So You Want to Become a Professional Poker Player?

Last week, I bumped into a guy who went to school with me and we got to chatting. Turns out he quit his job as a successful accountant to become a professional poker player in Vegas.  I must admit, my initial reaction was pure jealousy. After all, haven’t I always harbored a secret desire to throw in the towel, turn my back on the comfortable but mundane existence of my life and head for Vegas to make a killing at the poker tables on a permanent basis?

But after a long chat with him, I realized that making such a drastic decision required a lot of thought.  He quickly dispelled all my fantasies that his days were spent sleeping in luxurious suites in the top Vegas hotels, and his nights were spent around classy casinos, scotch in hand, playing high stakes poker games with a blonde draped on his arm like a good luck charm.  In fact, he said, he was living on the outskirts of town, sharing a room with another wannabe-pro, and a bathroom down the hall. True, he was making enough at the poker tables to keep a roof over his head, and he was getting the experience he needed to slowly build up a bankroll, but it wasn’t quite what he had envisioned.  In fact, he admitted to me, he might have gotten the same experience by sticking to online poker sites and keeping his daytime job, without having to move to Vegas.

I asked him what tips he had to offer my readers about becoming a professional poker player, as a man of experience, and this is what he had to say:

• Keep your job and play online poker at night.  Or play in the day and get a night job.  The 24/7 hours of online poker sites allow you to be flexible.   Also, in this way, if you hit a bad streak, you still have your salary to fall back on.
• Be realistic.  If you have a family to pay for, the chances are that you’ll never make enough to support them on your poker earnings alone.  Don’t quit your job to follow your dream just yet.
• Ask yourself if this is just a passing phase or if poker is truly in your blood and something you’ll be wanting to do for the rest of your life.  If it’s just a hobby, such as golf is, think carefully.  How many do you know who quit their jobs to become professional golfers?