Gambler: The Life of a Professional Poker Player

From 1982 to 1984 I played poker professionally in Las Vegas. In those days there were no multimillion dollar tournaments like there are now, but I made a decent living playing Seven Card Stud and Texas Hold'em. Most tournaments I entered had no more than 300 people in them paying an entry fee of $50 which brought the prize pool to about $14,000 with only 4 people in the money'. The grand prize was about $7,000 with second place being $4,000 and third and fourth place about $2,500 and $500 respectively. In those days it was a lot of money since a new car could be had for $7,000 and that was nicely equipped. Mostly I played in cash games and made about $1,200 a week on the average, which was quite a respectable living at that time.

I stayed in the Airport Inn for $14.95 plus tax a day and would walk to the Strip each day for exercise. The two mile walk each way to the casinos where I played poker were about all the exercise I got since I played on the average of 18 hours a day. I ate one meal a day in the all-you-can-eat $3.95 buffet not counting the coffee that was served free at the tables.

If anyone tells you that a good poker player's life is easy, they have never played poker for a living. There is so much adrenaline pumped into your body that it is hard to eat even one meal a day and near impossible to sleep well. Poker playing is sheer discipline and patience. Frequent bluffing wasn't a percentage play in Seven Card Stud and only a slightly better percentage play in Texas Hold'em. One person would usually call you so you better have the cards to beat the caller or you will be busted out of the game very quickly. The exception to the frequent bluffing prohibition is no-limit cash games. No limit tournaments fall somewhere in the middle. However, I remain a strong believer that all-in bluffs work all the time until someone calls you. I believe that games shown on TV appear to make this ploy work better than it really does since these games are edited before being shown to increase the viewer's excitement.

Discipline and patience are what separated the people who could make a living playing poker from the Friday night poker, neighborhood champs and the Internet phenoms that come to Las Vegas, loose all their money and get a job as a taxicab driver, casino card dealer or waiter. Discipline in the commodity that lets you fold a hand once you think it has been bested even if you have one heck of a hand. Patience gives you the ability to wait until you have a winning hand and then to maximize your gain while minimizing your risk to a player with a potentially better draw. Most of time Disciple and patience give you an over all advantage over most other players. However, you can never avoid risk entirely.

There is a paradox which faces every professional poker player. The professional player must not be afraid to bet aggressively if they think they will win the hand or at least bluff out someone they read as having a weak hand. On the other hand the money they are betting is their food, shelter, savings, and every other expense that the normal nine to fivers uses their paycheck to cover. You can't afford to loose that money yet you can't afford not to put it in jeopardy. This paradox is why even the best players find their heart beating hard and fast many times during an average day and often look ten years older then they actually are.

Look at Doyle Brunson's face. I have on the last table in a tournament we both played in. Eyes baggy, wrinkles deep and pervasive, this poker legend's face displayed the wear and tear of the long term effects of the game. I have noticed that look on many long term poker professionals. This is just not an easy way to make a living. It is an exciting way to earn a living if you are good enough to win tournaments or sufficient sums in cash games to keep you going. It also helps if you can write books to supplement your income, be a paid spokes person for any one of the numerous Internet Poker room', or give lessons to the rich and famous who would also like to be poker stars'.

When asked would you rather be lucky or skillful at poker, most professionals will admit that luck trumps skill in any one tournament. Luck comes and goes however and can't be taught. So skill will provide an edge which will win you more money in the long run. What's better is that the basics skills can be taught and perfected with experience.

There are so many books that teach you poker skills and many written by the best poker professionals in the World. I say read as many as you can. Remember though that book learning will never make you a great poker player. Only playing and learning from experience will. Needless to say the majority of people read books and then practice but never become net winners. Many more read books and then practice but can't and shouldn't give up their day job since they will make little money. They are better than the average person at a table but the constant rake (i.e. the percentage of each pot the House takes) will prevent them from earning a good living. Maybe 1% of all poker players can actually earn enough to make a good living from playing alone. If I'm in error about this percentage than I think it would be that 1% is on the high side.

So here is the point. The one thing you can take to the bank after reading this article. If you want to be a famous or rich poker player, read the books, and go for it. However, make sure you do not take all your money. The odds are that you will be doing what you always did again and you better have enough money left to do it. Again this is disciple and patience and if you don't have that you will not only be an inferior poker player but also you might find yourself in a go nowhere job, with no savings and little hope.