How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Tons of us on this forum have made a decent living at a relatively young(or old!) age. As I read through various posts, I see many people hint at various awesome things they do that seem to be made possible due to the money and freedom that this lifestyle provides. On the other hand, it seems like a lot of people are content to just grind it out, only leaving the house if it's for a poker tournament. Hopefully people will post in this thread and inspire the latter group to take advantage of their youth and money while they can!

I'll start with my story, not going to knock your socks off, but I've had a blast since graduating college and figure it's worth a share.


Right after college: Graduating in 2004, I had about 10k to my name after paying down debt, and figured that was enough to postpone looking for a 'real job' just yet. I was making okay money playing poker, but didn't see it as a very long term goal at this point. For the summer, I volunteered at a Camp I had worked at for the previous 5 summers(www.campjburg.org), and had a blast working with kids and generally not worrying about the outside world. In the fall, I took a road trip with my best friend from college, spending 2 months travelling the United States, seeing about 40 National Parks and many cities that I had never seen before. We left with almost no plan besides a list of places we wanted to see, and an atlas, and we had the time of our lives. Since he was in a more typical just-graduated situation, we each spent about 1.5k only, sleeping in the car a lot and camping when we didn't. Did I mention it was the best time ever?

I took the next 6 months being a nomad, from spending some time with my family in NJ, to living with my girlfriend who was finishing up school in VA, to visiting my college, it was a fun but relatively sleepy time. The following summer, I returned to volunteer at the aforementioned summer camp from early june to late August where I was promoted to being a director of one of our four area groups. It was a great experience in people management and continued to keep me balanced in what can be an otherwise very money driven life. When the summer was over, my girlfriend and I took a trip to Hawaii, which was amazing.

Now that my girlfriend was finally done with school, we decided on a relative whim to move to South Lake Tahoe - a ski town that also has casinos in it on the CA/NV border. I had only been skiing a few times before this, but I knew I wanted to stay physically active for the winter and figured what the hell. So we moved out there, bought ourselves some skis and boots and got to work skiing. I probably skied 4 days a week, while playing poker during the nights, and realized that this was an amazing lifestyle for me. When the summer rolled around, we spent time on our friends' boat learning to wakeboard and generally enjoying the Sacremento Delta area. It was around this time that we started getting very interested in wine as well, and we went to visit our man El D in SF and he gave us some very excellent winery recommendations in the Napa Valley. Since then we've been relative wineaholics.

Another summer came, so it was back to NJ for what will likely be our last summer volunteering at camp. Last summer, I was made program director, which was essentially the director of all the other directors(and counselors). While it was very stressful and extremely time consuming(first meeting at 7:00 AM, 1 hour break between breakfast and lucnh, one hour break between lunch and dinner, one hour break between dinner and midnight, working nonstop during meals), it was the most satisfying work experience I've ever had. Once again it helped me stay balanced, and feeling like you are making a real contribution(besides just a charitable donation) is something that you don't realize you miss til it's not there. For heaven's sake, if you are a poker player, sit down and volunteer sometime. No chance you'll regret it.

So, fast forward to this fall, when my GF and I take a trip down to Aruba w/ J_V and his gf for the ultimate bet tournament. The gambling was a disaster, including a late night rigged blackjack game which landed both J_V and myself in the doghouse with our gfs, but the trip was an overwhelming success. We had a great time and are looking forward to going again. When we got back, we left for a 1 month driving tour of the SW USA, camping most of the way but staying in hotels from time to time as well, including an amazing place in a town called Truth or Consequences, NM, which featured natural hot springs, a reflexologist, a kickass restaurant, and some natural jewelry for the lady. When we were done, we landed in Steamboat Springs, CO, for another ski season - which is going even better than the last. The nightlife isn't near what Tahoe's was, but it's a much different experience and for that I'm excited. Skiing a lot more this year, at least 5 times a week, and getting to a level where I feel comfortable skiing virtually anything. When we leave here, I will be taking my first crack at the WSOP, and she'll be travelling Thailand for a month with her girlfriends. Then next January it's Mt. Kilimanjaro with fsuplayer! From there, who knows, but thanks to poker for making it possible!


James

EDIT: Will answer any questions about this stuff, obv, but please add your story of what poker has made possible or what you plan on doing because of it.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

James,

The thing I envy most about young poker pros from the last few years are the ones who have taken advantage of the ability to travel, and by that I mean travel other than poker tournaments and cardrooms.

