How often is the term "professional poker player" BS?

[jjflash]

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I expressly don't say it despite living off my poker income for a few years now. It's ridiculous to hear the phrase said outloud. FWIW, I'm self-employed in the financial risk/money management industry.

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For no other reason than it hurts your game. Say you are visiting a friend in BFE (of course you are visiting because no pro really lives in BFE) and you introduce yourself as a pro poker player. Any prospective game that you were going to play is now less juicy than it was before. Either you won't be invited to play there or ever one will be trying to "show up the pro". Either way is not an ideal situation.