How to Turn Your Poker Playing into a Business
Making a living playing poker, either online, in person, or both, is tough, but it is possible. The dawn of online poker created a rare breed of players who are good enough and committed enough to play poker online, for their job. If you are considering making this jump, there is a lot for you to learn and consider.
You always want to leave yourself with “outs”. If playing poker online does not work out for you, which is a real possibility, what do you have to fall back on? Do you have a college degree? Do you have working experience or valuable contacts? Any job is tough to find these days, let alone a well paying job. Is there any way you could work by day and play poker by night? There are distinct advantages to working a 9-5 job, unfortunately. You get a steady paycheck, you meet friends and “get out more”, and you do not have to answer the “what do you do for a living” question awkwardly. Also, the UIGEA is just now coming into effect, June 1st 2010, you never know if your livelihood will be threatened. Often times poker players struggle when they first make the transition to playing full time, they think that they have already made it and they do not attack the game with the same enthusiasm and work ethic. Quitting your job is easy to do, succeeding afterwards… not so much.
Remember that poker is gambling. You can do everything right, make all of the right reads, slow play a hand perfectly, and still get screwed on the river. Bad beats and cold streaks are way too prevalent for me to ever gamble online for a living. You have to make sure you are consistently winning. Coming out ahead 6 days out of 10 is not good enough, not if you want a roof over your head and food on your table. You need to be able to succeed nine days out of 10, or more. If you have a family, this is a much tougher choice. You are not only risking your livelihood, but your spouse’s and possible children as well. Do you really want your child’s future to depend on whether you hit your flush draw or whether someone two thousand miles away from you calls your bluff? Pokerstars is not going to pay for your health insurance, they are not going to give you two weeks of paid vacation every year… As the owner of a business, you are going to have to take on all of these responsibilities. Insurance is not cheap, trust me. There are simply too many things that can go wrong by transitioning to a full time player.
There are, of course, distinct advantages to playing poker online as a business. The first is obvious, you should love what you do. Poker is a lot of fun, it is something that I have a passion for and you likely have a passion for as well. Being able to play hours each day is very enticing. You also hold the same advantage that business owners have. They do not have to punch a time clock five days a week. If you want to wake up at noon every day, you can do so. If you want to leave your pajamas on all day, you can do so. If you want to take a day off to go watch a baseball game or go to the beach, you can do so. You are in control of yourself and everything that you do directly determines your success. Everyone should have this type of freedom in life, but only a select few are fortunate and motivated enough to pull it off.
I would only make the transition to a full time poker player if I knew that, no matter what, I could come out ahead day in and day out. I also would only recommend this transition to single guys/girls who would only be letting themselves down if they fail. It is also important to have a great work ethic and will to succeed. Becoming a full time poker player is no different than quitting your job to start your own business. It is exciting, rewarding, frustrating, and scary all at the same time. 90% of small business’s fail within 5 years, and I expect that the failure percentage is similar in poker. If you feel compelled to make the switch, I wish you the best of luck, I just would not risk my livelihood on a set of cards online.
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