I Quit My Day Job

The arguement my Dad (and i guess a lot of people from the middle class -"older generation")
would always make for getting an education and "real" job ( a 9-5 desk job)
was that when you got older you wouldn't be able to do the same things you could do when you were "young" (physical things/manual labor-type jobs wouldn't be an option for you...)
Your body would
go and you needed to be qualified for a desk job working on a computer or something else...

A few of my High School teachers, 1 in particular, would try to motivate us by saying that when we got old, all we'd have would be our minds, as our bodies would go, etc.

Job options were (and are to a large extent I guess...) divided into
blue and white collar... The blue collar typically not requiring a college degree and being more physically demanding, etc. and the
white collar typically
requiring the degree and being in an office somewhere...
(oh, and the
white collar typically pay much better and are much easier to make a "career" out of...after all, after "digging ditches" for 10 years, your back would probably go out!)

Poker is an exception to this - and it makes the game so much more attractive.
When you think about it, poker really has the best of both the blue collar and the white collar worlds...

You don't need a college degree to play, and you don't have to dig ditches or do any heavy lifting or sledge-hammering...
You can even be bound to a wheelchair, etc. and all you have to do is wheel up to the table and play! OR You can sit at home and click a mouse online!
As long as you've got the mental game. And even when your mind goes, you'll still be playing winning poker b/c you'll be so used to making
correct Long-run minded poker decisions after all those decades of play, that
playing good poker will be like breathing for you!

What a great game. It doesn't discriminate...It doesn't require you
to have a high-powered Resume before playing...you can play it on up until you are old and gray.
It what's you make of it - and potentially anybody can do it...
IT's weird as a "job" though, in that you pick to make it your job, you don't have to be "hired."
IMO, It's the best.

And to address the article lol - It depends on one's Point of View what constitutes a "sucky/miserable life."
I'd be playing
chess or computer strategy games (CIV 4 now out! lol) if I wasn't playing poker a lot
of the time during my leisure time,
so...
I'd be in front of the computer anyways! (not making any money too!)

And what is the difference between waking up early after not getting enough sleep the night before,
having to get ready for work, commute (a long distance for some) to some office, and you end up just sitting in front of the computer there
anyway for 8-9 or 10 hours a day...plus you got some boss with half your IQ making decisions over you that negatively effect you and everyone else around you!
Then, you have to commute home, and by the time you get there all you can do is eat and sleep to get ready for the next 8-9 or 10 hour day at your "real job."

To me, this is a torturous, meaningless, and miseable existence.
Everyone has an opinion is all I'm saying...Life's what you make it and you CAN be a happy and
healthy
pro. poker player. You don't have to be miserable.
Just because some
idiot looks at you and judges you saying you are a miserable loser just because you
stay home most days playing online poker, doesn't mean you are.
The person saying that about you is probably unhappy with their lives and it makes them feel
better about themselves to knock you.

[ QUOTE ]
It what's you make of it -

[/ QUOTE ]

Did I mention that poker doesn't care if you can speak english properly? lol

[ptmusic]

[ QUOTE ]
The arguement my Dad (and i guess a lot of people from the middle class -"older generation")
would always make for getting an education and "real" job ( a 9-5 desk job)
was that when you got older you wouldn't be able to do the same things you could do when you were "young" (physical things/manual labor-type jobs wouldn't be an option for you...)
Your body would
go and you needed to be qualified for a desk job working on a computer or something else...

A few of my High School teachers, 1 in particular, would try to motivate us by saying that when we got old, all we'd have would be our minds, as our bodies would go, etc.

Job options were (and are to a large extent I guess...) divided into
blue and white collar... The blue collar typically not requiring a college degree and being more physically demanding, etc. and the
white collar typically
requiring the degree and being in an office somewhere...
(oh, and the
white collar typically pay much better and are much easier to make a "career" out of...after all, after "digging ditches" for 10 years, your back would probably go out!)

Poker is an exception to this - and it makes the game so much more attractive.
When you think about it, poker really has the best of both the blue collar and the white collar worlds...

You don't need a college degree to play, and you don't have to dig ditches or do any heavy lifting or sledge-hammering...
You can even be bound to a wheelchair, etc. and all you have to do is wheel up to the table and play! OR You can sit at home and click a mouse online!
As long as you've got the mental game. And even when your mind goes, you'll still be playing winning poker b/c you'll be so used to making
correct Long-run minded poker decisions after all those decades of play, that
playing good poker will be like breathing for you!

What a great game. It doesn't discriminate...It doesn't require you
to have a high-powered Resume before playing...you can play it on up until you are old and gray.
It what's you make of it - and potentially anybody can do it...
IT's weird as a "job" though, in that you pick to make it your job, you don't have to be "hired."
IMO, It's the best.

And to address the article lol - It depends on one's Point of View what constitutes a "sucky/miserable life."
I'd be playing
chess or computer strategy games (CIV 4 now out! lol) if I wasn't playing poker a lot
of the time during my leisure time,
so...
I'd be in front of the computer anyways! (not making any money too!)

