Should You Go Pro? Part I

A few good columns appeared in Card Player this past year about the ups and downs of playing poker for a living. At the risk of being redundant, I am going to dedicate my next couple of columns to my opinions on the subject. I'll begin by answering the question I posed in the title. The answer is: probably not.



Where I Come From: I think my opinions will be more meaningful to you if I start with some autobiographical information. Like many others, I began playing poker in high school with my buddies. It started on a typical rainy Washington afternoon on my best friend Eric's living room floor. His stepdad taught us a few games that could loosely be considered forms of poker, and we were off and running. Later on, recognizing the monsters he had created, Eric's stepdad forbade us from playing at his house. Fortunately for us, Eric's dad was a poker player himself, and hosted regular games at his house. He gave us permission to start holding games there, and from that point on, nary a weekend passed without a poker game. It became so popular among our group of friends that we frequently had two tables going. At that time, none of us had heard of poker tournaments, so we played cash games only. On a good night, you could win $20 or $30 in the game.



By the time I turned 21, I had played in some of the legal poker rooms in Washington state (18 was the minimum age), and had done quite well. I was attending college full time, and poker gave me some spending money. After college, I got a job in my major field as a high school teacher. I spent the next three years teaching history and psychology, and coached baseball and basketball on the side. Had it not been for some financial issues in my school district, which resulted in most of the inexperienced teachers getting either laid off or involuntarily transferred to other schools, I doubt I ever would have considered doing anything else with my life.



In 1995, I was faced with the prospect of accepting a teaching job that was undesirable to me or doing something different for a while. That is when I "took the plunge" and decided to give poker a try full time.



Of course, I wasn't doing this just on a whim. I had continued to play poker regularly with good results during the summers and vacations from teaching. By that time, I had made seven or eight trips to Las Vegas, and my forays to the Mirage poker room to play $10-$20 Omaha eight-or-better had been fairly profitable.



Before making those trips to Vegas, I didn't realize there was such a thing as a "professional poker player." Once I found out that there were people who just played this game I had grown to love for a living, though, curiosity began eating away at me. With the change in my job situation at home, 1995 seemed like a perfect time to move to Vegas and give it a shot. In my favor were the facts that I was single, had no financial obligations, and had built up a poker bankroll of more than $20,000 from my part-time playing, which I thought was enough to play with. If I went broke, I could always go back home and get rehired as a teacher.



Ten years have passed, and I'm still in Vegas making a living as a poker player. My life has changed quite a bit, though, as I'm now married and supporting a family of five with my income from the game. I don't miss my former life one bit, and have no regrets about the path I have chosen. That said, there are plenty of difficult questions that I think should be answered before deciding to become a poker pro.



Will It Still Be A Game? When I started playing poker, I kept playing because it was fun. The vast majority of people playing poker today do it for the reason that it provides great recreation; poker is a game with a unique blend of luck and skill, and many layers of complexities to ponder. Those of you who love the game to the point where you would consider doing it full time should consider the fact that much of the game's enjoyment is derived from its status as a recreational activity. Once you are playing poker for a living, however, it is no longer a recreational activity. It is a business.



Personally, I love the business of playing poker, and I still look forward to playing every day even after 10 years. However, I'm not sure I'm in the majority among my professional playing peers on this issue. Many professional players, even highly successful ones, get sick of the grind. Clearly, any thoughts that they are merely playing a game for a living have long since evaporated.



A Pressure Cooker: In my opinion, poker ceases to be enjoyable for lots of new pros due to the added financial pressure of needing to win. When you have a job and are playing poker on the side, it's fun to win a few extra bucks to supplement your income. Without the job, though, winning merely "a few extra bucks" in poker isn't going to cut it. If you're playing for a living, you'll go broke if you break even for an extended period (barring having a trust fund, of course). These bad streaks will happen, and believe me, poker sure doesn't feel like a game when they do. If you aren't firmly in control of your expenses, and don't have an adequate enough bankroll to comfortably ride things out, life can be pretty stressful during rough stretches.



Nearly Everyone Fails Or Only Marginally Succeeds: Playing poker for a living isn't easy. During my years in Las Vegas, I have witnessed an astounding amount of turnover in the player pool. Many have moved to town to play professionally, but most have moved on. Sometimes this is by their own choice, but all too often it is because they simply haven't made the cut as a player. I don't mean to discourage anyone with the fear of failure (as that is a rather pathetic reason to avoid pursuing something), but I am trying to point out that it is not as easy as it may appear to be.



Also, success is a somewhat relative term. Although you may be able to beat the games consistently, are you earning enough to support yourself in a manner with which you are comfortable? Some pros do make a living playing poker, but must play very long hours to do so, and still have to sweat the bills each month. In addition, if you are playing for a living, you are in charge of your own benefits and retirement. There is no 401k program for poker players, at least not yet. It is only a small minority of full-time players who actually enjoy a great deal of financial flexibility as a result of poker alone.



In the next issue, I will continue this discussion. Feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].