I will preface this blog by saying that most of the content, while rewritten in my words, is credited to Eric “The Hip Hop Preacher” Thomas. You should check out his website at www.etthehiphoppreacher.com or check out his Youtube channel for many of his motivational speeches at http://www.youtube.com/user/etthehiphoppreacher where every Monday he posts a new episode of his show TGIM, Thank God its Monday. A show to motivate you to work harder each week and achieve your goals.
I discovered some of the work of Eric “The Hip Hop Preacher” Thomas a couple weeks ago through his video, “How Bad Do You Want It” of Giovanni Ruffin (former RB for East Carolina, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsSC2vx7zFQ ). I have spent much of the last 72 hours engulfed by his messages. These messages have sent me in to his so called “Dream World”, thinking about what I really want. What goals do I want? Where do I want to be in one year? Five years? Ten years? While thinking about what I wanted to achieve in the near future, I also began to think about what I had in the past. Two years ago in 2009 I shot into the poker world. I won a Spring Championship of Online poker event for $470,000. I had a $30,000 bankroll at the time and had 100% of my action in the event (satellited in). In both, 2009 and 2010, I had deep runs in the World Series of Poker Main event with 80th and 15th finishes respectively. I had become one of the new rising stars of poker. I was featured in World Poker Tour's new segment “The Ones to Watch.” I had made it in the poker world and and had taken it for granted.
Flash forward 12 months to the beginning of 2012 and the poker world has come crashing down on me. I took everything for granted in 2009 and 2010. I thought that this game was easy and every year I was going to have a half million dollar tournament score. I thought that success was going to come to me without going through pain. I stopped working on my game because I was overridden with confidence that I could achieve my goals and aspirations without putting in the hard work. This was the mindset that led me to my first losing year of poker, since I quit my job at the grocery store back in the summer of 2006 . In 2011, I wanted success, I wanted to win Cardplayer POY, I wanted to have a million dollar year, but I didn't want to endure the pain that comes with success. I wanted everything in the world, but I didn't want to put in the work to reach that success. I am talking about the work outside of the tables. Studying hand histories, talking with other top pros, watching videos. There is so much content and information easily available about advanced poker theory, that anyone with the will to succeed can get it. There is no information that is available to the likes of Jason Mercier, Eugene Katchalov, Eric Seidel that isn’t available to anyone else, as long as you put the work in to get that information, and the work to process that information. Thats the glory of the situation that we are all in right now. Everything is there for the taking.
Accepting the challenge is what it is all about. “You have to live the best of your life for the rest of your life! Forget about your past because the only one tripping over it is you.” - Eric Thomas. Learn from your mistakes, but don’t let them drive you down. All that matters is today, tomorrow and the next day after that. Accept the challenge that there will be pain in reaching success. I went through pain this past year losing much of my bankroll. It took that pain to reilize that I actually wanted to succeed. And you know what? I expect more pain in the future before I can reilize success. People come up to me sometimes and say, “ You deserved to win the main event last year,” or , “ I felt your pain during the main event, you'll win it next year.” The 2010 main event is in the past. The only thing I have taken from that event, is the pain. Not the pain that I feel sorry for my self because of what happened. But, the pain is with me because that pain is what is going to drive me to success in the future. I was given a taste of success, but I want the whole thing now. I am going to turn that pain into success because the only way to achieve success is by going through the pain.
There is a massive opportunity coming up in the poker world in the next few years. There is the potential 2nd coming of the “Poker Boom”. People always say, myself included, “Man I wish I was where I am now in poker, back in 2004 when Party Poker was around.” They wish they were as well prepared as they are now for that opportunity that has come and gone. We very well may have that 2nd chance that people always ask for. Will you be prepared for the opportunity, if and when it comes? There will be sponsorship opportunities, fame opportunities, one of us could very well be the new Moneymaker. The question is, will you be prepared when your opportunity come ; because you don't know when you will get it? It might be in the LAPC 2012, WSOP 2012, WSOPE 2012, when you are given an opportunity in a tournament, in life, in school, will you be prepared enough that you are not practicing while you are playing? I once heard a quote, but do not know who it is by, “Luck Is where opportunity and preparation meet.” You can control the preparation and you can generate your own “Luck” by being prepared to the best of your ability when opportunity arrives. All I know is, next time I am deep in a major tournament, the next time I am given that great opportunity, I will be so well prepared, because I have put in more work off the tables.
Part one though is only accepting the challenge. You need to embrace the challenge. Turn your weaknesses into strengths. “Step out of your comfort zone and put yourself in a position where you feel stupid”. You can't be afraid to struggle in life. Wither it is in poker, school, or any situation, the only way you can enhance your self as a person is by first struggling. I relate to this with some of the mixed games right now in poker. This past fall I sat at a 20/40 stud hi table at Commerce. My first time ever sitting at a live stud hi table. I struggled, but learned so much in those 2 hours of playing through my struggles. I have never paid attention so much at a table because I knew I was weak at that game. I was trying to do whatever I could to improve. Take that mindset into everything you do in your life. “If your struggling, don’t quit, remember it is the pain that will lead to the success. You can't walk around pain, the only way to success is THROUGH pain.”
