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Quitting the full-time poker scene

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Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#131

Post by alberth »

Tarsul wrote: post #21

I find interesting that no one (yet) in OP or in the comments has talked about my main complaint about playing Poker as a living: it's a zero sum game where you basically only take money from other people. It's not productive. For me, that in itself is as depressing as the grind. But it appears most players don't really care about this, maybe because life oftentimes is not fair and thus being productive is not seen a…

> my main complaint about playing Poker as a living: it's a zero sum game

This isn’t unique to Poker.

This applies to all Gambling.

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#132

Post by garblegarble »

huytersd wrote: post #102
waprin wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Live poker is still quite soft. While you do have to be better compared to years past, it's also far easier to get better because you can study solvers. I used to be a "good but not great" online player, but the extent to which you could truly understand hands was limited due to the limitations of the software at the time (mostly equity calculators that could not truly calculate EV). That changed with the release of…

I wonder if you could have the oculus sunglasses setup run a live OCR+solver for you.

It's going to be obvious to other players that you're wearing a camera, and who would want to stay in a game where it looks like another person is cheating?

Making other players leave seems like it would be the fastest way to get yourself a lifetime ban to your local casinos.

(that's even ignoring the fact the casinos have already seen every trick in the book already, and will be onto you immediately)

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#133

Post by stewx »

kybernetikos wrote: post #107
Tarsul wrote: post #21

I find interesting that no one (yet) in OP or in the comments has talked about my main complaint about playing Poker as a living: it's a zero sum game where you basically only take money from other people. It's not productive. For me, that in itself is as depressing as the grind. But it appears most players don't really care about this, maybe because life oftentimes is not fair and thus being productive is not seen a…

If you don't count human entertainment and skill as a positive then it's not just poker you'll find depressing, but also almost all media, sport and games. It's an absolutely massive 'unproductive' chunk of the economy. I've played in small poker tournaments where there was a buy in which went to charity and the prizes were provided by local businesses. That's positive sum. Poker itself can be exciting and entertaini…

Who is benefiting from the "entertainment" in the OP's scenario?

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#134

Post by stewx »

alberth wrote: post #131
Tarsul wrote: post #21

I find interesting that no one (yet) in OP or in the comments has talked about my main complaint about playing Poker as a living: it's a zero sum game where you basically only take money from other people. It's not productive. For me, that in itself is as depressing as the grind. But it appears most players don't really care about this, maybe because life oftentimes is not fair and thus being productive is not seen a…

> my main complaint about playing Poker as a living: it's a zero sum game This isn’t unique to Poker. This applies to all Gambling.

My impression is that poker has been professionalized to a degree other forms of gambling have not.

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#135

Post by __s »

jrs235 wrote: post #128
busyant wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is why you always keep separate savings accounts away from a spouse. Your username bio is hilarious--and it is also consistent with your advice. Have an upvote (on your way to 1K)

I just viewed their profile. They're at 999 karma. Trying to figure out if they have a bot monitoring their own karma that invokes a bot to down vote some other comments of theirs.... UPDATE: Something has to be involved... Or karma aggregation/recalculation isn't instant. I just upvoted their comment, they're still at 999. LOL.

I was hoping they try to straddle 1000, while below 1000 they try post karma gaining comments, while above 1000 they try post karma losing comments, changing their bio depending on the mode (maybe having a bot maintain the bio)

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#136

Post by saiya-jin »

ska wrote: post #14
Aurornis wrote: post #11

> Poker has the best hourly rate for any job in India. The money is simply un-comparable to any job a 20 year old can get and is close to VP+ level in unicorn/FAANG companies > Imagine sitting in front of a screen for 12-16hrs a day, clicking buttons > The 95th percentile Poker income is about $200-250k. I knew quite a few people who went through poker phases in college and their early 20s, back before it was heavily…

Even without the flight risk, a 5 year resume gap is difficult, especially mid-career. Accurate or not, your hiring managers are pretty much going to assume nothing you learned in those 5 years applies, so you are awkward to place. Especially if your salary expectations have grown.

Even worse, as most stay-at-home and later coming back to work mums can confirm, you basically hit a big fat red Reset button with 200 pound hammer going close to speed of sound on your professional experience. In your CV absolutely nobody cares about 5+ years old experiences neither, often its suggested to really trim/remove it. If you keep it there it looks like you have very little current experience to show and just desperately trying to increase text volume with useless fluff.

