How have you taken advantage of being a poker pro?

[SlowHabit]

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moved to Melbourne, have way more money / investments now and spend a lot of time on Music which is my number one passion so that's good. Also exercising physically; way happier than i was 10 months ago... I have completely isolated myself from the world however, and most my time is spent playing music, watching tv, going to gym, and trying to avoid going back to the rollercoaster of drugs cigarettes and alcohol that is so easy to fall into when u have 0 commitments to anything. I'm doing pretty well though.

ATM I want to get good enough to play jazz piano to live audiences, and play in a rock band (preferably guitar). I feel like within the next year bigger things will start happening, I am certainly trying to make them happen.

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I missed MagicNinja's story first time around. That was some crazy shiet. And congrats on a new beginning.

[bobhalford]

Funny, I'm in a similar position, though I don't make the big money playing poker. I quit my job in marketing 2.5 years ago, figuring that with poker and some money I came into, I could survive for a while while I try to get my music together.

I've been playing guitar for many years but never took it super serious. Aside from an 8 month lapse this year due to substance abuse problems, I've managed to practice 4+ hours a day and have noticed a rather dramatic improvement in my knowledge and ability. This is after playing for 18 years. Learning jazz improv is very difficult (for a rock/blues guy), but I've steadily been making improvements due to focused study of learning materials. I haven't played a jazz gig yet, but already my lifelong dream of becoming an awesome guitar player is coming true.

However, I know it is not an easy life trying to make a living as a performer. So I'm looking into graduate programs in music education to see if I could perhaps teach. At this point I'm sort of unsure of my future which is somewhat troubling. I could try to improve my poker skills in the hopes of making a decent living, but I've found that society has no respect for this "profession" and tend to lump poker players in the same category as drug dealers.

At least that's my experience. I generally keep my poker life to myself. I find it difficult to answer the question of what I do for a living.