| | Career: Poker PlayerPage 1 of 3 (1, 2, 3) | Just started getting messages from a man on another site I use. Seems nice. Kinda cute. But, his career is: poker. He plays.... poker. A professional "gambler". I've never heard of such a thing...
... anyone out there know what this is all about??? Comments? Opinions?? Color me ignorant on this one. It sounds very... unstable, but I know nothing. So can someone educate me??
And yes... I asked him about it, he was very vague. He said, he's a professional poker player, and that is makes him good money, and allows him to do anything he wants with the rest of his time. Err... I need more info.
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 2:31:37 PM | Although this can be a bona fide career... it would also mean that he would have to travel the circuit...
My guess is he's leading a dual life and trying to juggle them both... and prolonged absences are required from his secondary life...
But then again I'm a skeptic...
Cheers...  | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 2:37:05 PM | | It's entirely possible he's a professional poker player but that doesn't mean he's good at it. Professional poker player is one of those things that I've heard a few gambling addicts call themselves. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 2:51:27 PM | Sparky, this sounds dangerously close to an excuse a dude would give to a woman to not only make himself sound more intriguing, but also explain his lack of not having a full time job.
From talking to girls who date online, I have heard a never-ending series of "reasons" a man has for his lack of gainful employment... their disabled, their independent contractors, their consultants, taking care of their parents, etc... and I've gotten some fishy explanations for women a time or two as well.
"Vagueness" is not a good sign.
I assume you are already wondering about this very fact, and that's why you asked. Just remember, being truthful and online line dating often go together like a snowball on the surface of the sun. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 2:55:05 PM | kevinmach...
I'm starting to agree with you, and the others. This does sound like ... plain and simple, he doesn't have a JOB. I've been down the road with the independent contractor, the consultants, the "self employed out of home" ... and all 3 times, they didn't have jobs.
This is something that will, no doubt, upset all the anti-gold diggers. But like I said in the "must have job, have car" thread: I have a job. I have a car. I do well. I want a man, who is in the same boat. I don't want to become a sugar mama, and I don't need a sugar daddy... I do better than most men I date. But I want them to have it together, not be sitting home on their duff, watching Home Shopping Network.
*Sigh* | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 2:57:19 PM |
Sparky, this sounds dangerously close to an excuse a dude would give to a woman to not only make himself sound more intriguing, but also explain his lack of not having a full time job.
No kidding. At least I went with something interesting like "Cult leader".
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 3:03:26 PM | He could be, but it is my experience that very few actually make money doing it. I've done it, myself, on and off for many years - playing low limit games, grinding out small wins. Averaged $300 a week. You can live in Las Vegas on that, but not well.
Most can't do it. It takes a lot, waiting for the good cards to come. Most players give into the impulse to gamble; then they lose.
Just so you know: Poker is primarily a mathematical game with a bit of psychology. Good players win and bad players lose (over time). Problem is, when playing a cash game in a casino, the house takes a cut out of every pot. It's difficult to over-come the house rake. In tournament play, there is an entry fee. Again, you've got to be an exceptional player to over-come the money removed from the game by the fees. One way to do it (along with being a great player) is to live in a place were there is a stream of new players to introduce money into the pool (to make up for that taken by the casino).
He might be telling you the truth but he'd have to be living someplace with that stream of new players. If he's consistently winning, he's one of the few who do. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 3:14:15 PM | LOL. Too funny, one of the girls I was referring to in my previous post "worked from home" also and lived with her Mom. We only dated a few weeks, and I never got a really straight answer on what she supposedly did. And considering she was 35, fairly intelligent, relatively well mannered/spoken, and attractive- it became somewhat of an unattractive quality that she didn't seem to have a job.
This is something that will, no doubt, upset all the anti-gold diggers. But like I said in the "must have job, have car" thread: I have a job. I have a car. I do well. I want a man, who is in the same boat.
Nah, that's not gold digging. That's just expecting someone to pull their own weight, and no one can argue with that.
Not to mention, if he's lying-that's a pretty extravagant lie. This isn't one of those little white lies we were discussing in the forums the other. If he's willing to BS about something that major, you can bet there will be more lies to come. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 3:27:09 PM | "Nah, that's not gold digging. That's just expecting someone to pull their own weight, and no one can argue with that. "
Oh they can and they do argue... on that thread. I HATE that thread. It's the center of the known ignorant universe here on POF. People saying that women are gold diggers, because they want a man, who has a job ... as if that means .... you have job, me want money, me gold digger.
