I am often asked how to deal poker, take it as life or as a business. Personally, I recommend to consider poker as a career, but not much to get involved. Usually, people who refuse to just for the sake of poker, are mostly newcomers who are building castles in the air, and believe that luck is always on their side. They usually play well, they are lucky with the cards, but they face a bitter disappointment when the game suddenly will not work. Also, many are building plans based on economic considerations, for example, we know that the economic situation was more stable during economic / television and the Internet boom in 2002-2005.
In my opinion, the most important thing is – the person with whom you can work on his game, someone you respect, who will be strictly, but fairly evaluate your playing skills, with whom you can discuss your mistakes and daily achievement – one, who will not turn away from you and not judge for failure. I was fortunate early in my career to work with professional of the highest class of lowball, who moved to my hometown of Washington. We had very good relations on the type of “mentor-protege” and, by the way, we both benefited from it.
35 years later, I faced a similar situation, only now I found myself in the role of professional training a young man whose passion for poker would not let me relax. I first met Jade Leino (Jade Lane) via e-mail, he regained health after serving in Afghanistan, and also played on the Internet. After 9 months spent in a military medical center Madigan (Madigan Army Medical Center) at Fort Lewis (Wash.), Jade rented a truck and went to Las Vegas to try his hand in Limit Hold’em with limits $ 30 – $ 60.
When he arrived, he was only 21, but the experience of warfare left its mark, he looked much older than his years, Jade struck me not only as individuals but as a professional. As a result, we combined the poker, we became friends. Jade played fearlessly, and this, incidentally, an important condition for victory. As he said “they did not shoot you, right? What’s wrong can happen?”. And by the way this is a normal reaction of a man who stormed the Baghdad International Airport, participated in the rescue of Jessica Lynch (Jessica Lynch), directed covert operations in the Afghan mountains, and was wounded during the war, when Pat was killed Tillmen run over by “friendly fire”. And all this he suffered when he was not yet twenty. Conclusion – there is nothing to fear!
I am inspired Jade thought that some play skills are not enough to make poker as part of its life. Many great players earn a living by betting, because they can not manage his own life as a game. I know a lot of good poker players that have gone bankrupt, losing interest in money, or squandered entire bankroll, betting on various sports, were on the shallows, deceived by swindlers, or not paid off his debts. Getting into these situations, you risk not only losing his bankroll, but also to spend time, energy, emotional, designed for poker. Be serious bankroll, and focus on the game!
If we consider the game as a business, it contains many things that are not taught in school. The world’s best con artists, hustlers, crooks and crook rotate in gambling. Some of them turn their billions. If you want to lead a life of professional poker player, you also need to build realistic plans to life. In the poker world when things go well, money loses its value. To play poker at a professional level it is necessary to follow the bankroll. It all depends on how you live, such as those who have another source of income or sufficient funds, or at least a belief in themselves, completely different look at life, and more likely to go on risk, as opposed to those who have it all no.
Lifestyle professional poker player is more suited a bachelor, without financial obligations, as family people with children, a completely different attitude to the game.
Most professional players are successful in business, are alien to them concepts such as taxes, personal pension plan and investment. Many people, deciding to pursue a career in poker face a problem called “old age”, they lose their physical activity and lose the mental skills of the game, while not developing other skills and securing a comfortable old age. All this is quite difficult, so I advise everyone who lack certain skills, seek help from a consultant on business and tax matters who is familiar with the intricacies of taxation of gambling. I personally was lucky to have recourse to Marissa Chan (Marissa Chen), author of “Taxes to help gamblers” (author of Tax Help for Gamblers). She is a consultant on tax issues, my friend Phil Gordon (Phil Gordon), you may know, that with it he copes with financial matters.
I told Jade to increase your regular bankroll of 200 times, and do not risk more than 10% of your bankroll in each session. I also recommend the Jade for six months to take care of all maintenance costs. Such an approach allows the player to remain at the proper level, even during failures, and there is no need to recoup, and no stress. I also advised to take Jade monthly amount of your bankroll, to pay the bills and entertainment, and keep this money was supposed to separate from the bankroll. That is what prompted Jade does not waste his money, even if were lucky with the cards, and live a more or less stable in the game for long hours, reducing the risk of “burn out” and be in a stressful situation. Once the size of his bankroll grew, he turned to Marissa to lay a solid financial foundation with the future.
