Why I don't tell people I play poker.

[jakhamma]

I have three buddies as roomates...

I get one of them popping in my room every hour or two
"how you running"

or an AIM from on of them in the living room cause we have wireless saying "up $30".

me:"cool, down 4k in here"

[Dominic]

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"Did you win?" I of course, made the mistake of telling him not only that I won, but how much I won, which resulted in "hey do you think I could learn how to play? I'm not a pro but I'm pretty good. " Maybe I should offer him HU for rolls?

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Umm, it sounds like he just wants you to teach him how to play. Help the guy out.

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He has watched me play a couple times which I wouldn't mind at all if he didn't constantly ask questions like "WOWZA YOU HAVE LIKE TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS ON THE TABLE, YOU COULD LOSE THAT ALL IN ONE HAND HUH?" which I of course, couldn't, because I was 9 tabling 1/2 NL and it's somewhat difficult to lose 10 buyins spread between 9 tables in 1 hand.

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I've done it. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[gamblore99]

I have mixed feelings about telling people. Sometimes I tell people about my poker success and get mad respect. They look at me like I am some type of god, which is an awesome feeling, unfortuantely they also feel the need to tell me about the time they won 20 bucks in a home game, or lost with pocket aces which can be annoying. Very rarely will I get something like "but how much do you lose", I think its because I hang out with mostly intelligent people, but also becasue people generally assume I'm really smart. Overtime I have gotten less and less stupid remarks, probably because I have learned to gauge how someone is likely to react. If you think someone is going to give a stupid response don't tell them.

My parents have both become very accepting of my poker playing. My dad is very proud of me, my mom is just ok with it. The first time I came back from the casino (3 years ago) and told her I won 500 dollars she cried and said "my son is a gambling addict!". In her defence her first husband was a degenerate gambler and one time the mob or whoever he owed money to threatened to kill my mom if he didn't come up with $20,000. I won her over by buying her lots of stuff.

Another thing I've found is people have a lot of trouble understanding the variance involved. For those that are stupid, its best to pretend there is no such thing as variance. Speak about averages and hourly rates.

[IceColdAces]

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What negative experiences have you guys had when someone found out you play poker for a living and/or on the internet?

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People always ask me, "Do you bluff a lot?" They think bluffing is like really sexy or something. I try to explain to them that bluffing in poker is so common that it's not really even a big deal. Anyway, I've always found that to be an annoying question.

[Rekrul]

i don't tell korean girls i gamble for a living

3 possible outcomes

1. they don't believe you

2. they hate gambling because of bad stereotype

3. they want you to buy them expensive [censored]

lose, lose, lose

[prodonkey]

I've heard most of the responses given here already. With the most common ones being how much do you make? Or how do you do that? I think the most interesting response was some girl telling me how bad of a person I was for taking other peoples money, and they could be underage and blah blah blah, and how I'm just a waste in our society since I take their money and enable their gambling addictions. I said so everyone that sells liquor or cigarettes is a waste too?

Everyone always says oh, you play that holdem game? When am I gonna see you on tv? I'm like no I don't play holdem often, I play omaha.. and they have no clue.

I just don't like telling people I do it, because people are stupid. Most people think it's really easy and they could do it, love to see some of the monkeys try lol.

Hee Haww

[Jay.]

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i didn't tell my parents i palyed poker until i had made like 70k, and i still live in their basement lolol.

I don't really get stupid questions that you guys seem to, obviously people are curious, but everyone i have told (and i do avoid telling people like the plague) has atleast pretending to be understanding and is just curious about how it works. I guess i don't talk to alot of dumb people which is nice.

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How can you make 70k playing poker in your parents basement, without them ever knowing?

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yea, it's amazing his parents didn't see all them bills walking through the front door down to the basement everyday.

[Tamtaram]

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I was at a house party once....girl overheard I played poker for a living...I was like F ME another boring night of explaining how you can actually make money playing poker [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

BUT turns out she's from Las Vegas and her dad has been playing poker for a living for over 20 years [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ...we talk it up...get to know eachother..and that night I got a drunken bj [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] ....best random hook up of my life [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

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LOL, its sick how often I get this.


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[Black winter day]

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D: You sure they let you keep it? Why don't you just take all of your money out?
M: Of course they let me keep it. Besides, most of the money is in a sort of bank account (Neteller) which is very reliable. D: Are you sure? I wouldn't trust these guys. Be careful and if you start to lose tell me.

And so on...my folks don't have a clue about poker.

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Looks to me like they are actually smart folks [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[YoAdrian]

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My folks made me supper happy when they totally understood almost every aspect of it when I explained it to them.

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You're the one in a million...

My mom: "You won today? Withdraw it. Now. Before the government bans online poker and they keep your money so you can't take it out. What's to stop them from doing that?"

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Does she have a magic 8ball?:-)