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 3:37:19 PM | Just for the information.....I watch a lot of World Poker Tour, etc. and there are a number of multi-millionaire poker players. Some of them are fully established in other careers and play poker for the fun/money. Others have landed spots from playing on line and play these tournaments only.....where they never put up any of their money....but can win millions of dollars.
Just check your TV listings......I love to play.......so I like to watch.
I would say that if you met one of these guys for real......they would probably be real up front about how this all came to pass.
Hold Em Poker has taken over in the last 10 years and is played everywhere......it is extremely popular in casinos and in your local pubs. I live in a college town and it is everywhere.
I did watch a 22 year old win about $2.5 Million a few weeks ago. A geek from Harvard...with excellent math skills and balls/nerves of steel.
Hope I shed some light......Becca  | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 3:41:16 PM | This year I met two men who were "professional poker" players. The second was my age, we both passing through Pendleton, OR and played some pool. Judging from conversation and demeanor, I believed that he was serious and earning some money at it but it was a fallback position from the loss of his career a few years earlier.
I met the second through Events&Adventure, he was much younger and I suspect that it was mostly a story to woo women. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 5:00:27 PM | Having grown up in, and spending the majority of my life in Nevada,
it's entirely possible for someone to be a "professional" poker player
and not be able to afford to buy his own food.
And yes... I asked him about it, he was very vague.
Okay, he is hiding something from you.
Not sure what, but I'll take a guess.
He's either a gambling addict with delusions of grandeur.
Or, he's a drug dealer.
Gamblers and dope slingers have a common trait.
Money comes, and money goes.... usually in a hurry for either one.
Or, he's a topsecret C.I.A. field operative who wasn't versed well in his
"cover" identity.  | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 5:09:34 PM |
This does sound like ... plain and simple, he doesn't have a JOB. I've been down the road with the independent contractor, the consultants, the "self employed out of home" ... and all 3 times, they didn't have jobs.
Were they maintaining their place of residence and paying the utilities every month, because if they were, they were taking care of business...
I have a job. I have a car. I do well. I want a man, who is in the same boat.
If I was in the same boat as you, I would jump out...
My question is why are you seeing this man if you think he is the same as the other as you describe losers, which I think your basically stuck on yourself and in reality, no man should be subjected to your judgemental abuse... | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 5:18:09 PM | if he gets the kings and aces than go for it, he will be a great catch
but if he gets the lower cards, than forget the looser  | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 7:12:15 PM | Nice to see a thread I can relate to haha. Cliff notes at bottom.
Respect his vagueness. If he shows obvious signs of being a scrub/broke or is just going nowhere with his life, then let him go. The reason I stay vague when discussing my poker job is because people ask stupid questions/make ridiculous assumptions, like believing that "the house always wins" (you aren't even playing against a casino), that it's all luck/like slots (not even close), and ask "but how much did you lose?" if you do in fact tell them you just had a winning session.
It's true anyone can call themselves a poker professional. It's the same as a shoe clerk calling him/herself a shoe professional, I mean they are selling shoes as a profession amirite? Traveling the circuit and playing all the 10k buy-in events costs about $500,000 a year including the World Series of Poker, so it's more likely he either plays online full-time or grinds out 40-60 hours playing in a brick and mortar. Or he could just be some home-game wannabe that plays $5 tournaments. Ask to sweat him next time he plays (sit behind him and have him show you his cards), and you'll find the answer far more easily than straight-up asking him if he's a chump or not.
Side note: I don't feel as bad calling what I do a job because I prop, which means I get paid by the site I play on to start up poker games. I get anywhere from 11-15 cents per hand, which doesn't seem like much, say I play 5-8 hours a day, and it translates to about $20-30/hr on top of whatever I win or lose (get paid regardless). It's hard for me to extrapolate what it'd come out to in a year since I've only played "as a job" for about 5 months (it was a part-time/hobby thing in college, though I did get to two televised final tables during my junior year), but it'd probably come out to be more than what a teacher would make here, and certainly more than most minimum-wage jobs. No cost on gas, my health insurance is not incredibly expensive, work whenever I want, and plenty of time to hit the gym for 1-2 hours a day so I don't feel like a slacker sitting at a computer all day/night (along with room to get my PT certification and a job at a gym) :)
Cliff notes: Watch him play instead of assuming he sucks/is broke, not everyone that makes $$ at poker makes millions, it's a great passion to have if taken seriously with lots of hard work put into it/free time for other stuff
P.S. Always seemed ridiculous to me demanding someone have a car and job unless you intend on every person you date that they either be "The One" or nothing, it's a good way to screw yourself out of lots of fun/experience | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/22/2007 7:33:25 PM | There are many flavors of pro poker players. He could even be an online pro for that matter. There are many, many people making a decent living at online poker. Even one online shill has chimed in already. Also, as pointed out already not all pro poker players play the tournament circuit, in fact there are quite a few pros that don't play the high end tournaments at all. If you're good you can even make a decent living playing 3/6 either online or at a local casino-if he lives near one.
