Poker is like driving — everyone who participates is convinced they’re more talented than most.

Pro poker players who really are better than most anyone else make their living on taking winnings from people who think they’re better than they are. But their lives aren’t quite as glamorous as you’d imagine, according to a post by an anonymous pro poker player on Budgets Are Sexy.

Even the best will sometimes walk away from a day’s work empty-handed:

In the long-run when you play well and put in your hours, you will make more money. The actual income that comes out of poker comes in violent swings, though. There are many different systems you can play to try to maximize your return. Note: it is important to devise a system, you cannot play professionally and wander from game to game at various limits-IT DOESN’T WORK. I try to play a system that minimizes swings, but I will get into my own play in my next post (J: this will feature a “day in the life of” a poker player – stay tuned!).

The most miserable feeling in the world is to put in an 8 to 10 hour day working as hard as you possibly can, and then have a week’s worth of salary taken away from you.

The pro goes on to offer technical advice for would-be pros, including the gem that grinding out a living at a poker table can be no more exciting than any other 9-to-5 job. If only this guy had been there for Matt Damon when he went and gambled all his law school money away to John Malkovich in Rounders.

Confessions of an online poker player [Budgets Are Sexy]
(Photo: Mike Rollerson)

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