[Adam22]

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So tell me, how does playing poker for a living "work"?

A serious question, not a flame.

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well for me, i realized that if i deposited a rather small amount of money into a poker site ( a little over a year ago ) and then proceeded to learn as much about poker as i could, while playing as much as possible, that my bankroll would grow and i would be able to play higher limits, progressively. once you reach the level of 5/10 or 10/20 ( actually even 3/6 ), there's a good chance that if you're a solid player who pulls in at least 1bb/100 hands ( ideally, plus rakeback ) than your hourly rate at poker will probably be better than the amount you could earn doing any other activity at that moment. i'm not exactly wealthy but it's worked out pretty good for me.

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I'm with you, I don't enjoy making someone else rich. But that misses the heart of my question by a smidge. What I lack right now is a sense of purpose and meaning. I'm doing very well for my age and have money. What I desire is purpose and I don't get that from poker. I think the worst thing I could ever do is go through life and just say well, I played poker and made a lot of money. Because when I look back what can I show for all of my efforts and talent?!?! just the money.

I think anyone that is smart enough to be able to make a living playing cards is very capable. Why waste our talent on something so trivial as poker? This is just how I feel. Like I'm stuck in some rut. No where else can I make as much per hour as I do at poker. But when I play poker I feel like I've wasted my time. Time that could have been spent improving society. This sounds so terribly stupid because I'm not some tree hugger trying to save the manitees.

I just feel that poker is good for money and that's it. I stopped enjoying the game some time ago but continue it because of the dollars.

And maybe I am alone when I say I want to create because I find value in creating.

I really just wanted to see if I was alone...

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no, i know what you mean. i've never really had a serious job though, i used to do landscaping for a friend of my parents and i got some small level of satisfaction from that but i've always got those feelings of accomplishment from bmx ( learning new tricks, finding new things to ride ) and from artwork. you're right, poker is not a very good creative outlet.