Being able to have some of those types of experiences at such an early age is such a privilege. I really hope Bruiser chimes in here, he is one of the first people that pops to mind reading your topic.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

What if you got a to die for job as the result of being a poker pro?

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

[ QUOTE ]
What if you got a to die for job as the result of being a poker pro?

[/ QUOTE ]

If there is a personal story behind this, by all means, share!

James

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Ive taken advantge of it in the following ways

-Money towards owning my first home at 21
-Some kick ass vacations(away from poker)

Ways I havent taken advantage
-Havent saved enough

I dont believe that my days as a poker player are up just yet...hopefully in a year or so. Just hope the games dont change to much that I cant show a profit as Im one of the ones who has left myself no other option at the moment.

Granted...I can see myself doing nothing that college is needed for. Some for of entrepenural venture is most certainly the route meant for me.

-Evan

PS- If you want more company climbing Id love to come along.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

For various reasons I dont want to go into details for a few months sorry (but lots of people know and Im happy to tell people in private), but I'm doing work that lots of people would die to do and I got it because I have a poker background (and was ambitious enough to actively seek out the work). It's likely to benefit me for the rest of my career, I love it, I've made amazing contacts and consider myself amazingly lucky.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I was never a poker pro, but I made decent money playing poker over the last 4 years. I never took exotic vacations that didn't include poker, but even my poker trips were awesome. I got to visit Copenhagen during an EPT tournament and I just spent a day after I busted out walking around town. It might have been the most memorable day of my life. I had a blast on my Vegas trips as well.

I never made baller money and I'm currently winding down my poker career to once a week B&M + occasional micro stakes online play. But I made good money and the most important thing about that is that I wasn't poor. I didn't have to work very hard in grad school, I never had to eat ramen, or move back in with my parents when I was unsuccessful in a year long job search. A lot of people don't appreciate how stressful the first few years can be after you get out of college.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I would say the best part of all this so far is making my own hours. Whenever friends want to go do something, I don't have to tell anyone that i need time off or anything. On a whim two months ago, my two good friends and I took off to stay at a friends place in Lake Tahoe. We ended up staying for 3 weeks and it easily was the best vacation of my life, and I've been to some nice places (with my family) like Atlantis, India many times, Hawaii, among others.

While I haven't yet made enough money where I can just do whatever I want, just having the freedom to do whatever I want is huge to me.

-nation

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

When I was a full-time player, I would valet my car wherever I went. That was sweet.

DN

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

It has given me the chance to own a home at a young age as well given me the time to take on more profitable projects I couldn't have with a normal full time job.

I've used my poker money to buy land and a build a home to sell and I am about to start on a 2nd home.

I feel I can take more business risks since I have some financial stability.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I used small stakes grinding to pay my costs of living while in law school. I didn't have to get a part time job for the first time in my life. Unfortunately, I also used my profits from poker to never have to prepare my own food, which caused me to gain about 20 pounds in law school. After i graduated law school I spent a tough 6 months losing that 20 pounds. In short: poker made me fat. I also wasted so much money on eating out its ridiculous, I probably would have a much nicer car right now, or a nicer apartment, if only I hadn't spent all my disposable income on food. Oh well.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Travel. So far just to Australia and New Zealand, but I plan on spending most of this year in Eastern Europe, SE Asia, and Istanbul. Having huge amounts of work flexibility is also fantastic. I know very few other people who could take a week off on a whim. Although I'm a college graduate, I don't have a good resume or any real marketable skills. Were it not for poker, I would most likely be working 50 hrs/week in a soul-crushing florescent hell.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1...b/fullbass.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g1.../bodyclose.jpg


NT

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Though I generally abhor 6 string basses, that's a pretty axe. Nice work man.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

sweet bass can I hear it?

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

james - you win.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I don't really do anything exciting with my money, but poker has allowed both my GF and me to be full-time students without jobs and live pretty nicely.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Poker has been nice to me.

- At 17 take a gap year from school to travel around Thailand and Australia. Meet thai/aussie girls. Did schoolies in the Gold Coast. Watched the new year fireworks at Sydney harbor w/ a large drunken group of europeans who we met that morning. Scuba Diving in Ko Tao. Surf on Manly Beach. Thai cooking lessons in Samui. It was a great time, at a great age. Just shooting the [censored] w/ people from all over the world at every different hostel was great.

- Being able to drop a maths degree that i had no interest in. Without large poker goals and something that i could set my mind to i would have trapped myself in that course.

