Going Pro: The Other Side

[Psycho21]

I think this story needs to be published in Cardplayer Magazine. All they ever talk about is how great the poker boom is for everybody, when in reality it only benefits casinos and an extremely small precent of the poker playing population. They never talk about the downside of poker, and how poker has ruined many lives. Poker is portrayed as everyone making millions playing tournaments. A lot of people don't even realize that a lot of these guys on tv are dead broke.

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A lot of people don't even realize that a lot of these guys on tv are dead broke.

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Most of the "guys on TV" who are broke aren't broke because they're bad poker players, they're usually broke because they can't stop playing dice/betting on sports/making bad investments with "friends."

[Abbaddabba]

I can imagine that guy's thought process.

WOW LOOK! Im up $2,000 today! At this rate, ill be making nearly a seven figure income!

It's a shame that he's in the gutter, but this is entirely because of his own stupidity and lack of self control. If someone goes "pro" as a medical doctor because they had a 100% success rate in applying a bandage to a knee scrape, would you blame their impending failure on the medical profession? Short term success in poker is probably easier relative to being a succuessful pro than applying a bandage is relative to being a medical doctor. Even a blindfolded monkey could win at poker over a single session if he was given buttons that corresponded to each action.

[pzhon]

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All they ever talk about is how great the poker boom is for everybody, when in reality it only benefits casinos and an extremely small precent of the poker playing population.

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Poker is also tremendously entertaining for most losing players.