Discussion about poker for a living

[jkkkk]

Rob the yanks, give to the British, thats what its all about baby. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[whittiphil]

50k hands played total in my poker career.
14k hands at NL25. I know it's small... my real hourly rate is $20 US an hour and I revised it down to incorporate the smallness of my sample size, did I not revise it down enough?

[PokerFink]

This summer I took a catering gig for about two months. It was an excellent summer job, and I lucked out and found a company with a really cool staff. I enjoyed probably about 80% of the nights I worked, and I literally mean enjoyed. It was fun.

Then I went to the casino and made about the same amount of money in 5 days as I did all summer at my job. Suddenly my job didn't feel as fun.

[Riposte]

Just curious, is that $20/hr figure including rakeback and bonuses?

[amoeba]

hourly wise, I make more playing than I make at my dayjob but I don't hold any illusions that if I played 8 hours a day, my winrate is probably not as high as it is now and also I will get sick of poker pretty quickly.

the dayjob offers me security and a nice change of pace.

There are lots of MHNL players that make much more than I do who also have dayjobs (El Diablo, Matt Flynn, etc...)

[Riposte]

[ QUOTE ]
hourly wise, I make more playing than I make at my dayjob but I don't hold any illusions that if I played 8 hours a day, my winrate is probably not as high as it is now and also I will get sick of poker pretty quickly.


[/ QUOTE ]

Hey amoeba, why do you think your winrate would go down if you played more? Losing your attention span the longer you play or something along those lines?

[The_Bends]

I'm in a simimlar situation at the moment. Just graduated from college and have a job in Europe lined up for December so I had this three mone=th block of time. I tried to get a 'normal' job without much success while at the same time playing poker casually. At somepoint it became clear that getting turned down for jobs I was vastly overqualified for was less fun and profitable than playing poker. As a result I stepped up my hand/day and concentrated on my game and sweeping up the bonuses. So the good and the bad

Good
1. I'm a much, much better player now than I was. I've moved up a level and made it stick, boosted my winrate and experience a whole load of stuff thats improved my game.
2. The money is much better than I could ever hope to achieve from part time bar/office work which I would otherwise do.
3. I love the game even more than I did when I started, a direct result of better understanding the game.
4. No worried about days off or holidays, just sod off whenever you want.


The bad
1. The lifestyle sucks, I was facing a social vacume anyway, with my friends moving out to graduate jobs and no real time to put down proper roots but you can seriously go for days without seeing someone if you play it wrong. Thankfull I have a large family I get on with, otherwise I'd have gone insane. You miss the day to day interaction with randoms in a job.
2. A direct result of the lifestyle is the lack of exercise. My job is in the alps, I'm going to have to get back in shape to survive and I'm naturally fit guy. I'd hate to see what'd happen if I was naturally unfit.
3.Difficult not to feel like a tool staring at a computer screen all day.
4. I completely sucks when you hit a losing week and it will happen. Its difficult to refocus when you 've played well a whole session and donked it off in the final hand of the day. However bonuses can get you through the bad patches
5. Leaves a whoel in your CV you will have to explain somhow. Future jobs prefer real life experience, not bb/100

So theres good and bad but overall I'd do it again. Keep active physically and social and its a fantastic job. I'm not sick of the game and I can't even see it at the moment. Theres so much to learn and so many interesting situations you get put in. I'd never consider it full time though. I love it with the 'ligh at the end of the tunnel'. If it was the be all and end all I doubt I could do it for long.


Good luck

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5. Leaves a whoel in your CV you will have to explain somhow. Future jobs prefer real life experience, not bb/100



[/ QUOTE ]

This was a very good post in general--very well thought out and articulately composed. My only comment is this:

I own a small business--a law firm. Maybe I am more open-minded about it than most employers would be, but I would love to see an applicant who had succeeded at making a summer living off poker. I would have plenty of trust in the applicant's ability to make sound decisions under pressure, to learn and apply concepts necessary for the job, to be self-motivated and self-confident. These are all generally traits that employers care about, whether they think about it or not.

There are employers out there who will share these attitudes, so I am not completely convinced that it is a hole in the CV that needs explaining--and to the extent you need to explain, you explain it more or less as I have here, I think.

Good luck.

[The_Bends]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

5. Leaves a hole in your CV you will have to explain somhow. Future jobs prefer real life experience, not bb/100



[/ QUOTE ]

This was a very good post in general--very well thought out and articulately composed. My only comment is this:

I own a small business--a law firm. Maybe I am more open-minded about it than most employers would be, but I would love to see an applicant who had succeeded at making a summer living off poker. I would have plenty of trust in the applicant's ability to make sound decisions under pressure, to learn and apply concepts necessary for the job, to be self-motivated and self-confident. These are all generally traits that employers care about, whether they think about it or not.

There are employers out there who will share these attitudes, so I am not completely convinced that it is a hole in the CV that needs explaining--and to the extent you need to explain, you explain it more or less as I have here, I think.

Good luck.

[/ QUOTE ]

True and I hope to get an interview with an employer who does appriciate it. The fact your you're a 2+2 poster will undoubtably colour your opinion. Two things I will say are firstly that my post is perhaps a little Uk-specific. I don't think gambling is as accepted here as it is in the states (although I'm aware there are plenty against it over there) and so bringing it up suggests to most people that you are reckless and unreliable. They have these images before you can start to explain about EV, bankroll management and so forth. Second, bringing it up in interviews is very much a feeling thing. Young 20s men are much more likely to be receptive than 50+ women

Also kudos on calling me articulate while posting a quote than not only included a horrible typing error also involved me using completely the wrong word. Fixed here to save embrassment.

[amoeba]

because games not as soft during the day and everything you stated, yes.