- Being able to move to a major city and getting an awesome apartment so i didn't have to have a long distance relationship w/ the girl i met in university. Then the benefits of a big city, tons of music gigs and local bands, places to eat, closeby places to visit.

- Just being flexiable enough to always go on trips/weekends/nights out with whichever group of friends. Amsterdam, Dublin, Newcastle, Scotland, Barconela all happened because a certain friend would want to go and know i'm available to go.

- Getting family and friends presents. The main one here is always arranging a nice meal with my whole family and gf when i visit home.


Tons of smaller things, increased confidence, being able to order TONS of books, eat well all the time, lack of stress, being able to buy music, learning that money brings opportunities not happiness.

This year i need to use my free time to try out some volunteery work. I think i'd enjoy teaching kids or the such.

Planned already: Rage Against the Machine at Coachella. Road trip around eastern europe. WSOP. Hopefully: Scuba at the red sea and learn to kite surf.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

nice post, james. I once wrote a song called truth and consequences and never figured out where I had originally heard the title, maybe a sign for that town!

for me, since I've always had poker to fall back on I haven't ever worried about taking long breaks from work. by far the most fun was a 2 month cross country road trip my wife and I took in 2005. we stayed with friends and camped whenever we could. it was a great way to see the country and spend time together. definitely something I'll remember for the rest of my life. since then we've gone on a bunch of camping trips and are looking forward to more (including rockygrass festival in colorado)!

another fun thing I did was take the summer off work and was a street musician in a trio, we played all over europe (sax, guitar and upright bass!). we had a blast, really one of the best times of my life. a little after that I went on a real tour of europe with an established group and it wasn't half the fun, although it was cool play some big shows.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

The main thing I learned, that I think I did quicker than most people, is that I can not work for someone else, I wont ever be able to get passionate about any job that I am not doing for myself, and that I did it at a "youngish" age. Its bought me a couple nice cars, paid my tuition, took a few trips, and gave me some start up money for a few business ops, but the material things dont match up to the above.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Jay, awesome.

Some great posts here, gives me some great ideas of how to keep busy when I leave here!

James

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I turned playing poker and being a mod here into a job with Poker Stars. Which is pretty pimp imo.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Since I discovered poker quite a bit later in life than most of the players here (I'm 27 now, and didn't start playing until after college), poker has mostly been a pragmatic thing for me. It's helped me pay off a lot of debt, pay for a wedding last September, and buy a house.

The biggest thing that it's allowing me to do right now is work on starting a coffeeshop with my wife. It's something that she's been doing for years -- managing and working as a barista (no, not at Starbucks) -- and an industry that both she and I love.

I'm definitely hoping it doesn't completely fade away in the short term, but even if it has, it's been a great thing.

Rob

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

James I've always envied all the travel you've been able to do.

How long are you gonna be out here for the WSOP?

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

-I moved to costa rica for half a year.

-I started going to culinary school, which has been a lifelong dream.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Great thread James.

Poker came along at just the right time to supplement my slightly out-of-the-ordinary lifestyle. I've worked as a rafting guide since 1995 and in early 1999 I moved to Uganda to work on the White Nile. An absolute dream job but for the fact that literally days before I arrived a whole bunch of tourists that had only gone rafting the week before got hacked to pieces by some Conglonese rebels. Really heavy stuff.

So overnight we went from 5-6 trips a week to 1-2. We had a sweet setup in Kampala, the big luxury expat house with live-in servents etc, but you still need some cash to play with. I got involved with an expat holdem poker game. There were guys who worked in the UN and other crazy jobs. One night the US defence secretary for East Africa sat down with us. Nobody really knew how to play and I had discovered Planet Poker. So during the day I practiced on the free money tables and at night I tried out plays that I had been working on. It was a no limit game and I did well enough to have a really good time in Africa.

I got fired from my job over a political power-play and had to get out of the country fast. Took a flight to London with about $400 in my pocket and ended up rafting in Italy where I settled down to a good wicket. Raft in the summer for five months and play poker online in the winter while learning to snowboard. It's now seven years later and I'm still here. I've winded down the online poker as it doesn't hold me as it used to. I still think that the games are good but I much prefer to play live. So I pop over to Ljubljana every now and then and have fun with the crazy's over there.

