One year as a "pro"

[judgesmails]

When I quit my job last June I did not intend on playing poker for a living, but it seems to have turned out this way. I remember making a post on one of these forums responding to someone else about a year ago advising against playing poker for a living - and here I am doing just that.

My intention at the time was to take a short break from work and return to the job market in the fall when I returned from a trip to Aruba to play in the UB WPT event. I did not like the job I had at the time and wanted to take some time to reevaluate my career path and consider a career change. I worked as a Project Manager for a general contractor, had been working in the contracting business for about ten years and was considering trying something new. I had enough money saved to get by for about six months without working.

I had been playing poker for about two years and had found moderate success at the tables and had just started dabbling in online play and was finding it to be somewhat profitable – though not to the extent that many claim on these forums. So I concluded I could make a little money on the side playing poker while I sorted out my career choices.

I started out by going down to Bellagio every day to play live $15/30 and then maybe play an hour or two online at home. My online play consisted of one or two tables of $5/10. The live action was very good. The game had a lot of action and there were a lot of players playing over their head in that game. I think when people come to Vegas from other places they tend to take a shot at a bigger game than they are used to at home and tend to gamble a little bit more. This made for pretty games despite a fair number of very good local players who populate the game. I was pleasantly surprised how much I was able to make the first couple of months as my income from poker surpassed my income from my previous job – and I made a good living.

Online I was not as successful. I scuffled around for a few months making almost 1 BB per 100 playing one or two tables. After reviewing these forums some I found a rake back deal on Empire and decided to put more effort into my online play as I was getting bored with my routine and hoped I could approach the success many players claimed to be having. I moved down in limits and expanded to four tables of $2/4 and then quickly moved up to $3/6. My win rate stayed at about 1 BB per 100, but with more tables and the rake back deal, it was a little better than my previous online results, but not as good as my live play results. As my Aruba trip approached I was still planning on seriously looking for a job when I returned.

The Aruba trip was a turning point for me. Besides cashing in the main event, I made a final table of a side tourney, made good money in side cash games – and most importantly met someone who turned me on to the idea of propping online. He had been doing it for about a year and explained the how the deals worked. It sounded intriguing and I looked into it when I returned home.

As most of you know, propping involves starting new tables, playing heads-up, and playing short-handed. As soon as a table fills up and the game gets good, you have to leave the table. This was a major concern for me, as I was unsure of my ability to beat these games. But I decided to give it a shot. I had a tough go of it the first couple of weeks getting used to short-handed games and without the prop payments I could not have continued. But I stuck to it, researched short-handed play more and improved my game enough to learn to beat these games for a little bit. I bought a second monitor and eventually worked my way up to playing 6-8 tables at once and I now play any limit from $3/6 to $15/30. Since my rake back affiliate was flaking out on me and not paying as quickly anymore I quit playing Empire altogether and just focused my attention on the prop sites I was working for.

As I was working on my online game, I all but quit playing live. I found that I now did not have the patience required to play live anymore. The hands were too slow and it seemed like the variance was too much to handle. If I had a bad hour playing online it would only take an hour or two to recover. A bad hour of live play can take a day or two recover from. I now only play live poker if it is in a tournament or if I am out drinking and goofing around at lower limits with friends.

The income was enough that I had to strongly consider not returning to work. I did not think I could find a job that would pay me what I was now making but I was concerned about the effects my lifestyle was having on both my physical and mental health. My weight ballooned by 20+ pounds and I was not exercising at all. More worrisome to me was that I was shut in my house all day and had very little social interaction. The lack of social outlets led to feelings of isolation and at times moderate depression. Despite these negatives, I decided the money was enough to overcome these misgivings about my new “career”.

So here I am, one year into playing poker “professionally”. I do not think I am a particularly good player. I am just good enough to beat the games I play in and with the extra prop income I can make a solid living. I still struggle with my health concerns, especially the occasional depression I experience. I used to get a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from my job and I do not get that from poker. Despite the potential income, I still would not recommend anyone do this and somewhat regret going down this road myself. I wonder if and when I choose to return to the real world how I will explain my hiatus from the working world. I wonder if I can still muster up the discipline required to be successful working professional. Sorry the post is so long, but hopefully it was worth wading through.

[coffeecrazy1]

"You think that isn't work what he does, grinding it out on his f***ing leather ass?"

No idea what made me think of that.

[Victor]

good post judge. i quit my job a few monthes ago to play mostly online poker. it is staggering how much money i have made and have the potential to make but i am experiencing the same misgivings as you. it is so easy to become a worthless, unhealthy shutin. all my friends envy me but i often wish i could find a routine that contributes to my health and lessens my listlessness.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
i often wish i could find a routine that contributes to my health and lessens my listlessness.

[/ QUOTE ]

Even though I'm not in this same situation, and may never be, it's an issue I've thought a lot about. Does your win rate allow you to take a day per week off and do some sort of volunteer work? I've always thought, if I did play professionally, that volunteer involvement would be an absolute necessity.

[USGrant]

In comparison to many jobs today, I'm not sure what's unique about online poker that would induce an unhealthy lifestyle. E.g many office jobs require a person to sit on their asses in front of a computer for 8-12 hours straight. If you get fat playing online poker you'd probably get fat working an office job.

The social interaction is another factor, but I think that's easily remedied as well, especially since pro poker players have a lot more flexibility to spend time with friends, family.

The one thing that struck me re: the downside of pro poker is one 2+2er who said that playing for a living is tough emotionally (apart from all the expected emotionally tough aspects of poker) becuase you spend every working day of your life in direct conflict with those around you. That's kind of a brutal existence.

[poker-penguin]

"...direct conflict"

That is why 2+2, even, or perhaps especially, the less directly poker forums (like psych), is so important to many online pros.

In some ways, these forums are our co-workers, or at least our support network.

[toots]

"Support network" - as in barbed wire jock.

[SirArthur]

I always enjoy these stories to see how others compare to myself, as I've been making my living for about a year now from playing online.

So thanks for typing it up.

I take atleast a day or two off a week from poker, and always find an hour here & there to excercise a few days a week. If I happen to go a few days without excercing I feel like a slug.

IMO-It is vital to keep the body well conditioned, as well as the mind to be successful in most any endeavor.

I do not understand why people can't find a 1/2 hour a few days a week to do some excercise. Lack of motivation I guess. Just do it, go for a fast walk, go for a bike ride, join a gym, or go for a short jog. Play some sports with some friends, just do anything active.

It will help with any depression you might be having as well.

If you go back to the work force, say you ran your own successful online business (online investing), and are now looking for a change.

Good luck to you...

[poker-penguin]

[ QUOTE ]
"Support network" - as in barbed wire jock.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps, but I find hanging out at 2+2 helps me deal with playing for a living (as much as I try to deny that I am) - it also helps my game a little.

[imported_bingobazza]

I hear ya. I used to work out most mornings before work, and thought, now I play poker for a living, I'll have lots of time to go to the gym, play golf, see my mates etc, but somehow, it just hasn't worked like that, and all time management and discipline goes out the window when you stop work, not to mention my diet. I think the routine of work is very useful. Im up about 30 lbs in 2 years, but the extra money doesnt make up for what I lose by not working. So Im planning on going back to work for 30 hours a week (at least 6 of which must be on the golf course) so that I can still play 20 hours of poker a week and have a life.


Bingo