Thoughts On Becoming A ‘Poker Pro’
November 27, 2007
No no, not me! Already ruled that one out and focus my energies in this post-corporate chapter of my life on creating a ‘passive income’ (but that, as they say, is another story).
After reading countless forum posts, some excellent blogs and having a few chats with friends both online and off - I have come to the conclusion that the desire held by so many small stakes poker players to ‘One day become an online pro’ is in fact a delusion…
Yes, a strong word - but one chosen with a good reason.
There are many reasons for this, some practical, others mathematical and still more psychological. Will list a few below:
- Let us start with the statistics: The majority will never make it, a downswing will come and that will be that, mix in the ‘real’ aspiration behind this decision… people are not looking to become a high-volume low-limit grinder. In their hearts the real desire is to become the next Annette_15 or BigJoe or Rizen… folks, these are the 1% of 5% of 0.1% - that is to say 1% of players actually take the action required to become a ‘pro’, 5% of these make a reasonable profit after a year, a tiny percentage then go on to make it ‘big’… my view on the stats is this, any one wannabe pro has a 95% chance of failure within year 1 (this might be giving up, no necessarily losing money) of these one in 1000 will get to the neo-celebrity status with the success level they really crave. So from the outset - of those who make the decision to ‘go for it’ 1 in 20,000 get there.
- Next a bit of psychology (my first degree was in that subject BTW!). The desire to be a poker pro is influenced by the ‘love of the game’. There is a lot to love about poker, the challenge, the competitiveness and the satisfaction of taking home the cash! Yet again and again I hear the same thing, after just a few months of being a ‘pro’ the love starts to ebb, the game becomes a ‘grind’ in the negative meaning of the word for so many. If you are stuck ‘grinding’ SNGs (for example) at the low to mid-limits is this really any better than a data-entry job?? (well it pays better I guess!!) Most aspiring pros will give up because they lose the love in my experience.
- ‘Kudos’ needs to be brought into the discussion too. The online ‘names’ have a certain ‘cool’ about them, hordes of wannabes hanging on their every message-board post, pouring over their hand histories and generally wishing to be ‘just like them’. Becoming a pro, even a mildly successful one will often gain the ‘respect’ of virtual peers and offline poker-playing friends… my point here is that this is a delusion too. Your poker playing buddies will leave college and get jobs, your ‘virtual’ following is nothing more than a rather odd way of making yourself feel ’superior’ or ‘good’ and actually (again unless you are the 0.1% who transition to the ‘big time’) you end up with a life that is far from ‘looked up to’ and are really convincing yourself that all is well by using the eyes of those very ‘aspiring pros’ who will never make it…
- Time: Ok, there are a certain percentge will can and do make a good wage multi-tabling the cash games or playing tournaments. Some will make $100k+ doing this, the majority will not. This is a good amount of cash when you are young, living on campus or with parents (or even on a Thai island), spending your spare cash on a nice lifestyle going out with buddies and the rest. Two points here, you are getting older, some day your buddies will have ’settled down’ some day you’ll have a spouse and a familiy to look after, some day going out drinking until the early hours will not have the same appeal any more… grinding the poker tables will not then be balanced with other aspects of life. Point 2: You really want to do the same thing for 3, 5 or 10 years (!) sounds like hell to me!!
Could go on, there are a few more thoughts in my head on this subject - will stop though before this post becomes a mile long. Feel free to share your thoughts via some comments, always happy to disagree with people (healthy debate a favourite off-line passtime for me!).
Will summarize, I think the aspiration for most people to become a poker-pro is a delusion for the following reasons: Chances of making it are (very) slim - however good you believe you are. The love of the game will disappear, turning poker from something good into a nasty, repetative grind. The kudos among peers is transitory. And finally, unless you are the 1/20,000 who make it big being a poker pro is a poor option over the medium to long term.
GL becoming a pro! Mark
PS: Xmas booze challenge update: took a hit running AK into QQ on a AQA flop (oops!) but have since ground my forgotten mini bankroll from its starting point of $2.10 up to just over $9 (thats enough for a cheap bottle of wine!)
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