So You Want to be a Professional Poker Player ......
9 years ago
28 Dec
A new year beckons in a few days, and with it comes hopes of starting anew. A few resolutions often come to mind to most, with exercising and getting in better shape topping the list of many.
But perhaps you have set your sights high this year and have resolved to make it as a professional poker player in 2015. Do you actually realize what it takes to play with the big boys on the live tournament circuit? Is your goal and dream to be rubbing elbows at final tables with the likes of Dan Colman, Phl Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu?
A young man of 22 had a career in poker in mind when he posed a question along those lines on Quora.com recently, as pokernewsdaily.com reported. Here's what he wanted to know:
How long would it take for someone normal to become a professional poker player?
What first comes to mind upon reading the question is the issue of exactly what "normal" is and if a person placed in such a category would choose a career in poker in the first place.
Of course, a jet-setting, high roller lifestyle certainly has its appeal. Traveling the world playing poker, staying in luxurious hotels, hitting the clubs, partying and getting laid when not landing at final tables. Sounds like an awesome way to live!
But what exactly would it take to reach that utopian universe that the best players in the world have achieved? The young man seeking an answer to his question got it from three-time WSOP gold bracelet winner Dutch Boyd.
Boyd has been cashing at live poker tournaments since 2002, racking up lifetime earnings just short of $2.5 million, according to the Hendon Mob DB. In 2014, he finished in the money six times at the WSOP, including a championship in $1,000 No Limit Hold'em that was good for $288,744.
Boyd's best cash was his first WSOP victory in 2006 in $2,500 Short Handed NLHE when he beat a field of 824 for a payday of $475,712. His career includes 30 cashes in WSOP events and a bunch more away from the WSOP tables, highlighted by back-to-back victories at the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic in 2007-08 that collectively added $400,000 to his bankroll.
So this is the right guy to ask and he will certainly tell the young poker star wannabe that a life in poker is the best job imaginable, right? Well, here is what Boyd had to say:
I'm going to give you a good straight up answer, buddy," Boyd wrote. "If you spend a few hours actively working on your game... not just playing, but reading forums and books, watching videos on training sites, watching replays of final tables online and off, etc... you can get to a pro level in about six months."
Six months? Not bad. The young poker player seeking a career in the game was likely preparing to click his way over to online poker training sites to quickly get started. Visions of reaching that pro level in time for the 2015 WSOP in Las Vegas next summer were perhaps dancing in his head. A WSOP gold bracelet a mere half-year away!
Not so fast, youngster!Boyd had more to say.
That's assuming you have what it takes to beat the game in the first place, because quite simply there are plenty of people out there who just don't," stated the knowledgeable pro. "Not anybody can make it in poker. I've known a lot of people in my life that could spend 10 years studying and reading and still would just lose. With the rake, it's a hugely negative sum game. The vast majority of players lose, and the vast majority of 'pro' players are actually just passing through. It's become a misnomer... a way of saying 'unemployed and not looking.'"
Whoa. What started out as promising advice and the birth of a new career in poker has suddenly turned into a buzzkill. Any more nuggets of wisdom that a poker pro of over a decade can pass on to the inquisitive 22-year-old and others who may be seeking to hit the big time in the world of poker?
My best advice is to examine WHY you want to be a professional poker player," Boyd added. "I would suggest that there are very few reasons that should lead someone to seriously take it up as a career. It's stressful, low reward, unproductive, unstable. If you are looking for freedom, there are better ways to get it. If you are looking for fame, there are better ways to earn it. If you are looking for money, there are easier ways to achieve it. If you want to play for the love of the game... well... I guarantee you after ten years of playing for a living, that love will be gone."
Hmmm. Sounds like Boyd has been hanging around with Dan Colman, who won more than $22 million in 2014, yet had some disparaging remarks about the game of poker. Is the life of a professional poker player really not all that it's cracked up to be? It can't be all that bad, right Dutch?
The only reason I think is truly valid to base a poker-as-career choice on is this: 'I'm really, really good at poker.' And if that were the case, you wouldn't be here asking your question," was Boyd's parting shot.
So there you have it. While the life of a poker pro certainly looks exciting and glamorous for those on the outside looking in, pros such as Boyd who have found success don't give it a ringing endorsement for the poker star wannabes who aim to make it a career.
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