Being A Good Poker Player Is The Easy Part About Playing For A Living

Yo_Respek · #1 03-10-2007, 10:50 PM

There's a lot of pain in the poker world. I'm writing this thread to get a feel for how much pain is really out there. I know a lot of people don't even want to talk about their problems in poker. If you can put that aside and be honest it might help other people.

The first major problem I see is that if you have a setback financially that hardly anyone is willing to help you. A great example of this would be how quick someone would get their chat banned if they were looking for backers in this forum. I find this position by the forum ironic since most of the people on this forum are supposed to be poker players. We are supposed to be on the same team. We write posts to help each other learn how to play yet the moment someone says they need help we squash their voice.

Poker players have no mentorship program. And if they do it's rarely of a financial nature.

Another great example of this pain in poker is the amount of railbirding you see at poker tournaments and cash games online. Maybe some of these people are bad poker players but I bet quite a number of the "beggars" and "degenerates" are winning poker players at some level.

It would benifit poker players as professionals to have some type of professional organization that could help provide capital. We can all do our part.

If you are doing well it wouldn't be a bad thing to set aside a percentage of your winnings for poker mentorship. Even if this amount is 1 percent it could make a world of difference to someone.

Game recognizes game. If you are good you should be able to see potential in a player who needs help by seeing them play a few hundred hands. Putting someone in a game could be the best gamble you ever take because 3 years down the road they could win a WPT event and give you 100k. Helping people who have talent is a great investment.

I just want to spread this message and I hope you remember it next time when your bankroll is feeling fat from your next win.

Also if people could relate their personal struggles in poker(not a bad beat thread please) I think it would be good therapy for everyone.

mbillie1 · #2 03-10-2007, 10:58 PM

That's a pretty good idea but it would get taken advantage of to a serious degree. Railbirding is constantly a problem for the higher stakes players, "can i have $x" etc. The worst personal struggle related to poker I've had has been a bad downswing forcing me to sell some stuff to pay my rent (ugly/dumb on my part). When I play well I win 8-10bb/hr (100 and 200 NL) and when I play poorly I can go busto in an hour no matter how much I have. I've gone bust a few times, it definitely sucks and I would certainly have appreciated help, but the problem is that you'll never be able to know who's really hurting and who's just trying to make an easy buck, you know? I just stopped playing under-rolled, got a BR together and have been doing better since then, playing my way out of debt (that pre-existed my poker playing, damn credit card companies) and doing pretty good at it.

blutarski · #3 03-10-2007, 11:08 PM

It may not be an official mentorship program, but isn't there a history of older players taking younger/less experienced, but promising talent under their wings?

Also, would it be low interest loans? Who'd qualify? Wouldn't this be a big disincentive for people to manage their 'rolls correctly?

prodonkey · #4 03-10-2007, 11:09 PM

$8/hr at $100 wow look out.

OP is this a disguised begging post?

"We are supposed to be on the same team." Uhm I'm the only one on my team.

Beggars and degenerates are not +ev to help.. otherwise they would have their own money. If they were winning players where did their money go?

Yo_Respek · #5 03-10-2007, 11:14 PM

[ QUOTE ]
That's a pretty good idea but it would get taken advantage of to a serious degree. Railbirding is constantly a problem for the higher stakes players, "can i have $x" etc. The worst personal struggle related to poker I've had has been a bad downswing forcing me to sell some stuff to pay my rent (ugly/dumb on my part). When I play well I win 8-10bb/hr (100 and 200 NL) and when I play poorly I can go busto in an hour no matter how much I have. I've gone bust a few times, it definitely sucks and I would certainly have appreciated help, but the problem is that you'll never be able to know who's really hurting and who's just trying to make an easy buck, you know? I just stopped playing under-rolled, got a BR together and have been doing better since then, playing my way out of debt (that pre-existed my poker playing, damn credit card companies) and doing pretty good at it.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's awesome man. Yeah I totally agree that some people might take advantage of help. I think that percentage is a lot smaller then people think it is. When someone gets burned in the high stakes poker world you end up reading a huge thread on here about it. You never hear about the hundreds of loans that are made and repaid. Similar to plane crashes.

Even emotional support can have a big influence. How many parents actually would encourage their adult kids to become a professional poker player or if they did support it financially. Yet the same parents would probably pay for their children to become artists or atheletes. This stigma carries over even amounst other players in poker where every player thinks they are the exception to the rule.

mediumpimpin · #6 03-10-2007, 11:15 PM

[ QUOTE ]

"We are supposed to be on the same team." Uhm I'm the only one on my team.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT.

futuredoc85 · #7 03-10-2007, 11:15 PM

hmm interesting post, i can share my experience. Last november i was playing $27 sngs w/ a $2kish BR after grinding up from the $3.40s (puke). so in december i go to vegas for an STTF event and meet a lot of 2p2ers out there. i have a good time, but when i get back i find out my 1 yr old black lab got hit by a car and needs about $2500 worth of care, so i immediately busto my stars account to pay for it ( i had like $20 left in there or something to [censored] around with.) well shortly after this pasterbator, and MSNL player and former sng player who i met in vegas, decides to take on a couple students from STTF to teach them cash. it was set up as a contest but he approached me on AIM and once he heard my situation he insta-picked me and bankrolled me for 100NL+ coached me, with me owing him a % of my profits over 35k hands. so basically i got coaching from a great player +staking for a % of profits i wouldnt have even made if not for the deal.. that was in january, and so far march looks like this:

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] pasterbator. so ya, if you can afford it and know someone with potential who needs it, helping someone out can change their life (at least financially) in a drastic way. now i have 1.5 years till i start med school and i get to use it to get robusto and will most likely end up paying cash for med school [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] .

edit: i dont think that people should be allowed to beg/ask for stakes on 2p2 however, and never would have done that. i think things like pasterbator did are great though.

Yo_Respek · #8 03-10-2007, 11:17 PM

[ QUOTE ]
$8/hr at $100 wow look out.

OP is this a disguised begging post?

"We are supposed to be on the same team." Uhm I'm the only one on my team.

Beggars and degenerates are not +ev to help.. otherwise they would have their own money. If they were winning players where did their money go?

[/ QUOTE ]

You summed it up perfectly. "I'm the only one on my team" All this post is intended to do is say that karma is a bitch. Being completely self absorbed and selfish is a natural trait of poker but it doesn't have to be a trait outside of poker.

mbillie1 · #9 03-10-2007, 11:34 PM

[ QUOTE ]
$8/hr at $100 wow look out.

[/ QUOTE ]

well I'm multitabling obv... but either way that wasn't supposed to be a brag, OP asked for stories so I posted one

furyshade · #10 03-10-2007, 11:39 PM

i think you vastly overestimate beggars, a lot more people than you think aren't winning players. there are a lot of people, some i have talked to personally, who will always be losing or marginally winning players. from what i have seen some people just can't grasp some key concepts no matter how long they play. though this isnt always true, im glad gobboboy decided to help me learn to play poker and set me on to where i am now, but that happened because i knew him prior to poker

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