The feelings of a pro

[Sehr Gut]

Hi everyone!
I have been playing online poker for a little more than one and a half year. When i started to play i didnt knew how this hobby of mine would develop. I just played and tried to get better, and was quite amused if i won a little and had a good time sitting in front of my computer listening to good music and playing poker.

Now things have changed alot. Playing is what i think of most of the day and even if i have another job, hands and different pokersituations are what make my mind bizzy when i have the slightest pause from work.
I have absolutely thought of going pro but i think i would miss the social aspect of my work. Anyway i have shared my thoughts with my girlfriend and some of my friends. I think its very difficult to get them to understand what its all about. My girlfriend is offcourse easier to talk to than my friends, not to mention my parents. I just find it so very hard to explain to people how it works when they get afraid and scared just hearing the words poker and internet in combination.
When i tell them i have earned a lot more playing poker than i would do having 2 full time jobs at the same time they just get scared i will lose it all.

What im wondering is what you fulltime pros, who post here all the time, think of telling people what you are doing for a living and how you feel about yourselfes?
I mean if you think its just great all the time, if you never think you are out of the societyrythm, never wish you had a regular job?

I guess its a lot more accepted to be a fulltime pokerplayer in USA, not to mention Las Vegas off course, than it is in sweden where i live.
Im not saying i would not go pro if i wanted because of what other people would think of it. Im just interesting in how others think of the differences from a regular job when you look at it from other angels than the usual worktime and salery-aspect.

Hope you have time to share some thoughts,
Sehr Gut

[doublesnapper]

I just tell anybody that asks, that I am in the entertainment business. Other people pay me and I entertain them.

IMHO if you make tons of money, nobody really cares what you do. I am a misanthropist (i.e.: I hate 90% of people and despise the nearly other 10%, so I do not have the "social needs" that you have. So maybe my answer won't fit you.).

Best

DoubleSnapper

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I have been playing online as a prop (thus getting paid to play) for a while, and even then, it's a hard living. I make more than I did doing anything else I have ever done, but day in, day out playing poker still gets to be a grind some of the time, especially during the losing streaks. It's a hard life, don't think it's so easy. Keep your day job if you can. Part-time pro is much more fun than full time.

al

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I live in the US so I really have to problem telling anyone the truth about what I do, and rubbing it in at that when they find out I make about double or more than what they do.

al

[Sehr Gut]

Hi Capone!
Thanks for your answer. The feeling you describes about that its not an easy living is exactly what i feel too. When you have bad days life can really suck. To sit all day in front of a screen can make you feel poor sometimes.
Of course i love to play poker but maybe its not wrong to do something else too that maybe make you think of something else than poker for 3 minutes.
The hook is though that when i work i can feel that i would love to just play poker and live a sleep-til-noon life.
And then when i have played poker 12 hours/day for a while i think that having a regular job maybe isnt so bad to combine with.

Its a tricky question...

Where do you play as a prop? How can you start up playing like one?

Sehr

[Sehr Gut]

Thank you for your answer snapper!
Entertainment business sounds like a good thing to say. I guess you are right about that no one cares what you do if you make the right money. Strange thing is that i know several people who do.

Sehr

[trillig]

I'm going to start playing live for a living (attempt) in Jan '04, my thoughts on this...

I worked my butt off to only get nowhere (laid off) in a job at a major corp that was highly stressful. I've been out of work a whole year and a half, this attempt for me could be the sweet revenge I've been seeking, and taking this very seriously. I'm jumping in with both feet and if I get creamed quickly I'll know it wasn't meant to be... I'm fully prepared though, going in.

I too am obsessing about poker, but that's a good thing... The real pros constantly have the wheels turning, Phil Ivey said this basically during an interview, after he's knocked out he goes home and runs through the whole tournament to see what went wrong and if he needs to make any adjustments...

I will be doing and have been doing the same thing, just on a smaller scale.

'Why why why did I not fold that *expletive* hand!' would be typical thoughts.'
/images/graemlins/confused.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif

-t

[doublesnapper]

What limits will you start at?. LV or CA?. I might move to LV late next year (If online keeps working as it is now... BIG IF), to try the higher limits.

Congrats on your courageous move, and good cards.

Best

DoubleSnapper

[LetsRock]

It's kind of odd that I should stumble across this post today.

I just sat through a completely awful weekend watching the deck hit all these fish in the face while I couldn't catch a cold. You know the drill.

Anyway, I was having such an awful time that I started wondering how anyone could do this for a living. I mean it's bad enough to go through awful stretches when it's just for "hobby" or part time $ and in big picture the losses are really only harmful to my ego, but if my mortgage depended on it, I don't think that I could handle the real awful days.

Best of luck to you.