Is it possible to make a living playing poker (5 photos) Bashny.Net

This question was asked in the resource Quora and received a lot of feedback in the form of personal stories of players. We have decided to publish a story that has become the most popular among the 16 published, because from it we can learn a lot of useful information about poker as a profession.

Responsible professional poker player Michael Shinzaki.

game of poker - it's like a roller coaster

I've been playing poker professionally for about 7 years. Of course, this is not the only thing that I was doing all these years. During this time I received a bachelor's degree, visited 45 countries, working on his book, consulted several online startups, but poker has always been the main source of income. At that time I experienced many ups and downs, both materially and morally. Poker has helped me in a fairly short period of time to get a huge experience, including completely inappropriate moments for the 20-year old boy.

When the hands begin to pour in money, everything seems possible

I've seen at the poker table change emotions and feelings of the players. I have often noticed how he was at different moments is in seventh heaven, in full gloom. I saw tears of joy, as well as saw people who were on the verge of poverty, began to pay six figures only in the form of taxes. I saw how people fail and get into huge debts. Poker game - it's like a roller coaster. It makes you worry about how to delight and depression. Poker puts on show the best and the worst in each player at the table.



Poker - a strange profession

This is similar to the process of turning water into wine. There is no fixed salary, you can not just successfully pass the interview and get to work on Monday. You will need a huge number of developments (a foundation) to at least try to turn this activity into a source of income.

Beginner poker player may be unsuccessful for a long time (and sometimes remain so forever), until it reaches any progress. It is also very volatile and the difficulty level of the game itself, and the process does not always have the time dependence. You can earn an annual state for only a few hours (I've done it many times), and can play a month away and stay in the red (and it has happened to me more than once).

At first it was just a game

When I started playing poker, I did not think about how to make it a profession. The game is designed to communicate, and when I was 18 years old, it was very interesting and exciting. Poker intriguing. I enjoyed the competition and creativity that is needed in the game. It's like Scrabble or chess, but with additional elements. I liked the feeling of triumph, I loved the intellectual games. I even loved the moments of despair, when you feel stuck and hours thinking about strategy. For me it was akin to compete in athletics, but without physical exertion.

Further - more

In the end, after a series of losses, which forced me to play at the lowest rates online, I began to analyze my mistakes and improve the skills of the game. I started reading books on poker strategy, to watch the games on TV channel ESPN, to understand where, when and why I lost. You may consider yourself a genius, but a genius of each there are thousands of other players discussing strategy game 10 hours a day.

In poker, you need to constantly adapt. You can not get a patent and then just to make a profit by the end of his days. Remember when money is at stake, your opponents will begin to develop very quickly.

It takes time

After a few $ 100 rate was still with my father's credit card and many sleepless nights for the game, I suddenly realized that I was starting to make progress.

Over time, you begin to notice what worked and what - no, pay attention to the game and your opponents' tactics, identify recurring situations and different approaches in the game each player.

Poker is not always perceived as reality

Sometimes it seems certain loopholes that do not notice the majority around you.

I earned my first six-figure sum for the year, when I was 19 and 21 I gained so much in one day.

Some people never get half of this year of work. And what do I do? Just to practice in a game of cards. At my previous job in Baskin Robbins I earned 6, $ 75 per day. And suddenly I found myself in a whirlwind meropriyatry around the world began to meet interesting people, stay in expensive hotels, eat in restaurants and steep buy everything you could wish for. This activity has allowed me to travel. And, most importantly, I had the opportunity and time to engage in parallel with the things that I liked, including blogging, sports, as well as enough time to spend with loved ones and family.



Everything is finished

But poker addictive, and also has a significant drawback - he can not be satisfied. Some players find it in the ever-present call, while others feel the same frustration. In addition, one of my main critic of the poker community is that when I looked around, I saw a lot of smart and talented people who are just playing cards instead of leaving their mark on the life and create something really necessary and useful for society. This was one of the main reasons I decided to finish his poker career and start a new phase in life.

In addition to the history of Michael's other professional poker player Chris Sparks decided to summarize by highlighting the positive and negative aspects of the profession.

Poker pros

Money - a very small percentage of players earn significant money (enough to make them world-renowned professionals), and in modern games is almost impossible to get rich. Your possibilities are quite limited compared to other professions, but with the help of poker can secure a comfortable existence.

Autonomy - once you decide when, where and how you play. At the end of the day you are responsible only to themselves. For the majority of the absence of a structure can be a disaster, but for the self-confident and motivated people a way of expanding opportunities and rights.

Flexibility - play when you want it. Sometimes, when things are going well, I can play a few days in a row. If I'm not lucky, or simply no inspiration, I can safely leave the game and, for example, to fly on holiday to another country.

Call - you play to live, which in itself is amazing. I was very passionate about poker and loved it competitive component. Many successful people talk about the need to love my job and poker it was true. I rarely felt poker work.

Cons poker

Stress - I think you can yourself imagine how tense moments of victory and defeat, when it involves large sums of money. When you play online for multiple tables, you make more than 1000 "hands" in an hour, that is, manipulating large enough amount of money. Add to that the fact that short-term results are largely dependent on luck. Therefore, a lot of poker balding 20-year-old players.

The difference - you are always in a very small isolation from other players (for the career I have won only 52% of its sessions), so it is very difficult to assess, as you play. In my experience was a three-month period for which I had lost quite a large sum of money, and my friends - even more.

Balance - in poker there is no end of the day, and it can absorb all your life, if you let it. Extreme levels of concentration and discipline necessary to achieve any level of success, as one bad decision can destroy hundreds of the best. Therefore 8:00 game at multiple tables online are more intense and stressful than a normal working day. Not surprisingly, I ceased to be interested in other things in my life other than poker, and it took me a lot of effort to regain balance.

Predators - most of your wins comes from unskilled players, and the better you are able to hunt them, the more money you earn. You can also become a victim of a predator.

You do not create anything - a lack of games for the purpose of earning a living. At the end of the day you are working hard to increase the number on the screen. You are useless to society, and after reaching a certain welfare poker is not able to satisfy you.

Cultural acceptance - this area has advanced significantly due to excessive Poker on TV, but many people remain ignorant of poker as a profession. To avoid condescending attitude, I often omit the subject of poker in dealing with new people.

Impermanence - most successful poker players have a similar business and always have something on the side. However, a large number of professionals have never worked on any other work and many of them even dropped out of college for poker. And when fortune turns away from them, they are no better off with no replacement options.

These are some stories suggest that poker can be done from the profession and earn money on their lives, but here there is a very fine line that can turn success into a complete failure.