|
Rafe Furst
July 25, 2005
At the final table of this year's
World Series of Poker, the media
consensus was that there was only one
pro at the table: Mike Matusow. We've
since learned that this year's champ,
Joseph Hachem, gave up a 13-year
chiropractic career three years ago to
play poker for a living. The other
seven players at the final table won
over a million dollars each. It's a
safe bet that a few of them now
consider themselves poker
professionals. What does that mean?
Three Myths About Playing Poker
Professionally
Myth #1: Either I'm a Pro or I'm
Not
Consider the following players.
Which ones are pros and which are
amateurs?
Adam
Adam plays the tournament trail
full-time. He's up thousands one
month, and broke the next. He's always
borrowing money from fellow poker
players. He has no life outside the
poker world and constantly thinks,
"I wish I had some skills and
experience that would allow me to get
a normal job."
Betty
By day, Betty's an accountant
making $50K a year. She plays poker in
her spare time. Some years she earns
$20K playing poker, other years she
earns $100K. She rarely has a losing
year.
Charlie
Charlie picked up the game a year
ago, entered his first tournament -
the prestigious "WPT London"
- and won it with flair and
showmanship. He netted $500K and got a
ton of TV coverage. He blew through
$350K in the next 11 months playing
every big event with no cash finishes.
He's still got a bankroll, thanks to
some juicy endorsement contracts from
an online site and a beer company that
guarantee him $1 Million a year for
the next three years. All he has to do
is continue to play in every major
tournament and endorse their products.
Debbie
Debbie has a bankroll of $500K, She
makes (or loses) anywhere from -$50K
to +$200K per year playing a very
erratic schedule. That schedule is
structured around the good games,
whether they're offline, online or on
the tourney trail. She travels to
far-off lands whenever she feels like
it, and has plans to settle down and
start a family. Someday. But not now.
Eddie
Eddie only plays online, He clocks
in, plays exactly eight hours a day,
five days a week, at four simultaneous
tables no higher than $5-$10 limit
hold 'em. He earns a surprisingly
consistent $100/hr, takes the family
on vacation twice a year, plays
tennis, and attends opera on the
weekends.
Myth #2: I Would be so Much Happier
if I Could Just Play Poker Full Time
TRUE: It's fun playing an hour or
two each day.
BUT: It might not be so fun playing
all the time to the exclusion of other
interests, family and friends.
TRUE: It's low-stress and
entertaining, playing as a hobby.
BUT: It might be very stressful if
you have to grind it out to pay the
bills every month.
TRUE: Those big tourney winners on
TV live like rock stars.
BUT: What about the other 99% of
the players you don't see, all of whom
are competing for your dream.
Myth #3: I Don't Need a Big
Bankroll to be a Pro
Check the long list of Former World
Champions who have gone a full year
without making the final table of a
major event. As of this writing, it
takes roughly $500K to enter all the
major tournaments in a year.
Ask your favorite pro how many
times he or she has gone bust in their
career, or how many times they have
been hit up for a sizable cash loan
from one of their good friends.
Poker is a great game; it's tons of
fun, and it has never been as
potentially profitable as it is today.
But try to keep it in perspective.
Poker doesn't have to consume your
life. You can make a good chunk of
change playing poker, and you can do
it without giving up all the good
things you have going in your life.
Financially, mentally and socially,
you are better off making poker fit
into your life rather than the other
way around.
Getting back to the players in the
introduction, it's clear that Eddie is
a pro. And it's equally clear (to me
anyway) that Adam is definitely not,
even though he thinks he is, and so
does the general public. Adam is a
dime a dozen in the poker world.
You've even seen him and his ilk on TV
a number of times. As for the other
three, I don't know whether I'd call
them pros or not, but I sure wouldn't
mind being in their shoes.
"Professional" is just a
word. Being a professional poker
player is not the same thing as being
a successful poker player.
Bottom line: You don't need to be a
professional to be a poker champion.
Rafe Furst
Play Online Poker
|
