Poker as a Microbusiness

[dana33]

I just read a Tax Hotline article which discusses home-based "microbusinesses" as a way to save on taxes. A microbusiness is basically an unincorporated small-scale enterprise that is usually just a supplement to your day job. It seems to me that small-stakes poker play would qualify -- and give me a chance to deduct from my winnings the cost of the poker books I buy and my broadband connection.

People with microbusinesses typically run into trouble when they can't prove a profit motive to the IRS. That is, they're trying to use a money-losing hobby to get tax deductions. But for a winning poker player, the profit motive is obvious.

Because I have no interest in being a professional poker player, I had never considered my poker play as a "business." Based on this Tax Hotline article, it seems it might actually qualify.

Have any of you nonprofessional players tried approaching (and accounting for) your poker play this way? Do you see any problem with treating part-time poker play the same as, say, part-time freelance photography with respect to being a legitimate business? Is this too good to be true?