Is poker a profession?
 

How is it that there are poker players that are referred to as professionals?

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A profession is an occupation that requires extensive training and the study and mastery of specialized knowledge, and usually has a professional association, ethical code and process of certification or licensing

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Poker is not a profession. It`s not! Tournament poker is even less of a profession. It is, less--of a profession, I mean. Don`t argue with me. Sklansky has been trying that for years and he has, I`m sure, figured out that he can`t win.

Why? Because I am right about most things. And in this case I am absolutely right. Poker is not a profession. Winning at poker is possible not because you are a professional skilled at playing poker. Winning at poker is possible because your opponents play bad. What kind of profession is that? It`s not a profession. It`s just a game and as such should be treated as one. Have fun while you can when you play. Ask A. Shoemaker. He knows, he got psyche smarts. He`s a professional. Sklansky`s not. He`s just a game player that got lucky for a while. Besides he writes and sells things, like books. Now that`s a profession. Poker `s not.

pokervintage

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

Poker is a profession if people are paying to watch you play and sponsors are adding to the prize fund because people are watching.

However, I like your arguements. You obviously don't work for the IRS or Revenue Canada.

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

By your quote it is obvious that you are wrong. You take your mastery of specialized knowledge and apply it at the table to win money versus other people. It is not disimilar in a very broad sense to how the stock market works, and yet you don't get people complaining that stock brokers aren't "professionals". It surely relies on people being worse than you at it, but advancement in any profession relies on much the same, or rather that is to say it relies on you being BETTER than others. Thus poker could reasonably be viewed as a profession.

Further, there are other definitions of the term "profession" to consider, such as "a principal calling, vocation, or employment". Under this defintion all you need to be doing is making money to pay your bills from playing.

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

I would consider someone a professional who lives of the income s/he derives from whatever they are doing. Since this is what they do for a living, this is their profession. Poker is a game of skill as many others and should be looked at as a sport. under the same token you can argue that a football player or boxer is not a professional but they are as long as they get paid for doing it.

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

7/10

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

I half agree with you. Poker is an activity, like arguing. Playing a lot of poker doesn't make you a professional, any more than arguing a lot makes you a lawyer. But there is a profession with the activity of arguing at its core, and there is another profession with poker at its core.

A poker professional is not someone who plays a lot of poker, or even someone who makes most of his money playing poker. It's someone who makes most of his money in activities centered around poker. Those could be writing, teaching, participating in businesses or other things related to poker. The same thing is true of law, most lawyers aren't arguing cases, they're writing documents, or teaching, or judging or drafting laws or other things.

Most people called poker professionals 20 years ago or more were really professional gamblers. They would bet on a variety of things other than poker, gin rummy, backgammon, golf, sports; and were likely to make most of their money on proposition bets and gambling businesses.

Today there are many true poker professionals. They play poker and center their professional lives around the game. They may or may not gamble, but if so it's a hobby, not part of their business.

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

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mastery of specialized knowledge

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Poker players have been winning at poker for years without the mastery of any thing closely related to specialized knowledge. They used to be called seat of the pants players. Now I suppose the younger set calls them lucky.

Poker is in no way related to how the stock market works other than you can use math for certain aspects of both. Winners at the stock market do not rely on others making mistakes in fact they hope that everyone including themselves win. If I buy Microsoft it is not necessary for someone buying Sun Microsystems to lose money for me to gain money.

If you choose to use other definitions to define a professional I cannot argue unless you are more specific.

pokervintage

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

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Poker is a game of skill

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Who says so? Sklansky came up with some silly reference to an off the cuff comment his son made a little while ago and claimed that it proved that poker is a game of skill. Phewy! Ask congress if poker is a game of skill. Bet they don`t repeal legislation based on what Sklansky`s son has to say.

pokervintage

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

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A poker professional is not someone who plays a lot of poker, or even someone who makes most of his money playing poker. It's someone who makes most of his money in activities centered around poker. Those could be writing, teaching, participating in businesses or other things related to poker.

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Ah, a man after me own heart. Use me own words to take advantage of me. I agree with you. I was of course referring to Poker Playing but did not state it correctly. Yes poker profeesionals make their money from activities centered around poker. Brilliant. I concede.

pokervintage

Re: Is poker a profession?
 

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Poker is not a profession. It`s not! Tournament poker is even less of a profession. It is, less--of a profession, I mean.

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Wait - you start a thread asking "Is Poker a Profession?", and then answer yourself in the OP.

If you look up the noun variety of the word "profession" in the dictionary, you shouldn't have any problem coming to the conclusion that poker can be a profession.

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Don`t argue with me. Sklansky has been trying that for years and he has, I`m sure, figured out that he can`t win

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Why? Because I am right about most things. And in this case I am absolutely right

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I bet you're on your 8th screen name or something, aren't you? Something tells me you've been banned a few times. Just a hunch. Also, this is so NOT a PT topic.