I'm going to train homeless people to make a living playing poker

[snowbank]

I posted in ssnl but thought it'd get more responses here

I thought of doing this a while ago, and maybe after summer I will put this plan into action. I'm going to put together a team of homeless dudes and show them my playbook i put together off my own beats. Not the homeless people who could be working but aren't, but the guys who seriously have had some bad luck/could use a break.

One time last year I just got done meeting someone for lunch. I walked out to my car and was getting in and someone rode up to me on their bike as I was closing my door. I rolled down my window and he asked if I could share any money at all. There was something real convincing about this guy for some reason. Like he really did need it. He told me he'd been riding around all day trying to be able to afford a room for him and his wife to stay for the night. You could tell he had like $20 in quarters in his pockets cause dude was jingling like crazy. We talked for a minute, and he asked if I could even just spare a little change, he'd appreciate it. I asked how close he had gotten so far on the day for the room. He said he was $8 away. I grabbed $8 and gave it to him. This guy was ecstatic! He couldn't believe I had given him $8. It was like the lottery to him. I've never met someone more grateful in my life for something. For some reason I just really believed this guy could use a break, and I felt great that day that I was able to help him out.

That was just one day though. Who knows, the next day maybe he had to ride his bike all around town again trying to afford food/shelter. If tomorrow it's same [censored] different day, I didn't really help him, I just prolonged his situation.

Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a liftime. But what if I took a bunch of guys like that and showed them how to provide for themselves. Poker is so easy that there's still soooooo much free money at the lower levels that I think some smart homeless dudes could be tearin [censored] up. I mean, think about it. A lot of people need like $3,000/month to live. Homeless people don't need anything near that. If they could learn to make even just $1,000/month playing poker it would change their lives forever. That would be soooo easy to teach someone with half a brain how to make a grand or two a month. You could make that playing the penny stakes. It would seriously change their lives. I would get a bunch of guys seriously in bad situations, and try and change their life.

So.................

thoughts on this idea?

[LionelHutz00]

I don't see any flaws in this plan.

[nuggetz87]

are they gonna carry their laptops with wifi cards into internet cafes and play there every day?

edit: nvm just realized they can just plug desktops into sewers.

[nanamar05]

Are you homeless? I can teach you if you want, but you have to give 85% of your winnings and be my slave for next 10 years.

[Casper05]

homeless, cant get a bank account, probably alcoholics. Sounds good, just give them your Stars password. Good luck!

[townierailer]

Didn't most of ssnl tell you this was a bad idea? Sounds like a bad idea to me because there are a lot easier ways for homeless people to get out of the hole than poker. That's assuming you can train them to be winning players.

Although I have a strong suspicion that anyone can be a winning poker player, for many passionate people it takes months to do so. The key to this is passion - it's not something to be forced. Besides, I don't think that most homeless people are going to be thinking over hand ranges before they go to bed.. they're going to be worrying how to get food and shelter the next day.

And I have a feeling many of these people would have anger/tilt problems like the rest of the population.

[Jeffmet3]

if you organize it as a not for profit, and have the money to start it up, it can definitely work. The problems will arise in making sure people play the limits/games they're supposed to, and stay disciplined. If you provide a script and teaching then with some work this is doable as well.

The major stumbling block however is the murky future of online poker.

If you're serious, you should go talk to some people at homeless shelters or food kitchens near you and see about what type of grants you can apply for.

jeff

[meleader2]

reading that just gave me a beautiful business plan. get ready.

[JediMyndTrik]

Brag: Semi-honorable idea
Beat: Too bad it's already been done...
Variance: Chinese public doing this with World of Warcraft

[lostrash]

Is this guy one of your students?