The Life of a Professional Poker Player

[mat]

i dont think that most people are taking shots at you i think a lot of people here have always said that playing full time poker is a tough way to make a living. but 200 a week is not enough to live off of for most people. ps i think its great that youre good looking but what does that have to do with anything

[BusterStacks]

I think the "good-looking" comment was to add that he has no problem finding ways to party or waste his money on having a good time. I do however think that whatever rationalizations he can make are not legitimate. He just sucks at life, has no ambition for becoming a successful poker player, and has zero self control even in the face of negative consequences. Yet somehow, he ends his post by calling us "kids". Who is the kid here?

[mat]

thanks for clairifing that i was worried that he wrote that whole article just to tell us he is a hottie. well if we are all kids and he is an adult i think id rather be a kid

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I've used cocaine less than 10 times. It's a fun drug as long as you have it under control.

ROFLMAO. You are so far from right you couldn't see right with the Hubble telescope.

If you've never used it then you really wouldn't understand I guess

What about those of us who have used it and watched friends turn into zombies from it?

If your wisdom on cocaine is any indication, you have precisely zero insight into life.

[Shaun]

Picture this: A guy plays poker for a living and makes right around 6 figures (he is not playing 3-6). Then he makes some investments. Then he starts his own business. Then he retires at 45 and lets his money work for him while he lounges around, spends time with his family, and pursues the things he's always wanted to do.

Now on the other hand, picture a guy who dropped out of college to play 1 table of 3-6 for a living. He stays in hotels just to do this, and while at the hotels he does blow and gets hammered on booze. Now he's 45 and he writes books about how gambling ruined his life- how it lead to drugs and sexually transmitted diseases (he was good-looking after all).

We see here that as with most things, there are two sides of the coin. You think we are defensive, and you're right to a point. I am defensive because I'm not guy #2, but your story seems to insist that every poker pro is. You're that guy, not me. On the other hand, I don't expect the public to understand what I do for a living, nor do I expect everyone to be able to handle the temptations who attempts it. We can't all be wise.

By the way it is difficult to meet someone you're going to marry no matter what you do, even if you are good looking.

[Cry Me A River]

mtdurham,

Let me get this straight - You work 20 weeks out of the year and party all the time?

And this sucks, because....? You don't like some of the people you have to deal with? You're envious of some of the people you deal with?

Where do I sign?

You're really a glass half full kind of guy, aren't you? And despite the intro to your site, you never have actually worked a register, have you? You wanna talk about having to deal with people you hate? Or being envious of their better lives? You go work at McDonalds or Wal-Mart a while. Get some perspective.


Aside from the quality of humanity you have to deal with, your chief complaint seems to be that you life lacks structure and long term prospects. However, you're no different from anyone who's self-employed or entrepenuerial.

A general contractor running his own business could behave exactly as you do - Work only 2 weeks a month, party every night, don't put anything away for the future.

And his results would be exactly the same.

Hell, they're are an awful lot of 21 year olds who party all the time and don't look out for their futures. And they don't have Poker to scapegoat. So what do they do? Easy, they grow up or they burn out. What're you gonna do?

You also believe that easy money is a problem, but in that respect you're no different from anyone who makes some money while still young - You're the same as any pro-athelete, rock star, celebrity, whatever. We hear all the time about atheletes and rock stars who succumb to the lifestyle. But even more of them don't and it sure doesn't stop kids shooting hoops on the playground or banging on the drum set in their parents garage.

As it stands your site is little more than self-justification and propaganda. At the risk of being called rude by a previous poster, you're the screw-up not poker.

[bluemoon]

Playing poker ia like life itself you get diffrent results how ever you approch it...good luck....but this game will bring you down since you are aproching it in a wrong way...stay in school why the hell do you want this life if you have a better allternative???? [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[bluemoon]

you got a good point [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Lou Krieger]

You've got a few problems that are likely to surface regardless of how you're planning on earning a living. Maybe coke and losing at blackjack come up more easily in a poker lifestyle than they would in other endeavors because of the felxibility that poker provides. But they're your issues and are likely to hinder you regardless of what you're involved in. My advice is to finish college, work for a while and build a bankroll, and try and generate more than one source of income while you're playing poker.

[James282]

Now THAT's funny.
-James

p.s. worst website ever