Two Plus Two Newer Archives  

Go Back   Two Plus Two Newer Archives > General Gambling > Psychology

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 10-20-2007, 01:43 PM
joop joop is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 601
Default poker pro - hardest job there is?

Cliff notes at bottom.

Sorry if this has already been discussed, couldn't find anything on it though, so here goes.

It's my contention that being an online poker pro is one of the hardest jobs a person could do. What are you thoughts on this?

I will explain my thoughts...

I play mid-stakes 6max LHE for a living. I try to play as much as I can each month, to make the most money I can, and as many tables as possible to maximise my hourly rate.

I've found that playing 6 tables is optimal for me in terms of hourly rate, and I just cannot drive myself to play more than 40k hands each month. Sure, I could play less tables and it would ease the load on my mind a bit - but I'd make less per hour. And I could play less each month, but I want to make the max I can.

Given the outline of 'my job' above, I truly believe what I'm doing is one of the most difficult jobs there is. I am constantly making decisions... many easy decisions like preflop and c-betting flops HU... but many difficult decisions that really take some thought. After a long session, my brain is just about fried. It takes so much concentration and focus - there's no looking out the window and thinking about the weekend like most jobs.

And then there's the swings. I think I handle these better than most. But I have yet to meet a poker pro (and I know quite a lot) that is uneffected psychologically by the swings. 100BB downswings in one day are quite common... breakeven stretches for weeks... 3-500BB downswings. It's hard to remain unphased. It's not even the money that bothers us - it's that thought in the back of your mind that you're no longer playing winning poker. The games are constantly getting tougher... am I currently being outplayed? It doesn't feel like I am... but I keep losing... this is what goes through a poker pros mind.

I'm trying to think of what other jobs are tougher. Sure, you have physical jobs... labourer, whatever... that's not the kinda difficulty I'm talking about. I would love to go out and "labour" for the same money I'm making playing poker, but it just doesn't happen. Any sort of office jobs is usually pretty repetitive and doesn't require a lot of brain power once you've been doing it for a while... plus you can always sit and do nothing for 5 minutes and nobody would know. I'm thinking something like a surgeon might be difficult... there's the emotional aspect of playing with someones life, but I'm sure once you get the experience that goes away. And then there's the old favourite of comparing a poker pro to an air-traffic controller...

I'm sure being an air-traffic controller is mentally intensive. You can't look away from the screen (similar to poker). You literally have peoples lives in your hands - emotional aspect. But just how many difficult decisions do you have to make? I'd say most decisions are pretty rudimentary. Can it really compare to being constantly put in tough spots by other smart players trying to outplay you?

I started writing this thread because I've just come off the phone with a girl I've started seeing. She's very demanding of my time... I've told her I'm busy when I play poker and that I can't be disturbed - but she doesn't see why I can't talk on the phone, or chat on msn at the same time. I am stupid, because I've allowed it whilst just playing 3 tables before... but once I crank up 6 tables and try to talk, she may as well be talking to herself. She doesn't understand how difficult it is. Does anyone that doesn't play? We have argument about this... I have said to her, "You have no idea what I'm trying to do here" (play winning poker). I really think it's one of the hardest things you can do.

Would love to hear other peoples thoughts on this.

joop

Cliff notes : I think being a poker pro is one of the toughest jobs there is and would like peoples opinion on this.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 10-20-2007, 01:54 PM
Jamougha Jamougha is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Learning to read the board
Posts: 9,246
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

Most mentally end emotionally demanding maybe; it's at least up there. Hardest no.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 10-20-2007, 02:04 PM
joop joop is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 601
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

Care to go into more detail?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 10-20-2007, 02:11 PM
Henry17 Henry17 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,285
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

40k hands a month doesn't sound like that much. Are you still in school or do you have another job?

I do agree it is near impossible to play more then 2-3 tables and have any meaningful conversation with anyone. But I do over 40k hands a week and still have time for an active social life and GF so I'm not sure what the issue is. 6 tabling it you shouldn't be playing more then 3 hours a day.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 10-20-2007, 02:13 PM
Jamougha Jamougha is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Learning to read the board
Posts: 9,246
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

[ QUOTE ]
Care to go into more detail?

[/ QUOTE ]

You've never done hard physical labour, right? Try farming in the middle of winter in a cold country or working in a mine in Nigeria.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 10-20-2007, 02:34 PM
joop joop is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 601
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

[ QUOTE ]
40k hands a month doesn't sound like that much. Are you still in school or do you have another job?

I do agree it is near impossible to play more then 2-3 tables and have any meaningful conversation with anyone. But I do over 40k hands a week and still have time for an active social life and GF so I'm not sure what the issue is. 6 tabling it you shouldn't be playing more then 3 hours a day.

[/ QUOTE ]

40k hands a weeek? Ummm. You're obviously very new to poker. Come back in a couple of years and tell me you play 40k hands a week.

I've been playing as a pro for 3yrs now... I know a lot of pros... 40k hands a month is probably just above average for a pro. I would say between 30 and 40k is about average.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 10-20-2007, 02:34 PM
joop joop is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 601
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Care to go into more detail?

[/ QUOTE ]

You've never done hard physical labour, right? Try farming in the middle of winter in a cold country or working in a mine in Nigeria.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you missed the part of my post where I said, "Sure, you have physical jobs... labourer, whatever... that's not the kinda difficulty I'm talking about.".
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 10-20-2007, 02:43 PM
Henry17 Henry17 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,285
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

3 years. WOW. I'm impressed. lol. I use to do 40k a month when they didn't allow multi-tabling.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 10-20-2007, 03:01 PM
joop joop is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 601
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

40k hands is about 400hrs of poker single tabling @ 100 hands/hr.

So that's over 100hrs of poker a week. Ummm, okay.

All I can say is the experience I've had, and the discussions I've had with other poker pros... 40k hands a month, month after month, is a pretty decent amount. Most poker pros play 30hrs or less each week.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 10-20-2007, 03:05 PM
joop joop is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 601
Default Re: poker pro - hardest job there is?

One thing I wanted to add in to my initial post, and kinda mentioned it, but didn't make it that clear. But I think it's becoming evident...

Is the question of whether anyone can really understand how difficult it is to be a poker pro, when they haven't actually done it? It seems to me they just cannot understand it. Is there anyone out there that has done many difficult jobs AND played poker for a living - so they can offer their comparison.

And just to clarify, I'm not talking 20k hands a month of 3-4 tabling small stakes for 6 months. I'm talking 40k hands a month of 6 tabling tough mid-stakes LHE games for year after year.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:51 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.