Most people who enjoy the game of poker have probably dreamed of quitting their day job and making their living as a professional poker player. As with most fantasies the reality often doesn't mesh with what you imagined. Most people if they have a bad day at work don't end up with less money than they started their workday with. You could spend 100 hours a week at the poker table and not have a single thing to show for it and possibly going completely broke. You can make all the right decisions and do all the right things and still lose money in the short term. In the long term those decisions will eventually out last a bad run of cards and pay off. Will your bankroll last through the bad runs?
A game of poker is filled with emotional ups and downs from the elation of making your hand and winning a big pot or the tension of making a risky bluff. There is nothing quite like the anger and frustration of playing your hand well only to suffer a bad beat on the river. Probably the toughest emotion to deal with at the poker table is boredom. I've literally spent hour after hour folding due to a bad run of cards. The temptation is to play some of those marginal hands and bluff more than you should. This is were discipline and patience pays off after what seem like forever but more like 4-5 hours the cards started to change in my favor. I being dealt things like AA, KK, JJ and I was catching my flops! I bought into this game with $200 and was down to about $75 but left 3 hours later with $800 not bad for a days work. The tight reputation plus the fact that when I had to show down to win a pot I had the cards to back up my bets paid of allowing me to steal pots later in the game.
If its so tough then why do I play poker for a living? Freedom. Nobody is going to yell at me or fire me if I decide to sleep in. If something comes up or I just don't feel like playing I can take time off whenever I want. I can play poker on-line from virtually anywhere in the world. And I can grind out my own pay raises by increasing my stake and moving up in limits. And a good week at work could turn you into a millionaire. Although there are periods of extreme boredom poker can really get your heart pumping when you have a tough decision to make.
Poker has a lot to offer those with the right aptitude and discipline and can be a great way to make a living just be sure you know what you are getting into.
Comments on "The reality of playing poker for a living"
post a comment