Play to Live or Live to Play?

There is a new poker forum on the Internet. Card Player, Planet Poker, Mike Caro University of Poker, and a number of other poker institutions are charter members; it's called www.UnitedPokerForum.com. The forum is monitored, and is a friendly and pleasant environment in which to ask poker questions and discuss issues related to poker. Among many other resources, both Mike Caro and I are actively involved in the forum, and are available to answer questions.

Someone recently entered a post on UnitedPokerForum.com, questioning whether professional poker is an easier, better, or more rewarding life than another high-income career. He listed a number of points for the case that pro poker isn't a good proposition. I agree with him that it is not inherently easier than other professional endeavors, but the pros and cons of a working life in the poker world play differently for different people. None of us hold the same hand in life, and what career choice has the greatest value must in the final analysis be considered on a case-by-case basis. There is an old axiom that some people work to live, and some people live to work. Whether your work is your passion or merely a way to put bread on the table has a lot to do with the equation. All that said, the gentleman posting the issue raised some mighty fine points that are worth addressing:

1. You will be required to study poker as much as any other trade. I agree. I have certainly devoted as much or more time to the study of the game as anyone holding a master's degree or law degree. Poker is more complex than most businesses or trades. It also requires the ability to take concepts and logically derive answers from varying input in a way that many careers do not. Some people can solve problems only if they have an identical frame of reference from their past. Because of the practically infinite number of permutations you face daily in poker, the learning never ends, and those who stop studying the game generally stop winning.

2. Every day, you risk your winnings from the previous session. This is true in many other professions, as well: Day traders, real estate developers, and venture capitalists come to mind, as well as small-business owners who have to reinvest all of their revenues in new inventory or marketing. Those people don't have the security of a weekly paycheck, and can end the day with less capital than they started with and are often at risk of losing everything. This factor makes poker very stressful. You can eliminate some of the stress by being properly bankrolled, but swings of fortune are part of poker life. If you need to know how much will be in your bank account at the end of the month, find another profession.

3. You socialize with psychologically unenlightened people, and you cannot educate them because it is a financial necessity to keep them that way. Poker is indeed a predatory game in which many people must lose in order for a few to win. And losing money brings out the worst in many people. The game attracts all sorts of people from different environments and classes. Some of them are grifters lured by the high-speed lifestyle and abundant cash environment. Others are self-destructive people who have lost control of their lives. That said, I have met many successful, high-quality, gifted people at the poker table. The value that these people have contributed to my life on both a personal and business level has been immeasurable. Had I never played poker, my life would have been devoid of that treasure.

4. If you are single, finding a mate is often up to lady luck. If you are part of a couple, you have to have a partner who doesn't interfere with your work. If you are going to play until 5 o'clock in the morning, your partner will have to understand. It seems to me that lady luck plays a big part in your finding a mate no matter what your field of endeavor. My best friend from Florida met his wife, a nurse, when he was hospitalized after a hang-gliding accident. And you can find love in the cardroom: My wife was a cocktail waitress at the Washington bowling alley/cardroom where I played when we met. If you turn left instead of right at the corner, or stop in at a different bar after work, you will or won't meet your life partner. If you go out and make the effort, you will meet people. People I meet outside of the gambling world are fascinated to meet a professional gambler. As far as a prospective mate accommodating a poker lifestyle is concerned, all relationships are give and take. If you are going to play poker 100 hours a week, things are unlikely to work out, as it will stress the relationship just as too many hours at the office would. People who care about each other should be able to orchestrate a mutually enjoyable lifestyle regardless of the stresses of the workplace.

5. No other job requires you to have the focus of a surgeon and the emotional control of a Buddhist monk. Ain't that the truth! To compete successfully over time in poker requires the dedication of a professional athlete. And intangibles such as focus and emotional control are most important. My hang-gliding friend has all the knowledge necessary for having a winning game, but because of an absence of these traits, his best years in poker are around break-even. I won't mention the bad ones! Not everybody has what it takes to be a surgeon, a Buddhist monk, or a poker player.

6. What job is it that no action is its most important function? That is, poker's deadliest weapon is folding. You will have days in which you play eight hours and fold seven of those hours. In many careers, waiting for something to happen is inherent to the job - for example, lifeguards, firefighters, and paramedics. Pro golfers play five and six hours to execute 70 shots. The time between events is often spent training and preparing for when action calls. The time you spend in between hands is part of your job, analyzing the play of your opponents. Patience is an asset in poker. Once you get bored and impatient with poker, your ability to perform at it will be greatly reduced.

7. Most so-called poker professionals have diversified incomes and do not make their money solely from the poker tables. They have been smart to invest, or start businesses such as publishing, real estate, online poker rooms, and so on. Smart, successful poker players invest some of their winnings just as people with jobs invest for retirement. They know there is life after the game. I know a number of players who built big bankrolls and invested in stocks, real estate, trust deeds, and so on, and have retired. Remember that winning players are a small minority of all who compete at the game, and only a minority of those have second jobs or careers. I am one of those players, deriving income from my real estate brokerage business, investments, and my position with Planet Poker. (Writing has added great value to my life, but it doesn't contribute much directly to my income.) Poker is a volatile business, and by diversifying, I have attained a great deal of stability in my life. But from the age of 15 to 35, I lived strictly off poker, and most successful pro poker players live and maintain a life with poker as their only source of income.

This gentleman raised good questions about the viability of poker as a career. I see many people who could spend their lives more productively, with greater financial return for less effort. But the poker life is appealing. You test yourself daily. There is little in the way of responsibility. You get up when you want to, and go to bed when you want to. You don't have clients or bosses to answer to. If you need a vacation, you take one. The money is good for those who play well. It's challenging! You meet many interesting people. Managed well, the world of poker can be an exciting lifestyle.

Most of those qualities of the poker life have more value to the footloose and fancy-free. I find that the brash young kids (like I was) play with the most heart and passion. Full of spit and vinegar, they don't play to live, but live to play. The single couldn't care less about risk, as they have no hostages to fortune. Children and a mortgage will change your view of the game. Middle-aged players (like I am) tend to play to live, rather than live to play. Later in life, the go-go world of bright lights, cocktail waitresses in skimpy outfits, and fat wads of cash changing hands by the hour loses much of its allure. Security and stability, not the cornerstones of a poker life, take on new importance.

Many players fail to envision this natural cycle of life, and are unprepared for the changes in themselves and the way they view the world that comes with aging. They trap themselves in a life built around the game as a career, and find that poker alone cannot meet their life needs. They become unhappy and emotionally stressed, and among many other consequences, often lose that surgeonlike focus and that monklike emotional control, and their game suffers. They begin to win less and doubt themselves, and then begin to lose, entering a downward spiral that threatens to destroy their lives. They find themselves 35 or 40 years old and unable to earn enough at the game to support themselves and their families, and they have no other job skills. It's an ugly thing, and I see it often.

The image of professional poker is quite tantalizing. But, the reality of what can be quite a grind is a very different world from what casual players and outsiders perceive. Most professional players play not because it is the best decision for their lives (which it may or may not be), but out of love for the game. In my middle age, I have become one of those who mostly plays to live - but there are still days when I live to play. I imagine that if that ever changes, I will probably give up the game - but it ain't happening anytime soon.

Roy Cooke played winning professional poker for more than 16 years. He is a successful real estate broker/salesperson in Las Vegas - please see his ad on Page 124. If you would like to ask Roy poker-related questions, you may do so online at www.UnitedPokerForum.com.