And what is the difference between waking up early after not getting enough sleep the night before,
having to get ready for work, commute (a long distance for some) to some office, and you end up just sitting in front of the computer there
anyway for 8-9 or 10 hours a day...plus you got some boss with half your IQ making decisions over you that negatively effect you and everyone else around you!
Then, you have to commute home, and by the time you get there all you can do is eat and sleep to get ready for the next 8-9 or 10 hour day at your "real job."

To me, this is a torturous, meaningless, and miseable existence.
Everyone has an opinion is all I'm saying...Life's what you make it and you CAN be a happy and
healthy
pro. poker player. You don't have to be miserable.
Just because some
idiot looks at you and judges you saying you are a miserable loser just because you
stay home most days playing online poker, doesn't mean you are.
The person saying that about you is probably unhappy with their lives and it makes them feel
better about themselves to knock you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Listen up, you whippersnapper, get a real job and earn your keep! Why, in my day, we had to work for a living! Sure, times were tough, but a man could put bread on the table and while learning the real value of money!

Dagnabbit. Kids these days. 23 skidoo with you, young fella!

[12AX7]

Hi ptmusic,
Well, judging by your handle, you really wanted to be a rock star anyway. I can relate to that. The myth of "doing whatever you want, making a ton of money, smashing up hotel rooms, and... groupie! Yeah".

But like being a rock star there are some things to think about.

Gotta make an upfront investment.

It might not work, in which case you'll be worse off than a regular job.

You can work for a day, a week, 1400 hours was it? A year... and lose money.

I 'spose it's like any other startup business in that respect. Or perhaps, as I see it, more closely aligned with being a self financed floor trader.

I do agree with many he points you make about the "pros" though. And I'd add that connections, etc. won't get in your way. If you and Bill Gates sit down and play... you have trip A's... he has trip K's... the pot's yours... no matter who Bill is. Can't get more fair than that. The rules are exactly the same for everyone. (A point I'm attracted to.)

But, like just about all "glamour" jobs, many try, few make it.

And I think some 9-5 detractors you missed were, "rightsizing" and "obsolecence"... which can lead to..."Will that be fries with that?"

If you want it, go for it. But having a backup plan wouldn't be a bad idea either.

I seem to recall one view on mission planning went this way...

1) Study the Problem
2) Devise a Plan
3) Train to execute The Plan
4) Execute the Plan
5) ... Have a contingency plan for when The Plan fails ...

[img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[12AX7]

Hi Mason,
I'm curious, did you guys have anything to do with getting poker on TV, or was it just a happy windfall for 2+2?

I can recall thinking about the same idea back aroun '99-ish. To bad I'm not a TV producer. LOL!

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi 12AX7:

We had nothing to do with the poker TV shows.

Best wishes,
Mason

It even leaves time to light up the 12AX7's I bet [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[12AX7]

Hi lrt125,
I agree with your philosophical sentiments. We could all be trying to improve the world.

But unlike you I *don't* have enough money sitting around to say "Geez, what would I like to do today." And that's after being a working person since I was 14 (I'm 43 now).

My empirical experience is that the world is, and has always been tilted to the rich and most normal work can really be classified as being a cog in someone else's wheel.

That's fine if you can get paid enough to eventually be wealthy and autonomous from it. However that's not generally the case.

Now, when I was a kid the old, "Go to school get a good job, work to 55-65, retire" thing still existed. That started to fall apart around '87. In Oct. 87 the market crashed. At the company I was at, a top 10 fortune 500, a plan to reduce headcount was out by Nov. 87. And that trend has continued to this day.

It's my opinion that the people at the top are quite happy to walk the line where they let out just enough wealth that we don't all revolt, and no more. They do not strike me as idealists, or utopians or whatever.

Clearly the technology exists to solve *every* massive problem of the world today. But it does not happen. Because we measure in dollars, not "universal goodness units" or whatever.

We've set the whole thing up as a competition, not a collaboration. So interestingly, poker is probably a great metaphor for many aspects of it.

So until the vast majority decide to hold a leaders feet to the fire to build the world we want, rather than being sheep, it'll probably never change.

Like most, my feeling is my life is too short, and my span of control to small to make any real impact.

Now, perhaps if I was some charismatic leader type I could change all that. But that's probably not the case.

Anyway, back to your point. Yes, I defintely have days where I find myself thinking, "Could I build a [fill in the blank, usually an airplane or something]?"

But the reason I cannot is the same old working person's dilemma.

"If I have the cash flow, I have no time. If I have the time, chances are I'm out of work and can't use the cash for a project".

Same old BS. The world hasn't changed all that much from a socio-economic structural standpoint, for a long time.

Bottom Line: Other's feel like you do. But the first level of Maslow's hierachy takes precedent of the higher levels.

[12AX7]

LOL!, Yeah them good ol' 12AX7's right up there with EL34s and 6550 and 6L6s with me! :-)

Sadly, these days I use a PODxt mostly. Nowhere to crank real amp up at 3 am. These days. Even my littlest 30 watt Marshall would probably have someone knocking at the door where I'm living these days. Let alone the 100 watter. LOL!

[RollaJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi 12AX7:

We had nothing to do with the poker TV shows.

Best wishes,
Mason

[/ QUOTE ]

Technically when WPT season 1 was in production you posted a request for stats and info tidbits for before and after commercials [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]