? They must be genius 2p2ers or something, right?

She probably feels like that's some great wisdom that she's bestowing upon you, too.

That's what I find so irritating about situations like that. Their statement contrary to yours comes with the implication that they know more than you do (about something you've dedicated most of your adult life to), and they think you're the ignorant one, when in reality their statement proves the exact opposite.

And for the most part, in attempts to show them that they're wrong, you can do one of two things:

1. Give a brief explanation, which they never comprehend. Now you're even worse than a gambler, you're a desperate addict grasping at straws and you're unstable and you'll be homeless in 6 months.

2. Give the full explanation, which takes at least 10 minutes and you're still risking that they won't comprehend it. Either they don't comprehend it and you're still that desperate addict grasping at straws (and you've bored them), or they do comprehend it and now you're kind of a narcissist and maybe a braggart (and you've bored them).

I think this is why people in HSNL spend $20,000 on a watch.

I've had decent success in explaining my poker playing to people, I would say that at least half of them get it.

I belong to a church that most would call evangelical or fundamentalist Christian. I sent my pastor a 14-page E-mail about my poker playing. In case it might upset anyone in the church, I wanted to give him a heads-up. I occasionally play live in one of the local bowling alleys, so I couldn't expect to keep it a secret.

The mail included my thoughts, or posts by other 2+2ers, on things like bankroll management, the importance of math in table decisions, and poker-is-a-skill-game arguments, among other topics. He read the whole thing, asked me some questions, and several E-mails went back and forth

He finally said that he couldn't exactly exactly endorse my choice. But he went on to say that if I didn't have any addiction issues, and since I made the case that what I was doing was in no way immoral or contrary to biblical teaching, he had no grounds to condemn it either.

I can live with that.