I'm just in the process now of setting up my own nightclub here in the Italian Alps with the opening date set for June. I have to say that without poker a lot of this might not have been possible.

ads.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Lived in China, did unreasonable amounts of drugs and alcohol. Didn't travel nearly enough but got to see parts of China and Thailand. Not really a shining spot in my life because I'm broke now, however it still was a hell of a ride.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I'v just gone skiing in Canada, and plan on staying for 4 months. I live with 3 other poker players. We have a much better house that what the regular ski bum would be able to afford. The flexibility that poker gives you, is just perfect for skiing. I won't have to pass on one single good powder day because I have to work.

A lot of my friends are travelling too, but I'm propably the only one who will (hopefully) come home with more money than I left with, and I didn't have to work like a madman a couple of months prior to going, since I would still have my income over here.

Before going to Canada I spent a couple of months sitting in a dark room, but nothing really interesting happened in this periode. It did, however, give me some of my sanity back after being incredibly stressed in the last year of high school, due to a variety of reasons.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Just moved to las vegas, got a loaded bmw 550i, a brand new condo just south of the strip, and bought all sorts of cool stuff thats gonna last 10+ years

I have no idea why people with 500k rolls can't spend 50k and just enjoy life sometimes. some of those dudes live like they're busto

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Why I am no means a pro 'pro', I dont have to work during school, and I can splerge on things that many other students cant. It also has allowed myself and my father to become much closer, which to me is above any thing I can actually win.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

i have slept unbelievable amounts of time over the past two years. like an average of 11 hours a day. thanks poker!

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

-I'm going to school full time and just paying tuition without having to bother being a graduate assistant (no teaching component, you just have to be some profesor's bitch)

-I went to australia for a month
-I went to hawaii for 3ish weeks
-I've made several semispontaneous trips to visit friends in SF/Portland/Seattle

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

Oh yeah, I paid off like $3k of debt I had at the end of college. $3k isn't that much but working for $15/hr it seemed like a mountain and weighed on me constantly. Once I took a shot at the old party 15 and ran good all of a sudden the debt had vanished. It's still very clear in my mind how good that felt.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

travel: month in italy, trips to england, ireland, austria, france, belgium, netherlands, aruba, bahamas, jamaica, grand cayman, mexico, vegas for wsop

moved out from home and into my own apartment with lots of gadgets

looking into buying a house/condo/townhouse within the next year

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

[ QUOTE ]
travel: month in italy, trips to england, ireland, austria, france, belgium, netherlands, aruba, bahamas, jamaica, grand cayman, mexico, vegas for wsop

moved out from home and into my own apartment with lots of gadgets

looking into buying a house/condo/townhouse within the next year

[/ QUOTE ]
Daryn,
This is a slight aside, but... What do you play? Cash? I rarely see you in MTTs unless you have another sn.
~Justin

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I've turned "pro" for about a year after college. My first year was great even though I didn't get to play as many hands as I would like due to carpal, vacations (Hawaii, Vietnam for a month, and Vegas if that counts), and visits to my gf who is currently away for college.

None of these activities would've been possible if it wasn't for poker because I would probably be grinding it out at an investment firm somewhere in New York since I have a bad habit of wanting to move up as fast as I can.

Besides the freedom, poker also gave me a chance to get into the stock market faster than I would have since I have some money to play around with. The swings in poker helped me tremendously while dealing w/ the constant flunctuations of the market. Poker also gave me a chance to look into business ventures and these business ventures (even though none succeed) helped me learn a lot about the business world.

But the greatest thing about poker is that it allowed me to financially support my parents (even though we live a very frugal lifestyle and they don't need much money from me). It makes me happy to see them happy about my success and they don't have to worry about money as much anymore. I'm currently waiting for the real estate market to "bust" so I can make their dream come true. And of course, mine too [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I'm actually quite disappointed with how I came out of playing poker - which is not to say that I didn't come out okay. (Cliff notes at bottom of post.)

I played winning poker in Commerce's 3-6 and 4-8 games for almost a year before I started taking it seriously. GoT started coaching me, I immediately jumped into 20-40 games and started playing 5-10 online. However, due to school and other time "obligations," I never played more than 20 hrs/wk until the fall after graduating from college. In retrospect, it seems criminal that I wasn't working full time during this time building a bankroll.

Instead, I took a shot at higher limits just as I moved down to CA, incurring more moving expenses than anticipated (I had stayed in WA during the summer), and proceeded to run very poorly in Commerce's 20-40 game and Party's 10-20 game (my first attempt at 6max - I kind of wish I could watch videos of my play now that I'm better at those games, but I don't even have HHs any more). I didn't manage my bankroll well, and didn't step down in stakes until my bankroll was quite thin, so I had to start over in Party's 2-4 games. I worked my way back, but it was totally unnecessary for me to be playing that low.

