A Note to "WannaBe" Pros

[skipperbob]

This business is HARD...Make sure that your plan to quit your dayjob & become a "poker pro" has a "Plan 'B'" in case Plan 'A' doesn't work....If your reaction to this advice is: "He's an old fool that doesn't know squat"; I hope you will ask the younger posters that know what they are doing.
Like = SuitedSixes/Lacky/UnArmed/Irieguy/and others

Im sure this is true, but running any business is hard. I think you have to have the same dedication to poker that you would have to starting/running any business. Are there any posters here that ran a more conventional business before switching to play poker full time? I'd like to know what their thoughts are of the differences between the two.

[Degen]

agree 235,000%

i am very disturbed at the 'i'm dropping out cuz i had a badass month!!' trend

college is more +EV than any of you students on heaters can possibly know

great article by Ed Miller on the topic


edit: fox i did, i ran a company for about a year before 'going pro'...i like playing about a million times better overall, its a whole lot less like having a job and a whole lot more like personal freedom. even if you 'own' your business you still can't do whatever you please, you can't just not show up etc. with poker you can take a month off if you aren't feeling it, or do your job from another country or whatever. there may be companies that allow these perks but mine was not one of them.

aside from perks and drawbacks...i think the skill sets are very very similar...you need a profound trust and faith in yourself and a complete disregard for the opinions and input of others (many times from people close to you). you also need money management, time managament, discipline, honesty with yourself and a bit on insanity to make either of them work IMO.

[curtains]

Ed Millers articles drive me insane for some reason. Quotes like the following are pretty insulting:

"I think people are dropping out of college because they see poker as their “way out.” Poker isn’t a way out of anything. It’s a game, and it can provide some nice extra cash. Some really nice cash if you are good. But eventually you are going to have to (or at least want to) live like a normal person again. Normal people finish college."


Anyway there are a lot of things that "normal" people do that aren't very appealing to me. Also who is he to say how someone else is going to want to live.

[gumpzilla]

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Anyway there are a lot of things that "normal" people do that aren't very appealing to me. Also who is he to say how someone else is going to want to live.

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Generalizations don't need to apply to everybody to be good generalizations. I think it is almost certainly true that more people think they can go pro and hack it than actually can, and they better have a backup option. Considering all kinds of other factors rather than just raw ability - getting bored with it in 2-3 years of grinding, the dubious legality of internet gambling, etc. - I think it's definitely wise to be thinking about what one will do if it doesn't work out.

[Degen]

that is a bit insulting...

however quotes like this one are pretty dead on IMO:

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College provides general knowledge, preparation for jobs, and, for better or worse, social status. If you knew you would play poker forever, maybe going to college wouldn’t matter so much. But you don’t know that, and furthermore, you probably won’t play poker forever. Most of you won’t be playing poker fulltime even five years from now.


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College provides general knowledge,

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Certainly not the only way to accumlate general knowledge.
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preparation for jobs,

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In some cases, sure. But, probably not as effectively as vocational training of some sort, or an apprenticeship.

I think a lot of people confuse college with direction and purpose. With direction and purpose college may be quite beneficial. But, with direction and purpose a non-college route might serve you just as well.

Without direction and purpose, neither college nor non-college paths are likely to serve you too well.

And, I am quite convinced that college is not the place to find direction and purpose.

[ QUOTE ]

Ed Millers articles drive me insane for some reason. Quotes like the following are pretty insulting:

"I think people are dropping out of college because they see poker as their “way out.” Poker isn’t a way out of anything. It’s a game, and it can provide some nice extra cash. Some really nice cash if you are good. But eventually you are going to have to (or at least want to) live like a normal person again. Normal people finish college."


Anyway there are a lot of things that "normal" people do that aren't very appealing to me. Also who is he to say how someone else is going to want to live.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, that quote is disgusting. I don't want to be normal. I don't strive to be normal. I don't want to work a 9-5. I don't want to make $50,000 a year. Everybody around here seems to think that trying to play poker is the "easy" way out. I think its the hard way, but could lead to being much more lucrative, while also allowing one to be free. Everybody has to look at their own situation and see what's best for them. If these two options are my choices:

1. Force myself to graduate college while hating every minute of it so I can get a square job that I also hate. Going this route has safety, you know you're never going to go bankrupt if you have any kind of money management skills, but how much are you going to enjoy life?

2. Take a shot at going pro in something that you absolutely love. Maybe you'll be broke in two months.

Which is the bigger mistake? I think not taking a shot is by far a bigger mistake.

I'm going to qualify this by saying that I am not any where near believing I have the skill set to play professionally yet, but I hope I have the guts to take a stab whenever I do develop the skills.

BTW, I'm 23, and never went to college.

[curtains]

[ QUOTE ]

Ed Millers articles drive me insane for some reason. Quotes like the following are pretty insulting:

"I think people are dropping out of college because they see poker as their “way out.” Poker isn’t a way out of anything. It’s a game, and it can provide some nice extra cash. Some really nice cash if you are good. But eventually you are going to have to (or at least want to) live like a normal person again. Normal people finish college."


Anyway there are a lot of things that "normal" people do that aren't very appealing to me. Also who is he to say how someone else is going to want to live.

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Listen, I never said the article didnt have many relevant and important points. However he just sometimes makes quotes that are ignorant and insulting. I don't have to or want to ever go to college like a "normal" person, which is what the above sentence basically says that anyone reading the article would want to do.

I mean you just have to read critically for a few seconds to see how ridiculous the final sentence of the paragraph is. It states in clear English that you must go to college or want to go to college to be a "normal" person. He makes a sweeping generalization about how others should want to live their lives. I find such comments offensive.

How about if I told everyone here with a "normal" job about how stupid it was of them to be "working", and that they should just learn to 8 table the $215s and get a 10% ROI and make like 1600 per day working 8 hours, and then went on to tell you how you could make more money doing this than your regular job, and that because of this, you should attempt to choose this route in life. Of course this is ridiculous and I would never attempt to tell other people how to live their lives.

[Mr_J]

I couldn't agree more.