[MicroBob]

1. you don't need to be playing full-time to be able to file as a professional. If you really are in the $25k-profit bracket then you can easily argue that you are playing for income and not recreationally...and that you have an expectation of profit with your poker.


2. If you just paid them for the $25k you won even as a casual gambler I would be willing to bet it would work out fine.
I'm not a CPA though and know very little about this stuff so take my opinion for what it's worth.
But I would not go too far out of my way to pay an excessive amount on my taxes.

How many online-gamblers or regular live-casino gamblers do you think actually do it this way? I would argue very few.



Still...the better approach would probably be to just file as a professional imo.


Ed Miller's magazine articles on this stuff in the coming months will probably be worthwhile reading as well.
So keep reading his thoughts on internet-poker and taxes in the mag.