I always wonder if I would get a different reaction if I was to reply to the question "So what do you do?" with "I'm a professional gamer."

These people like demidov pre-poker, who toured the world playing all the big games competitions on computers, why people see this as cool while harbouring such negative connotations with poker, especially online, is beyond me.

Surely telling someone you are a professional gamer, and not mentioning poker, and that you make money from playing games, achieves the ability to tell people what you do while dodging the minefield of retorts such as "You've got a gambling problem", "Online is rogged", "Poker is just gambling/no skill", "can you double my money for me", "how much do you lose etc" plus it almost looks cooler and, dare I say it, more respectable looking?

IMO, being a pro athelete and a pro gamer have similar abilities to describe you as successful at what you do. Pro poker player just isn't there yet when it comes to society accepting it as a legit job.

My sister was asking could she give me €100 to play with for her, I said no ldo and explained why. She kept bugging me so I said she could buy up to 20% of me in a €1000 donkament coming up.
Her: How much would that cost?
Me: 200
Her: How much for the winner?
Me: 50kish
Her: So how much do I get if you win?
Me: 10k
Her: Do you think your going to win?
Me: I dont see how I can lose
Her: Really?
Me: No, most likely i'll come nowhere
Her: Ok I'll do it, but need the 200 back if you dont win

lol...

So what game do you play?

She sounds like she's doing you a big favour here, pally.

he plays a 1000k tourney but cant give his sister 100 bucks. you sir are dagobert

[ ] 1000k tourney

LOL this thread is gold. Same [censored] with people when they find out you practice/teach martial arts and ask you:
"So have you ever used it in a real fight?"
"Can you show me the easiest way to KO someone?"
"Which one do you think is the best style? yours or [insert any other discipline]"
"Oh yeah, I am pretty good, I did karate for 3 months like 3 years ago"
..i'll spare you the rest of the questions..
As for poker, when a girls asks me how much I have won/lost I reply with "So how much do you weigh?"

ygos?

Nope, I believe in equality and that question seems to annoy them as much as theirs annoys me... fair trade imo

Don't know why I never read this thread. This post made laugh so much.

I like the response, "so how much do you weigh?"...

We need to use this thread to generate more possible responses to these same questions we here over and over and over....

My contribution..

"So what do you do?"

--"I'm a CIA agent"
--"I'm a professional skydiver"
--"I deal drugs"
--"I invented those blankets that you can buy on TV that have holes for your arms and make you look like a monk"

After Girlfriend's dad told me I should look in to selling medical supplies as a profession because I can make XXXXX dollars per year...

Me: "I'll make more than that this year playing cards for 25hrs per week"
Him: "I know you think you're going to be the next Chris Moneymaker but..."

He talked for another minute or two but I didn't really hear anything he said.

LOL and he's talking to you about honest clean money?

Just made me lol. Got to love the snuggie

brilliant

Because someone is rich, they are automatically dishonest? I have never read or heard a hint of scandal concerning either Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.

Your logic is about as sound as, "You play poker, therefore you must have a gambling problem."

Hate it when people are always saying "ZOMG ISNT THAT ILLEGAL?" I say sort of...and make it rain hundos.

interesting to see what percentage of people in ITT that are self-righteous a-holes to people who are just trying to show interest in something other than themselves...imagine that. im gonna go as high as 40%.

I am going to see if I can pull off both secret agent and random tv infomercial product inventor next time.

Most of the examples in this thread aren't people who are just trying to show interest, but rather people who try to impose their own views on the game without knowing anything about it ("you're an addict", "quit poker before you lose all your money" etc).

When people show interest in the game and understanding it better, I happily oblige by trying to explain it to them, but I've encountered so many who have made up their mind about the game, have no interest in learning more about it and they then try to convince me to quit.

So we go out to dinner for mothers day and it's Mom, dad, bro, me, brothers wife and kids and sister-in-laws parents.

I'm seated in MP2, between father and brothers father in law (BFIL). Father is enough of a player to not be an idiot, but admiteddly probably couldn't beat NL25.

I start talking to my dad about how poker has been going and whatnot. We talk about MN trying to ban IP addresses and current news about poker.

"So you play a little poker online huh?" - BFIL (who coincidentally is addicted to Holdem Bonus, and sports betting).

"Meh it's just a hobby" (hoping to disarm the bomb)

"Well I just don't get it, playing online and such. I mean how do you get your money out? I heard it's illegal and you get arrested if you transfer money"

"It's not illegal to play poker online, technically your bank is not supposed to accept transfers from certain sites that may be involved in online sports betting, but they usually pass the transactions through under phony names"

"Well I don't get how you're supposed to play online either. How do you ever know what the other guy has? Without tells it seems like it'd be a crapshoot"

"Meh you pay attention to betting patterns"

"But how do you make a really tough call if you can't see his hand shake or his face twitch?"

"Heh, you just flip a coin"

I then excuse myself to the restroom and by the time I get back he's pre-occupied with something else. Not a bad story in comparison to some I've had, but I didn't care for it to go on much further

I still laugh whenever i hear/read something like this from someone who believes it. That people think poker is somehow all about reading every microscopic physical tic in order to make decisions.

Does anyone find that girls are more likely to have an adverse opinion of being a profesional poker player then guys?

tyvm for the bump.

Also, +1 to everyone who moaned about being a computer guy + an online poker pro.

I've actually had a couple people ask if I'll sweat them (sometimes for play money) after I've worked my magic (as in Spybot + MalwareBytes) on their 4 year old eMachine.

ugh.

I did have one interesting conversation though: I was doing an independent study for a data mining professor, and I talked him into letting me mine my poker db and do customizable reports on playing trends for my final report.

Sometimes it just works out.