Tax Q -- Taking A Shot To Offset Wins

[Knockwurst]

I apologize for my ignorance on these tax matters ...

But does it make sense to take a shot at a medium to big buy-in tournament to offset poker winnings for tax purposes?

Say you've earned as a second income $50k playing poker online for a year and want to declare your winnings. If you play in 4 $2.5K buy-in events, that's $10k that goes untaxed, saving yourself 30-40% of that and giving yourself an offset of $10k.

True, you've lost $10k to save yourself $3-4k, but you've also given yourself a shot (4x) at >$100k.

I've heard of wealthy people going into some investment to use the losses as a tax write-off or as an offset on their earnings -- is it the same principle?

Didn't know where else to post this. Thanks.