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Hi Everyone. Please help a newbie to this forum.

I'm just hunting for some information which is proving quite difficult to find from professionals (or anyone well informed really) in the UK.

I graduated in the summer (Mathematics BSc) but i'm currently delaying going out finding a job to take advantage of the current poker boom. I'm realistic and know that there is only a couple of years in it maximum for 2nd teir players such as myself, but why not take advantage of it?

I'm no future world champion, but I am a Mathematics graduate with an incredible amount of NL experience. I'm projecting my income will be around £40000/$70000 p.a from my online play, which is more than enough to delay a life of suits and 9am starts for a while.

However I have a few important questions...

1. What is the REAL situation with Income Tax if poker is your sole source of income in the UK? My word, i've never found such a diverse range of opinions on what is surely a very simple question with a very simple answer? I've seen ''Tax Inspectors'' claiming the IR ignore poker as an activity all together, yet I have also seen people stating they are registered self employed and are actively paying taxes on their poker earnings... Very bizarre that so many intelligent individuals cannot produce a solution to this.

2. How do you go about assuring any form of credit as a professional poker player? Specifically is it possible to get a mortgage? I assume this is not possible, as you have no reliable source of income? However £3000 a month for the last 6 months and £10000 in the bank seems reliable to me...

3. Does anyone know how many ''professional poker players'' it is estimated there are in the UK at current?

Any help on this would be very appreciated!

Cheers

Blez