I think most non tournament pros these days you would find at the local casino playing 10/20. There is some very, very good money to be made if you're good at it. The old adage goes that it's a hard way to make an easy living, and on paper middle range pro poker players are not the most attractive candidates for bank loans, etc. But that by no means indicates that they cannot make a decent living playing cards. Just ask him a few questions to see where in the wide range of pro players he fits in. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/23/2007 3:50:12 PM | ^^^
it's a hard way to make an easy living
Yes indeed. i have a number of good acquaintances that have been professional poker players pretty much all their lives...and they have very good lives. they certainly don't lack for much. They spend the winters mostly in Arizona, Nevada and Florida playing and soaking up the sun and in the summers come back home and relax. They get invited to play in tournaments all around the world, and to me, have a bit of an envious life if i were capable of envy.
Usually the one that lives just up the street from me drops by and says goodbye for the winter at the end of my driveway while i shovel out from the first big storm of the winter. As soon as the snow hits, they're gone. My one chum usually plays about 3 or 4 games on the screen at the same time in the summers, and then sleeps most of the day away. He's also one of the better card players in real time as well and is very well respected around Ontario for his playing skills, but the old fashioned backroom games are harder and harder to find since the advent of internet poker.
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/23/2007 3:53:16 PM | "If I was in the same boat as you, I would jump out..."
Duckman = bitter troll.
Plain and simple.
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/23/2007 4:10:31 PM | Hey sparkin, I agree with the other posters - I think he could possibly be making a decent living at poker, so I wouldn't necessarily write him off yet. Sure, he may be just saying it, but take the suggestions given and you should be able to find out if he really plays. If he really is a pro, maybe he was vague because he doesn't want you to know how much he makes? Just trying to be optimistic, here. 
I would probably wonder, if I were dating him, how to tell if he is being up front & open in his communication. I mean, part of playing poker, which I admit I don't know much about, is to be able to psych out your opponents. I'd wonder how I could possibly know if he was hiding something, if he's good at poker, he probably is hard to read...
mmm, I probably worry too much to handle that relationship! | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/23/2007 6:22:35 PM | | I know a couple pro gamblers. Some make good money. The one guy is just a degenerate gambler and loses more than he makes and it's just sad. It would be quite easy to figure out where this guy fits in by simply meeting him/going to his house. You can usually quickly figure out if he has his shit together or not. Or if he looks like he hasn't been getting any sleep, that's a bad sign. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/23/2007 7:06:23 PM | I know several professional poker players. Some of which actually make a living doing so. For a small few it is possible to make an exceptional career playing cards but I too would be concerned about long term stability.
Who knows maybe their the exception to the rule. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/23/2007 10:05:34 PM | I will get burned for this but I tend to agree with duckman. The thing that differentiates the good people from the bad is NOT their job, status, the car they drive, the size of their bank account....its all about the way they treat you. I know that concept might be hard for the shallow materialistic people to understand 
Having watched and played poker a number of times it is possible to earn a living but even the most skillful players can find it difficult at times due to the fact its a game of chance. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/24/2007 1:49:54 AM | It's entirely possible to earn a living at poker, and it's WAY more profitable to do it online than play in the tournament circuits and live tables. Nobody really expects to average a profit in tournaments, but if you're playing online you can play maybe 2-8 tables at once and make a decent living out of it.
There will be ups and downs. If he's making a living out of it, he can easily expect losing & winning streaks running into hundreds or thousands of dollars from time to time. Few have the stomach for this.
I would certainly not discount his career from the realms of possibility - it is not that difficult to make a profit playing poker online. I believe, thanks to table rakes, that only the top 20-30% of players actually make a profit and the rest break even or lose. However, most people at low stakes don't really know how to play, so being in the top 20-30% isn't that difficult.
I can consistently make a profit playing online poker. However, since I can only consistently make about $3 an hour, I'm never going to be able to make a living like that. Someone much better than me has every chance of making a good living that way. | |
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| Career: Poker Player
Posted: 12/24/2007 4:47:48 AM | | Seems to me a perfectly suitable job for these "Casino Economy" times, when most jobs and career are based on "chance" and external factors, whether the holders of those jobs are careers realise that or not (until they are played out of the career/work/business game). Educational movie for young adults: "Fun with Diick and Jane" (the new or the old version). | |
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