Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

I'm guessing this is the right forum to post in. Just wondering, anyone think it's pretty easy to not go broke when you have no other income except poker? I always hear a lot of top pro's saying "expect to be broke". Then I was reading about Jen Harmon and throughout her career she was saying she only came close to being broke 1 time. I'm probably a better money manager than accounts or 99% of the people out there. And the one problem I see with a lot of these pros is ridiculous degenerate gambler qualities. Like Ivey and Forrest's sick craps game addictions where they sometimes drop millions in a single session. Or insane sports or golfing wagers, more importantly sports. I can see easily how you can go broke from reading so many of these stories. And if your a good player, I'd think that's the only way you could possibly go broke over time is being a horrible money manager. Anyone else agree ?

Re: Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

Horrible money management or tilt will do it to you. All the things you listed have been the downfall of some great players.

A large downswing could make you broke if you refuse to drop down in limits to rebuild. And if you do drop down in limits you may not be able to make enough profit to sustain your lifestyle and end up broke that way.

Re: Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

2+2ers in general have good moneymanagement skills, and if you take a look at the best posters on these boards, you will realize that very few have gone broke.

If you are careful, you can make it virtually impossible to go broke throughout your career.

Re: Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

A lot of the early champions were hustlers first, and Poker players second. They bet on lots of stuff, golf, backgammon, propositions. Gamblers can expect to go broke. Also, many of the old school players had chaotic personal lives, so it was often convenient to appear broke. They might owe $1 million and be owed $1 million, without clear written accounts for any of it. It's hard to even define "broke" for someone like that.

I think the key is whether you have the discipline to drop down in stakes and play more Poker when your bankroll gets thin. That gives you weaker competition, and more hands per dollar to reduce standard deviation. But it's hard work and can be tough on the ego as well.

Personally, I would consider that the definition of a pro. An amateur, however good, funds Poker out of discretionary income. If he loses, he stops playing for a while to build up his bankroll. A pro, who is living off the income, has to play more after a loss.

The guy who plays more at the same stakes, or increases stakes, after a loss, will certainly go broke.

Re: Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

Good answers thx. I was also thinking with this new flood of millions of players, there is more of a field to profit from than in previous for good players. I'm thinking nowadays, if your a good money manager, with all these fresh players out there, it should be absolutely impossible to go broke following all the above guidelines. I hope it works out for me [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Thx for the posts.

Re: Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

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Then I was reading about Jen Harmon and throughout her career she was saying she only came close to being broke 1 time.

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Not quite.

And yes, I do spend way too much time reading CardPlayer.

Re: Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just wondering, anyone think it's pretty easy to not go broke when you have no other income except poker? I always hear a lot of top pro's saying "expect to be broke".

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There is little reason to risk going broke when you play online. The rake and expenses are lower online, there are smaller games, and you can play 10 times as many hands per hour. It's easier to estimate your edge. The result is that a winning player can build his bankroll up rapidly and safely online.

The pros who talk about going broke played live. They exposed themselves to the risk of going broke in games they might not have been beating, and for which they were certainly underbankrolled.

Re: Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

[ QUOTE ]
2+2ers in general have good moneymanagement skills, and if you take a look at the best posters on these boards, you will realize that very few have gone broke.

If you are careful, you can make it virtually impossible to go broke throughout your career.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with the entire first paragraph. This is the commonly held belief, but from what I've heard from individual players it seems to be completely false.

Re: Going broke playing poker for a living, avoidable?
 

I think the everyone should expect to go broke concept comes from the pre internet era.