Online Poker = Work?
jaymack
5,199 Posts
Would you consider this a job? This dude I know sits on "stars one table" (he calls it) allll day clicking his little mouse playing online poker. Hes in his 30s. The kinda guy that puts shirtless pics as his FB profile.
Can people maintain a living playing online poker? And can it be called work?
Seems kinda fukkin sad.
Can people maintain a living playing online poker? And can it be called work?
Seems kinda fukkin sad.
Comments
Is it addicition or is the money just too good?
You never know how many people are colluding in some way or if you're playing a bunch of bots (that whole game has gotten hella sophisticated recently).
I have another friend who is a bookie...that's way better...but I don't think any of these types of folks are looking at their "careers" the way you are here.
Fast cash. No Boss. Minimal taxation, if any. The excitement that the risk brings.
What's not to like?
that was about 6 yrs ago and he has played the machines 4 times since then (based on what he tells me)...but has started playing poker with his buddy up the road from me, although it is for $5 a game, he still feeding into that gambling issue. like quitting smoking i assume its sumthin hes always going to be dealing with...
its not cool to see your friends or family go through that crap...
Since all online poker has to be published I check his stats from time to time, he's ranked really highly in many of the leagues but I think his actual take home when you account for buy ins etc from the last three years averages around 12,000 a year which isn't even anywhere near minimum wage when you factor in that he seems to play for around twelve hours, dusk till dawn, every night.
The man still likes to think of it as a cool job and has told a fair few people that he plays poker professionally. This is utter bollocks, he sits in a room all night by himself and clicks a mouse which, you know, could be a living but as I stated above, it's nearly impossible to come out enough on top for the sacrifice off all social activity. Not saying necessarily that online poker is anyway bad but I'm pretty sure that if you have an even mildly addictive personality, particularly for gambling, it is going to entirely fuck up your life as you don't even have to make the mental or physical effort to leave your room.
There is nothing wrong with online poker if you play for enjoyment and within your means and skill, it's way more fun than chess or golf IMO. But as they say "It's a hard way to make an easy living".
http://www.onlinepoker.net/poker-news/general-poker-news/pokerstars-confiscates-500k-winnings-underage-dutch-player/9845
OUCH.
It depends how good you are obviously. Some make high six figure incomes, the best make millions. You can grind a $30-50k a year living with low risk if you know what you are doing.
The games are getting a lot tougher though.
90% of players are break even or losing however. You have to learn how to play, and you need to be extremely intelligent/talented to make it to the top.
I personally don't see how Intelligence has anything to do with it. It's a game based on intuition, learning patterns and a fair degree of luck. Just like any other online multiplayer game.
ok
So you're saying you're not very good at poker? Really, anybody who thinks that intelligence has nothing to do with poker and that it's all luck likely hasn't played much poker or just doesn't play well. There's a reason you see a lot of the same faces at final tables in poker tournaments. Yes, luck is an element of poker, but there's so much more to it. There's also a reason so many of the top players have backgrounds and degrees in mathematics or other science-based fields, and lots of poker players were also prodigies at other games like chess. There's lots of poker theory that involves odds and percentages and knowing when the right time to make certain plays is based on your chances of hitting a hand. There's betting strategies so you can extract the most money from the opponent. This is strictly the mathematical element of the game and mentioning nothing of being able to read people and find their tells. Sure, there's poker players who do tremendously well because they're great at reading people rather than being great at math, but to assert that intelligence has nothing to do with poker is completely absurd.
Yes, luck is an element of poker, but proper poker strategy shows that over time luck can only account for so much, and if you have the intelligence to put your money in the pot when the odds are in your favor then over time you come out ahead.
I never said any idiot could do it as my reasons listed above obviously require certain levels of intelligence. It was the use of extremely intelligent that got me. Learning mathematical systems doesn't necessarily make you a genius no matter what films like 21 suggest and most of the other stuff you mention seems less relevant to playing on a monitor than in real life.
Anyway I suspect I have too much emotional involvement here so should step away.