Doctors coming back after 5+ years of maternity leave (not uncommon in eastern europe when some social system have 3 years of paid maternity leave per child, some stay home even 10 years) can't do basic doctoring. Devs can't do anything sophisticated. People and people leading skills have also probably rather atrophied in those 16 hours dark lit room daily sessions.

So you are basically hiring a 40+ year old junior with potential gambling habit, possibly less flexible than younger, who may be in only for shorter term and probably has quite high salary expectations compared to juniors. That leaving part is probably most obvious. Yeah a hard pass is not unexpected.

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#137

Post by Octabrain »

whartung wrote: post #28
ackbar03 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much did you make exactly? That's an extremely disciplined approach. I'd assume you could do pretty well at other stuff if you took it as serious as you did your online poker

Friend of mine did this in the heyday. He’d have, like a dozen games going. Hunting and playing “soft players” (as the GP calls them). I don’t know how long he played, he certainly didn’t mention a grind as described here. But, he netted enough to buy his then new $30k Lexus. A lucrative hobby if nothing else.

Your story reminded me of a case I personally know of a guy who was a very disciplined poker player for a period of time and one day won a sweet €90000 prize in an online tournament after a lot of effort. Apart from poker, his life was a mess (living with his mother, no even a driving licence, no serious job). He spent the whole amount on partying, hotels and cocaine. He never got again any substantial money from poker and his life is still a mess last time I knew.

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#138

Post by thedangler »

97s wrote: post #15

I played back during the glory days of 2000-2004 and through the net-teller shutdown for America. Back then the money was absolutely absurd, because the game was very new online and very few people understood basics. This combined with the massive amount of marketing that was going on for television, tons of people were addicted to the thrill of the game. Every single year the game became more difficult as more peopl…

Now there are apps that tell you to play your hand or not based on your opponents playing style and previous hands. You pay for the app and the app is created by the online poker site.

My friend plays professionally full time and he uses these apps for a slight edge. They all do. The apps do not play for him. They just say 80% user Smith123 folds.

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#139

Post by munksbeer »

somenameforme wrote: post #119
Tarsul wrote: post #21

I find interesting that no one (yet) in OP or in the comments has talked about my main complaint about playing Poker as a living: it's a zero sum game where you basically only take money from other people. It's not productive. For me, that in itself is as depressing as the grind. But it appears most players don't really care about this, maybe because life oftentimes is not fair and thus being productive is not seen a…

I think this is a rabbit hole that makes you want to pull out of it real fast. For instance consider how many tech jobs right now basically devolve into trying to make people see ads that they don't want to watch. Not only are you not adding value to the world, you're actively making it worse. Of course people can convince themselves with all sorts of rationalizations, like claiming you're introducing people to thing…

> I think this is a rabbit hole that makes you want to pull out of it real fast. For instance consider how many tech jobs right now basically devolve into trying to make people see ads that they don't want to watch. Not only are you not adding value to the world, you're actively making it worse.

I don't see this as the same thing at all. Advertisers exist because of demand for them by companies who want to sell their stuff to consumers. Those companies employ people and actually produce things that consumers want. This is not a zero sum game.

Ultimately all we really need is food, water and to keep from freezing to death in some shelter. So sure, we can get rid of almost everything else, but that isn't really the point.

Re: Quitting the full-time poker scene

#140

Post by sarchertech »

monero-xmr wrote: post #55
chx wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not so sure. This is like saying you lose on lottery because the state always wins in total. Money wise yes but when you have a lottery ticket you entertain yourself with hopes and can dream about what you'd do with the megabucks. If you feel good for a while because of it ... did you really lose? Same with poker. Sure, you can only win if someone else loses but what if they had fun? In other words, is going to…

I play poker because it’s fun. I’m decent, I have won a few 100+ NL tournaments in Vegas and finish in the money as often as not. But I’m gambling well within my means, which is different for everyone. I have no idea if I take $1000 from someone if that’s their rent for the month or if it’s budgeted for entertainment. Gambling is ancient and wired deep in the human psyche. It’s neither morally right nor morally wrong…

People who get addicted to the news don’t tend to lose their houses as a result.

Historically most societies have restricted gambling to one extent or the other because it’s clear that there is a subset of the population who can’t self moderate, and this results in a significant cost to everyone else.

We’re currently in a period of loosening regulations and we’ll see how that goes. Early results aren’t great.

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