I'm much further from having a rewarding poker career than I thought I would be at this stage. It's not that I'm not further from the start, it's just that what represents the finish line is getting further away.
Not only are the games getting harder, but I can see that what starts as a hobby can become a grind if you're not careful. Another important factor is that if the stakes are too low, the time required to eek out a living encroaches on your ability to make any "meaningful contribution to society / family".
As always, Jesse has captured this from experience much more eloquently in a recent post.
5 years ago
2 comments:
Good point - poker is probably one of the most challenging things I have ever undertaken. Much tougher than I thought it would be. I can see that gaining an edge takes hard work and lots of discipline. If you have a job and other responsibilities, getting quality hours on the tables is a struggle.
FWIW I am discovering that the most important thing is to start a session in the right frame of mind which equals positive and alert with no fear. Table selection obviously. Also if I'm not in the mood or tired - there's almost no point in playing. Also I am 110% convinced that 2 or 3 tables for an hour or so per session is the way to go.
It probably wouldn't be that hard for an ok but not world beating player like you or me to make a livable income playing poker. But the income probably wouldn't be that great, and the working conditions could be pretty awful.
There are a lot of ok but not great players out there grinding a living at the low to mid stakes.
The ambition has to be to become much better than your average multi-tabling grinder. To actually make an enjoyable career as a poker player you have to be able to play at the higher stakes in tournaments or cash.
In my opinion it is better to keep the day job and keep learning rather than to give it up and join the grind.
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