What does it mean to be a "pro?"

[Mikey]

what it means to be a pro is a loser who sits in front of his computer and or cardroom of choice with absolutely no social skills nor social life.

Allocates a large portion of his net worth into playing poker, wasted precious years of his/her invested in something which does not benefit anyone else except for his/herself for monetary gain.

Has a very large ego and loves to be always right about whatever topic he is talking about whether it be poker or the any other topic (sports, news, policts)

Believes he is the best player and may be far from it.

May or may not spend endless hours on poker forums and may or may not look down on other players who don't or can't comprehend the same mental concepts as our pro does.
Yet he is so far from knowing all there is to know about poker.

Will never admit openly that he/she is wrong.

That's what I believe is a nutshell is what is meant to be titled "pro."

Beware, some players have exactly these characteristics but are far far far from being pro's because they may actually believe they are but they are probably losers in the long.

Hopefully we'll let other elaborate.

[MaxPower]

I don't know, but if you are in college or live with your parents, you are not a pro (unless you are supporting your parents).

[driller]

I prefer the "Tommyism":

It's the easiest thing in the world, to become a professional poker player. All you have to do is quit your job.

[driller]

Another one:

"The only way to get by without a job is to not have one."

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Yea that didn't make any sense at all. There are a lot...and I mean a LOT of doctors, lawyers, and every other profession that are lousy at handling their money or just like doing stupid things when they're not practicing their chosen profession. It doesn't change the fact that it is their profession.


[/ QUOTE ]

Money management is not an essential, even defining aspect of their professions. In fact, there's not a thing about it in their training or certification at all, and virtually without exception, they hire other people to do it for them.

The difference between that and being a poker player couldn't be more stark.

[Steve Giufre]

[ QUOTE ]
what it means to be a pro is a loser who sits in front of his computer and or cardroom of choice with absolutely no social skills nor social life.

Allocates a large portion of his net worth into playing poker, wasted precious years of his/her invested in something which does not benefit anyone else except for his/herself for monetary gain.

Has a very large ego and loves to be always right about whatever topic he is talking about whether it be poker or the any other topic (sports, news, policts)

Believes he is the best player and may be far from it.

May or may not spend endless hours on poker forums and may or may not look down on other players who don't or can't comprehend the same mental concepts as our pro does.
Yet he is so far from knowing all there is to know about poker.

Will never admit openly that he/she is wrong.

That's what I believe is a nutshell is what is meant to be titled "pro."

Beware, some players have exactly these characteristics but are far far far from being pro's because they may actually believe they are but they are probably losers in the long.

Hopefully we'll let other elaborate.

[/ QUOTE ]


Yeah I'll elaborate. It takes a real special kind of moron to write what you just did.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Allocates a large portion of his net worth into playing poker, wasted precious years of his/her invested in something which does not benefit anyone else except for his/herself for monetary gain

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm always surprised to see this idea pop up so much. What the heck are most jobs about? Very few of them are centered on helping anybody else, unless you say virtually everything you can ever do is helping someone, somehow. And if you can, you can say that about poker too.

If you were to go by all the people saying poker doesn't contribute anything, you'd think that in contrast everyone who had a job was pretty selfless and noble. I think the percentage of people I've actually met or even heard of in my life who are particularly selfless or noble is actually quite small. If everyone drawing a paycheck wants to chime in and claim that sort of high moral distinction, I think they're...ahem...overstating their case. Just a little.

[TomCollins]

So Mikey, when did you turn pro?

[Mikey]

in order to become a better poker player you have to be honest with yourself.... and I am honest....

When I was on tilt, I would try to visualize myself sitting across the table looking at this guy (ME)who is on tilt and who is letting emotion effect his play. I realized then that this type of behavior looked ridiculous.

I then proceeded to look at myself again and answered this type of question as honestly as I could"WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A PRO?". I am describing myself in this post because I have the mental power to look at myself as objective as possible.

Hence this post describes me.


"Yeah I'll elaborate. It takes a real special kind of moron to write what you just did."

You don't know me well enough.

[Steve Giufre]

OK, I got ya. It was hard for me to believe you were trying to say that everybody that plays cards for a living is a no good..... Sorry for the misunderstanding.