Well, it\'s clear
If you don't itemize, you must claim all winning sessions as income and may not deduct any losing sessions.
So, for the sake of argument, say you play 2/4, 20 hours per week and average over the course of 50 weeks 1.5 BB per hour. Your net would be $6,000 per year. Now for further argument let's assume your winning sessions outnumbered your losing sessions 2-1 and your average win/loss was identical.
Thus to be +$6,000 during the year, your winning sessions would total +$12,000 and your losing sessions would total -$6,000.
So that person who earned $6,000 playing poker in 2003 would pay taxes on $12,000 *unless* he or she was able to itemize deductions.
So, in effect, the low-limit player who doesn't own property is screwed.
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