Finally, the third point is to “Become Excellent.” Someone else out there wants your spot in the spotlight. “Your not the only kid who wants to play in the NBA,NFL, attend Yale, attend Harvard. It takes that extra 1 pushup, that extra mile, that extra hour of studying.” If you really want success, are you going to let anyone else work harder than you to get it? Take for example, say there are going to be a lot of open sponsorship opportunities in the next 2-3 with new online poker sites. Are you going to let other people work harder than you to get those opportunities? There is a reason Jason Mercier is on top of the poker world right now. There's a reason he is living the life that every poker player wants to live. HE WORKS HARDER than anyone else out there. He put in more hours, more pain then anyone else. Im friends with Jason, but not super close, but every time we were at the same tournament stop in the last 2-3 years, he put in more hours at the table then anyone else. He was putting in 24 hour sessions in the mixed games at Commerce to work on his game, to make his money. Very few people are putting forth that pain, that time, in order to reach success. Over the next couple of years ill be fighting with people like Jason, Moorman, Eugene Katchalov to win poker tournaments all over the world. I have to ask my self. “Am I going to let them work harder than me?” Because as much as you, or I want to think it, It's not going to be who runs the best, it's going to be who is the most prepared when opportunities arise. Who is going to make the least mistakes with 10 left in the LAPC 2014 with a 1.5 million first prize? If your prepare your self to become excellent you will put yourself in that opportunity enough times that you WILL succeed. But remember, there will be pain along the way, but don’t let hat DIScourage, but only Encourage you to work harder for the next opportunity
These have been some of the thoughts that I have been thinking over in the last 72 hours after listening to Eric Thomas. He doesn't mention the word poker once during any of his speeches, but thats not the point. You can succeed at anything with the right mindset and attitude. The problem is, “Most of you kind of want to be successful, but if you REALLY want to be successful you need to be willing to put more time in then the person next to you.”
As 2012 moves along I will see how bad I really want to be successful. I will see how much I really want to turn the pain of last year into success in 2012. Next Monday, I leave for my first traveling poker trip of 2012. I will be at the LAPC from Feb13 – Mar1 then Bay 101 from Mar1 – Mar9. I have never been more excited to succeed on a trip then for this one. I am working hard on my game trying to prepare my self incase my opportunity comes at LAPC or Bay 101. Maybe it will, maybe it wont, but I want to give my self the best chance to succeed if that opportunity comes. If not, there will be the next poker trip (WPT Florida?). You can't control the cards, but you can control how prepared you are if the cards give you the opportunity to succeed at any given tournament. The ones who take the most advantages of those “opportunities” are the people who will succeed the most in 2012.
Matt “Mcmatto” Affleck
Any views or opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the ownership or management of CardPlayer.com.
You do realize you're talking about poker right? If you haven't noticed by now how many players can play just as well as you then you're deluding yourself.You had your run of luck and now it's someone else s turn.
While there will be a new boom in online poker when they finally get it worked out.. no one knows when that will be. It could be as soon as 2 years or as much as 6-8 years away. There are some elections that will have an impact on this moving forward and also the unknown level of backlash from anti-gaming groups may have some impact. It's not really something you can plan on cashing in on because nobody knows what the structure will be. Will there be rake back? Will one site be dominate negating their interest in paying "pros" to push them? Full Tilt and UB were pushed hard by these "pros" and that has back fired on the industry and poker itself. Poker Stars (also pushed by "pros") handled their players properly but they still wont be allowed back into US market because they didnt shutdown when they were suppose to. I wish you good fortune going forward but ignore US internet poker as some kind of cash infusion. It's a long way away and it could look at lot different from the internet poker of old (no rake back, no tracking software and actual penalties for multi-accounting)
Matt:
Cudos. Your entitlement did show through on television, so I am quarduple impressed with what you wrote above.
WOW! I lucked onto this, I'm so impressed with your commitment and newfound wisdom, good for you. Inspiring! Go, Sonics!
I am playing SMALL, hit 2 final tables in my last 2 live tourneys, cashed in one, bubbled other, after each I went over the key hands with 2 different players and I can FEEL those miscues / mistakes, and am committed to improving!
I am getting ready to go play in a tourney in 2 hours, studying a bit first, inspired by what you wrote,
KG
This is poker a game of chance in which you are dealt 2 random cards[luck] and then 5 more random cards [more luck] are placed in center of table to be used by everyone. There is some skill involved in figuring the odds of making certain hands when in different situations with different dealt hands but it is all luck when it comes to the cards you are dealt and the cards that are placed in center of table. All the studying and hard work in the world will not make you a winner if the cards fall badly for you. The biggest skill needed in poker is to be willing to go broke and have nothing in life[that's a winning poker player].
