poker is a way of life vs. poker is just a hobby

[creedofhubris]

Just wondering how some of you other successful high-stakes players weigh the attraction of full-time poker, and the attendant wins, vs. a more intellectually & emotionally satisfying career. In the midst of a bit of an existential dilemma here.

Right now I view myself as a part-time poker player. (This may be self-delusion.) I spend about 20-25 hours/week playing. It's been my primary source of income for a while now. For a comparatively long time, I made a comfortable sum basically nut-peddling at $2/$5 NL; I was playing at that level for about a year while other strong players who opposed me moved up in limits. I never did. Now I've had to; thanks to some structural changes at the site I play, I've started regularly playing bigger games, $5/$10 and $10/$20.

Anyway. Moving up out of my "comfort zone" has caused some embarrassing mistakes (yesterday alone I dropped three buyins that I had no business dropping, for a $4K hit!), but there is, of course, much more earn potential.

But to play at those levels and win significant sums, I really need to clean up my game. I've been essentially a gentleman amateur. I don't even have pokertracker or a rakeback deal, fergoshsakes. (No need to offer me one, thanks.) I have plenty of leaks, and it would take significant study, discipline, and introspection to turn myself into a consistent big winner at a level where nut peddling is not enough.

I'm also a graduate student. Poker has pulled me about a year off-schedule and if I don't get my nose to the grindstone right now I'm basically never going to finish my degree. Intellectually, I find poker interesting, but since I'm working on an English degree it's not a similar sort of thought to what I'd viewed myself spending the rest of my life doing.

My girlfriend is not a poker player but is very amused at my poker success and supportive. My parents are not so amused.

I imagine stockbrokers and other "sellouts" go through the same sort of angst when they realize/consider that they're spending a lot of time in an essentially meaningless, stressful profession whose sole point is the accumulation of money.

Since I've essentially been "kicked upstairs" to these higher limits, I feel I'm at the point where I need to either acknowledge that this is my life now and I need to get all the tools of the trade and spend my spare time and brainpower working on improving my play, or admit that it's just a hobby, ease back on the hours, focus on finishing my PhD, and treat it as a profitable sideline.

I am also reminded that the guy who got me into this game was originally a physics grad student who dropped out to play blackjack, and who has since convinced another mutual friend to drop out of his grad program to play blackjack. Seems like a common result.

Anyway, comments from those who have faced similar decisions, or found a way to balance poker and profession, would be appreciated.

(This post may amuse those who play against me, since I probably seem like a "full-time player", but, really, I'm not! Really!)

[Rococo]

I was thinking about exactly this question the other day for many of the same reasons.

Even if you have the skills, to make real money (e.g. $200K per year), it seems to me that you either have to multitable like a maniac at lower limits, which isn't particularly fun and can feel a lot like data entry, or you have to play scary high limits (often 25-50 NLH or higher), which I assume is nerve wracking and often unacceptable to family members and loved ones.

Bottom line -- I am a winning player and that is good enough for me. My wife doesn't want to be married to a professional poker player and who can blame her. I can make more money (with a lot less risk) doing other things. I don't see myself ever progressing beyond gentleman amateur status, and I don't much care.

[creedofhubris]

[ QUOTE ]
I was thinking about exactly this question the other day for many of the same reasons.

Even if you have the skills, to make real money (e.g. $200K per year)

[/ QUOTE ]

To put some of this in perspective:

Based on the last year and a half, I am certain that I could hit $200K by putting in more hours, grinding/multitabling ~$3/$6 games.

I would be aiming for significantly more than $200K if I were looking at fulltime 10/20.

[technologic]

when you look at it in the end, it depends on how you maximize expected utility, rather than maximizing expected value.

everyone's expected utility with respect to money is probably a function that's a negatively convex function. (ie, every dollar you gain is going to make you less and less happier as you gain dollars) as a result it depends on how you view the extra money you would be making as a result of going pro, versus if you were to choose a much more fulfilling career.

questions to consider could be:
how do i plan to spend the money i make?
how long do i plan to play per day, and how will playing affect my personality?
how much money can i make doing something else i enjoy, such as reading, writing novels, grading idiot 7th grade papers, etc.

also, there's a certain volatility to going pro. you never know how available games will be in the future (ie illegalization of online gambling) and your life may be dependant on where good games are. if you're not comfortable in living in places like las vegas, and atlantic city, this may not be optimal for you.

i like other suggestions of finishing your phd etc. you'll always be able to improve your game in the meantime, and you'll have a better idea after you set out further in what you want to do with your life.

but don't listen to me, i'm just a college student.

[Rococo]

I guess you are right. If you play 40 table a hours a week, $100 an hour comes to $200K. I don't play as often (or as well) as you do so it is sometimes tough for me to estimate.

[turnipmonster]

FWIW, I am very skeptical of the 200K/year stuff as well.

[LuvDemNutz]

My advice is to drop down in limits and finish your PhD.

You can still hone your game part time.

Poker will still be around long after you have your degree.

If you then become a "pro", at least with a degree you'll have something to fall back on should you need/decide to do something besides poker.

[OtisTheMarsupial]

[ QUOTE ]
My advice is to drop down in limits and finish your PhD.
You can still hone your game part time.
Poker will still be around long after you have your degree.


[/ QUOTE ]

[Ulysses]

My recommendation? Focus on other stuff and keep poker a sideline. There's a ton of stuff much more interesting (some of which is also more profitable) than poker.

[Rococo]

Like wrestling.