Should You Go Pro? Part II

In this issue, I will discuss some more considerations involved with playing professional poker.



If you can succeed in poker, can't you do better financially elsewhere?

This is the main argument against playing poker for a living. To succeed in poker, you must be disciplined, highly intelligent, analytical, and, at the higher levels, creative. Someone possessing these attributes could probably do a lot better financially in another field. In my opinion, the current abundance of young, highly intelligent, highly skilled poker players will do just fine in poker. However, if money is their main motivation, they are potentially making a costly mistake by choosing poker as a career versus exploring options in business or finance.



The problem with poker is that the amount of money you can win is somewhat limited compared to other fields that reward personal hard work and ability. For one thing, you earn money only when you play. This means that you have a job (a term that makes most poker players shudder), whether you like it or not. In business, if you are successful, with some hard work you can reach a point where the money flows in while you're lying on the beach in Hawaii.



Can you win enough to trade in the studio apartment?

When I moved to Las Vegas, I embarked on my professional poker-playing career with no debts and no strings. I rented a small apartment and lived comfortably, with expenses totaling less than $2,000 a month. I thought playing poker for a living was easy! And, it was.



But, things change. Over time, a few additional expenses were added to my equation: a wife (aka the rake), three kids, a mortgage payment, car payments, health insurance (my wife is a stay-at-home mom by mutual agreement, and with no health plan for poker players, this comes out of my pocket), and retirement savings (again, as a poker player, I am in charge of this myself). To afford this lifestyle, I work hard, and to me it's definitely worth it. However, things can get pretty stressful during a bad run, as my expenses aren't going to go away.



I hope that you young guys with small nuts (the monthly living expenses variety) can foresee that life gets more expensive as you go along. It's easy to win enough to take care of yourself, and it's possible to win enough to support a more expensive lifestyle. But, you must take the game very seriously if you are to accomplish this.



How flexible is your time?

One of the great arguments for being a professional poker player is that you can work when you like, and you have no boss to answer to. While there is much truth to this, it is not quite that simple. I like the freedom to take vacations whenever I want. Also, I don't have to miss any important events in the lives of my kids. And, if I don't feel like going to play poker, or if I'm at the casino and find that I'm not in the mood to stay, I don't have to play.



The problem with this is that you don't get paid if you don't play. So, taking too much time off only hurts your earning ability as a poker player. Another problem with being a professional poker player in Las Vegas is that the poker games tend to be most profitable at the times that "normal" people are not working; that is, weekends and holidays. Vegas pros can take time off then, too, but it is clearly not in their financial best interest to do so. But, if all of your choices are geared at enhancing your bankroll rather than your life, you won't be a happy person.



Poker is a lifestyle.

Remember the old Navy commercial that advertised a career in the military by claiming, "It's not just a job, it's an adventure"? Well, I believe that this is also true in the case of being a professional poker player. And it's not just an adventure, it's a way of life. The nature of the game is such that you can't just leave it behind you every day when you cash out. In order to be successful at the table, you need to spend a significant amount of quality time away from it, thinking, writing, and talking about the game. Also, most of us who play for a living would love to be able to keep our daily results out of our minds after we leave, and get on with the other parts of our lives. However, that is easier said than done, and the rough stretches that you will occasionally encounter in poker can wear on you as a person, making it more difficult to have a "normal" existence away from the table.



Personally, I enjoy the poker lifestyle, and even after a decade in the business, I still look forward to playing poker on a nearly daily basis. In my opinion, the players who are more successful tend to share this love of the game. But, if you are seriously considering a career in the game, you need to take into account that it will be a huge part of your life, far bigger than just the time you spend actually playing.

I hope you enjoyed these past two columns on playing poker for a living. Feel free to e-mail me with questions or comments at [email protected]. Part I of this series can be found at www.CardPlayer.com.