How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?

[TheWorstPlayer]

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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

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I'm in the exact same boat (let's get together!) in terms of age, stage of life, and when i started playing poker. I've never put in that many hours, or moved up that much in stakes, so I'm still basically a very part-time mid-stakes grinder. But poker has allowed me to pay for a beautiful wedding, buy a gorgeous engagement ring, go on an incredible honeymoon, buy a near-perfect condo, and go on fun vacations every year with my wife. So it hasn't really let me do anything that I wouldn't have done anyways, probably, but it has allowed me to do all of the things that I wanted to do a lot nice and better.

[AJackson]

Didn't read this thread first time around. Inspirational stuff.

I'm older than most (37) and already had a career going as a custom home builder when I started getting serious about poker. Poker has always been a very nice addition to my income, enough to live on if I had to, but not enough to pull me away from my company.

This year my poker income has become several times my regular income which has me considering a similar lifestyle of some of the posters in this thread. I'm not married, no kids and really not very materialistic, so I don't have a ton of stuff tying me down.

Even though I'm a bankroll (and lifestyle) nit, I find it a scary thought living only on poker. On the other hand, I've spent my entire adult life workign my ass off, why not see the world for a couple of years? What's the worst that could happen?

Hopefully I'll find the balls in the next year to make the jump.

[TheWorstPlayer]

Sounds like you could always fall back on your career. Why don't you take time off to travel and do whatever you want and then play poker as much or as little as you want. Play more if you want more money, play less if you want less stress and more free time.

[JSchnett]

Made enough money to pay for college while still in HS.
Never had a real job.
Traveled to New York, San Diego and Vegas.
Never worry about money and started investing for the future.