[Al Schoonmaker]

Thank you for starting a fascinating thread. Since I don't want to interfere with it, I won't say much now.

I agree with the people who said that the situation has changed. I have made that point on the psychology forum more than once, and Ed Miller and I recently agreed that my next article will be "Should you quit your day job?" It will update that appendix to "The Psychology of Poker."

I did find one point surprising. You wrote: "I just think he sounds like someone who has no sense of money management, started playing poker and built up his dreams of the big money, got addicted, couldn't handle the stress, and in the end lost all his money due to his horrible money management. Then he jumps off his poker career and rights a book instead."

If you look on page xi, "About Alan Schoonmaker," you will note that it says I have been a professor and researcher and have authored a number of books on industrial psychology. Various people on our forums know that I owned and operated an international consulting company and worked in 28 countries for the world's largest corporations. The annual sales of my clients exceed one trillion dollars. I most definitely have never even tried to be a poker pro, nor have I ever come close to losing any significant money. I have no idea why you felt a need to make such an absurd statement.

I urge you and other wannabe pros to read Ed Miller's seris on turning pro and my next article.

Regards,

Al