Do poker players look at rake and tipping in an unrealistic way?

[Clarkmeister]

I'm specifically talking about the pro player.

The poker pro is running a business, just like any other business. The pro's business is playing poker, and turning a bottom line profit.

Let's take a live game 15/30 player making $40/hr. This person is paying about $12/hr in rake (3hands @ a full $4/hand), $3/hr in tokes ($1/hand won), and getting back about $1.00/hr in comped food/beverage.

That's about $14.00/hr in net costs on gross earnings of $55.00/hr. That's a profit margin of about 75%. For any business that would be considered an outstanding pre-tax margin. Heck, 20% is outstanding margin. For a mere 25% overhead, this person is receiving the benefits of advertising, trained dealers, a place where all players can safely come, and oh yeah, a place to actually work.

Seems like a pretty dang amazing deal to me. Online play is obviously even more amazing.

I just don't know of any other business where people literally complain and whine that their 75% pre-tax margin isn't higher. It's a business, and one with a pretty reasonable overhead structure.

This is inspired by people whining about toking dealers $1/hand, but it's obviously a broader concept. Anyways, stop whining, we've all got it pretty good.