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Poker: Easy money, independance, freedom, and fame... right? hmmm...we'll see about that. (Read on for a long (extremely long) post about the future of poker, my own future and why I love the game so much)
First of all, a Men In Hats strip I particularly like:
Here's one I've been wanting to write for a while. I've had a few chats about this topic with various people, and thought about it a lot. That is, what I'm going to do in life. Poker? Studies? If so, what? Now I have a pretty definite idea about all that, let me bore you with an absurdly long post about my absurdly boring life.
First, what about professional poker? I'm talking about, dropping studies to do just that. Well let me first tell you, don't even consider it. Even if you're beating NL600+ and you're the best at that level, don't. Wait, don't go, let me explain why. First of all, what do we know about the future of online poker? The games are getting tougher, there's no denying it; on the other hand, there are still untapped markets, such as Asia, which arguably represents a huge source of income for today's pros. Abolishing the UIGEA could also bring back high traffic on all sites. The problem is, even these new markets will eventually dry up somewhat, and the problem is just delayed. The other problem is regulations: tax, laws, etc... so all in all, I'm not even sure it'll be possible to play professionally in 5, 10 or 20 years - we're quite far from the 40-50 years of activity possible in other sectors. And all that isn't even counting the fact that after several years, a lot of people will get tired of all the grinding. Even with a lot of breaks/vacations, it gets old after a while.
So, what else? I don't know many high-level players who are motivated to play only 3-4k hands a month for 5 years while they finish their studies, and watch all that "easy money" go into other peoples' pockets. One of the solutions is taking a year off of studies to play poker, enjoy the lifestyle, make good money, the go back to the old rythm for a few years and have a solid CV. Actually, I believe that's one of the best possibilities for someone who hasn't yet finished university: taking a break can do a lot of good, and doing something that you enjoy, pays well, and develops a wide array of skills all at once must be a great experience. However, you need discipline. For one thing, to keep a healthy lifestyle, but also to be able to go back to a more structured, active life later on. That's a topic I find is missing from poker books or "strategy" articles, but in my opinion (and many others'), it's the most important. I like how John Carter puts it in Mastering the Trade: there's a whole section dedicated to how he (and other traders) approach the professional stock trader life - discipline, time management, even eating habits.
Which brings me to my next point. What will I do? I would "normally" go to university next year, but I'm going to put that off by a year. In the meantime, I'll catch up on lots of things I don't currently have time to do: get back to music (piano, guitar), travel quite a bit, and learn trading (through books and coaching most likely, maybe an internship in a bank -- we'll see about that later). But mostly, play poker (duh). I currently have an okay roll for the level I play at (NL200) and the firm belief that I can beat at least the next few limits with more or less work. I've already said it several times in previous posts, so I won't elaborate too much, but I must say I love the constant challenge. Even if you're the best, you'll never reach a limit - it's always possible to improve in a variety of ways, regardless of the level you play at. So yeah, it's not just the "easy money" aspect of pro poker that attracts me. By the way, the reason I put hyphens on "easy money" is, well, because it isn't. The main obstacle being the psychological "impact" (not sure of the word) of having several breakeven, or even losing, months. Even without counting the difficulty of the game itself, poker is much more stressful to most people than a lot of other jobs.
Anyhoo, the other thing I wanted to write about was what poker brought me. I'm not trying to advertise, actually I'll warn you: I make it sound very pretty in my posts, but it's not nearly as easy as it looks. Very few people succeed, and there's a reason to that: aside from the mental strain, poker requires a rather analytical way of thinking to rise above low limits -- so it's pretty much up to chance whether you're made for it or not. It does however develop many more skills than just analysis; just cause I'm bored, I'll try to enumerate some of the skills I learnt, or perfected thanks to working on my poker game.
Analysis: duh. The more you rise in limits, the more you work on this, and it's a skill that's extremely useful in everyday life and all domains: computer science, management, law, physics, maths, you name it. Being able to analyse a situation in its every detail is an invaluable tool for success. This is actually very broad, and many skills that I learnt through poker come from an analytical mindset. This one took a lot of time, but was well worth the wait: understanding other peoples' way of thinking. Let me explain.
At first, you just try to play as best you can whatever cards you have. You have to take into account position, stack sizes, previous action and of course, the board and your holecards. Then, you'll start trying to figure out what the other guy could have. The easiest target is the basic TAG, who (you assume) will have the same strategy as you: reading his game is as simple as imagining yourself in his situation. In theory. The problem is, you'll have quite a lot of unpleasant surprises, when you discover he didn't play a hand ideally, leading you to spew against a hand you had simply dismissed from his range. The human factor interferes with logical reasoning, and that's where reads get tricky. So, imagine a hand where you're faced with a decision after your opponent just played. The question shouldn't be "how does he play?" (read: what stats, etc), but "Why does he play like that? What motivates him? What are his thoughts when he gets his cards, when he raises, when he makes a decision?" and so on.
I don't think it's possible to teach how to understand other peoples' thought processes, but with hard work and experience, you might get there. And when you do, you'll know the feeling. The one that makes me write humongous posts till late hours about how great poker is, for free. It's because that skill, empathy as some call it, isn't just useful in poker, (actually, it isn't even essential to beating mid limits - a lot of people get by just fine without it, and make tons of cash, often with a lower-variance style of play). The reason it's so useful is because, once again, it can be used in everyday life, in a variety of situations. Understanding peoples' emotions and way of thinking to better communicate with, or help them with problems; resolving conflicts that much easier; understanding everything much better...etc. It's hard to explain, but I feel I have a much more open vision of things, through seeing things through other peoples' eyes (that's a lot of th)... so, what else?
Emotional detachment - this is another extremely valuable tool. Being able to think clearly, without emotions interfering, is also useful in all sorts of situations. Resolving a problem, an unexpected event (accident or other...), dealing with important decisions, or even just forgetting about stress at an exam or job interview, among other things... being 100% focused at (almost) all times is another of those great skills to have.
Then there's also the smaller, yet still very useful, skills: quick thinking, improved reflexes (those last two come through multitabling a lot, I guess), etc...
I can easily say poker gave me (or rather, I developed through working on my game) a very wide array of skills, and contrary to some peoples' opinions, that game we all love so much gave me an very open mind, a fresh outlook on life and a solid base to almost any type of studies or job - I can do whatever I want to do.
So yeah, there you have it, the proof I'm not a bitter person advising against pro poker because I'm envious, or jealous, or whatever other fallacies stubborn people will come up with to contradict my point of view. To sum up what I said above, here's an intersting quote (from SonicXT): Poker should be a tool, not a goal. To be honest, I see it as a bit of both, but never forget that there's more - way more - to life than poker. Hence these closing words: Although I say a giant "f*ck you" to people who say I'm dumb to take a year to play poker professionally, and whatever success I may have in the next year (and a half), I will continue studies, and have all chances on my side for a successful life, and not have to look back in 5-10 years and be like this guy:
(sorry, I just love that comic)