By winter time, I had built my bankroll up again enough to play 10-20 again, but was quite hesitant to step up again. I took over a month off starting the week before Christmas (again, in retrospect, more time off than necessary). At the end of February, my bankroll was over $8k, and yet I'd convinced myself that my winrate 8-tabling 3-6 was better than it'd be playing 5-10. GoT and others told me I was crazy, but I had convinced myself not to step up. I took a lot of time off in March and May, then moved back to WA, again with a smaller bankroll than I should have had, although by this time I was playing in the 5-10 short games on Party, and doing well. But with moving expenses and upgrading to a 4-monitor system, my roll was down to $4k.

During that year+ period, 120 was the most hours I'd played in a month, and I averaged under 100. I also spent less time improving my game than I should have. I moved to WA planning to buckle down and work more hours. That plan was actually going well through August, until I started dating the woman I'm now married to. She worked mornings, so I ended up spending a lot of evenings with her instead of working. I certainly don't regret the time I took off to spend with her, but it did make me regret even more that I hadn't buckled down and worked hard sooner.

In February I got engaged and started spending a lot of money and time working on wedding plans, and wasn't able to build a bankroll above $4k at all. I got married in September, and due to legislation started keeping my eyes open for a job. The opportunity presented itself to buy an existing, successful restaurant, and here I am, retired from playing poker professionally.

I'm in a good spot for being 25, but had I done better at poker, I would not have had to finance so much of the restaurant and/or been able to buy a house also.


Cliff notes: I've done okay playing poker, but due to laziness, occasional poor bankroll management, and untimely streaks of running bad, I didn't come out the other end with much to show - except life lessons and personal growth. My wife and I just bought a restaurant, and we're in good shape for our age, but not really because of poker.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I think thats why Im happy that I have an addictive personality. I started playing poker when I was in HS, I played some large games before I even know what I was doing, when I was about 18, I found 2p2, and just got addicted for 3 years to playing/learning about the game, I spend A LOT of time reading and learning, and before I quit my job, when I was 21, I built up a mid 5 figure roll, before even playing 5/10 6 max, just because my job was paying well (I didnt make any cashouts for like the first 2 years), and I would force myself to play 30 hours a week, even though I was also working 30 to 40 hours a week. I think thats also why I dont like online poker too much anymore now.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
travel: month in italy, trips to england, ireland, austria, france, belgium, netherlands, aruba, bahamas, jamaica, grand cayman, mexico, vegas for wsop

moved out from home and into my own apartment with lots of gadgets

looking into buying a house/condo/townhouse within the next year

[/ QUOTE ]
Daryn,
This is a slight aside, but... What do you play? Cash? I rarely see you in MTTs unless you have another sn.
~Justin

[/ QUOTE ]

i play limit holdem, i don't really play MTT's regularly but i enjoy playing them. i often toy with the idea of playing MTT's exclusively for some time period and see how it goes. i play so little hours though, even when i'm playing limit holdem.

Re: How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?
 

I'm 20 and taking a year off to make more money playing pokah and travel. I have been to aruba, copenhagen, (the poker tournament was mainly just the excuse to go there, its such an awesome city) bahamas twice, hawaii, chamonix. However this is just the start of my travels.

I will be going heli-skiing next week which costs about 12 grand and is something i dreamed of doing maybe once in my life ever since i was a kid, but now i have the ability to do it many times, if not for the rest of my life depending on how poker goes. I will be going back to europe with 3 friends right after heli-skiing for over a month, and we will be doing Europe on a shoestring, which i think will be a really interesting for me cause i'm not used to traveling cheaply. Then i will be going to japan/australia and possibly New Zealand in april. I also hope to get some snowboarding in, in Chile during our summer. So poker has allowed me to travel which is amazing in and of itself, but i really feel like i am gaining a much better perspective of everything by going to all these places.

Money has also helped me socially. Like i don't think people consciously like me more because of my money, but when i buy drinks for everyone, drive them places in my brand new car, and am always available to do stuff 24/7 it definately makes a difference socially.

Poker has also taught me excellent money management skills, so even if poker isn't there i doubt i will ever have money problems in my lifetime. More importantly, i have no idea what i want to do with my life, but poker has given me a huge number of options. I am not forced to go to school and get a degree right away because i can afford to wait and see what i want to do.

The thing i hate the most about being a poker pro is that i have to actually play poker sometimes, but thats about the only downside though i feel like i take advantage of everything else pretty well. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]