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I also know a WSOP final table player, and what you say is true of tournament play. Think of that more like the lottery for professional poker players. The ce

by phil21 9y ago

I also know a WSOP final table player, and what you say is true of tournament play. Think of that more like the lottery for professional poker players. The celebrities do that a couple times a year, and the grinders hope to make enough for buy-in and "make it big". It's the least mathematically interesting way to "make a living" playing poker there is. Where you grind out your living is the daily cash games. Yes, if you are making a living off of Poker it's basically a job. That means boring play for little hourly money most days of your life. After a few months, I imagine this feels more or less identical to an actual job. I've watched "pros" grind out their day to day life, and it really doesn't seem that compelling. Better than working fast food, but on average seems to pay about the same and be roughly the same intellectual stimulation. 4 screens with 6 tables on each playing video poker every day doesn't sound that great to me.

chx 9y ago
> Better than working fast food, but on average seems to pay about the same There are quite a few people who play from places where living costs are low(er) like Costa Rica or Mexico or, for that matter, Hungary and make -- compared to the locals -- an astonishing amount of money. Istvan Ratkai, who wrote a few successful text adventure games in the eighties have been one of the most well known Hungarian video poker players. He said he played about 3-4 hours a day and made 50-70% more than the minimal wage -- the full time minimal wage, that is. He had an ordinary programmer job as well so this as a secondary was quite a nice haul.
laumars 9y ago
To be honest I wasn't talking about online play either. I was thinking more about GUKPT type competitions. But what you say was also true for my mates back before they became regular final table players in major tournaments. Online playing tends to bring out a different type of competitor from what I gather but the "grinding" nature of the game is still the same.

by phil21 9y ago

chx 9y ago

> Better than working fast food, but on average seems to pay about the same There are quite a few people who play from places where living costs are low(er) like Costa Rica or Mexico or, for that matter, Hungary and make -- compared to the locals -- an astonishing amount of money. Istvan Ratkai, who wrote a few successful text adventure games in the eighties have been one of the most well known Hungarian video poker players. He said he played about 3-4 hours a day and made 50-70% more than the minimal wage -- the full time minimal wage, that is. He had an ordinary programmer job as well so this as a secondary was quite a nice haul.

laumars 9y ago

To be honest I wasn't talking about online play either. I was thinking more about GUKPT type competitions. But what you say was also true for my mates back before they became regular final table players in major tournaments. Online playing tends to bring out a different type of competitor from what I gather but the "grinding" nature of the game is still the same.