I love when I see posts like this from (obviously) a losing player. I hear it at the tables, also. "Luck, luck.. it's all luck!" My response to them is, "... then why do you play?" I guess its the 2 percenters, like myself, that just know better. I just won two tournaments in the past two days, and ironically, I had no luck, bad luck, HORRIFIC luck!! But, I still won. How is that possible? Hmmm...
Great post. Because of the luck factor in poker its so easy to ignore how hard you need to work to succeed. It's amazing how many people act like Jason Mercier just runs really well, its nice to see someone who knows attribute his success to hard work like it deserves.
The most over used and boring word in poker HATE. If you say some thing that someone else does not agree with then you are a hater. If you say so. The reality is that no matter how hard you work at getting better at poker almost no one but the house{rake] is a long term winner. A smart poker player who is trying to better himself would be the guy who wins the 1st 10k tourney he ever enters and wins 2 million $'s. Then never plays again. Hows that for hate.
Poker is all luck, or mostly luck? This is CardPlayer.com and registered users have this sentiment? I expect this kind of thinking from the general public, but on a poker website? C'mon... Yes there is variance involved in the short term, or sometimes maybe even medium term, but in the long run poker is a game of skill. That is why thousands upon thousands of people play the game professionally and earn their income from it each year. And countless more good recreational players make at least some profit consistently. Poker far too often gets lumped in with dumb luck gambling as if it were a scratch ticket, at the very least keep this kind of dribble off of websites for poker fans. (And if the users posting "poker is luck" are just trolling and trying to get a rise out of other users-- get a life)
The point is that the skill factor is reached very quickly and then everyone plays more or less the same. The underlying concepts in poker are not complex enough. Even in a game like chess where skill and knowledge prevail 70-80% of the games end in a draw at the top level. So even in a game like that there is almost nothing that separates the top players from each other. Now someone is going to tell me that they can keep getting better at a silly game like poker---- I say get real.
^ To each their own opinion but I completely disagree. Poker, particularly no limit holdem, can be a very simple game if one so chooses (or is limited by their skill set and experience). However, high level poker contains layer upon layer of strategy, logic, foresight, math, and much more. I surely don't claim to be at an elite level. But I think I know enough to know how much I don't know, which I think is a pretty big step in improving as a player. If you think you have poker anywhere close to solved, you don't know poker at all. The thought processes of top pros playing poker analyze the game so much more thoroughly than most people would imagine. One thing I do agree on is yes, at the very top echelon of pros, the top 1%, there is not a huge disparity in skills. But for the vast majority of players there is always massive room for improvement. I don't know how poker ranks amongst the most complex of skill games, but to me your opening statements about reaching the skill factor etc are pretty absurd. No offense, everyone probably has some off-track opinions of one kind or another, but I think this is a case of "ya don't know what ya don't know".
two cards dealt to you, five community cards and four betting rounds and out of that you get "layer upon layer of strategy, logic, foresight, math, and much more". You gotta be kidding. Clunker knows the truth. If you want to buy into the skill hype go ahead. All that does is confirm what P.T. Barnum so famously said.
If there is so much skill in poker why has poker not produced a Griffey, Brady, Manning, Clemens or Tiger Woods. A player who dominates for 5,10 15 years. Common sense would lead me to beleive that if skill was a big factor in poker that there would be at least one dominate player who would stand head and shoulders above all other players not for 6 monthes but for 6 years 10 years 20 years. What you get in poker is short term run good player Grospelier,Mercier or who ever gets hot next. But because of the huge luck factor in the way the cards fall this will never happen. What you will get is a player who runs well for short periods of time a few times over a long career. A top player who wins a big tourney every few years because he enters 100's if not 1000's of them. It looks great to have 10 million in winnings over a 15 year career but that 10 mil isn't minus the 11 million it cost to win in expenses. As far as the top 1% why do they need backers and corrupt poker sits to fund their play if they are doing so well.
Erik Seidel has been pretty dominate over a long period of time. Last year was sick for him by any ones standards. So if you are looking for the Griffey of poker I submit Seidel.
Seidel had a great few monthes last year basically beating small field high buy in sit n gos. In the 9 fields he made money in the total player count was just over 500 I believe. Nice short term run by a good player sgainst small fields but Griffey like 20 yr career I think not. He has had a long career and a good career but dominate year in and year out, no.
Clunker, many business ventures need financial support. I agree that playing poker for a living is delusional at best but that's what makes life fun and exciting. Having a dream, a plan and then executing that vision to the best of ones ability. Race car drivers, PGA touring pros, Bowling pros, Pool players, Track stars all have backers, so that the talent can focus on the sport or game that they play. I see backing in poker as the most important part of its success. There is no way that the WPT,WSOP our any other tour could survive without sponsorships or backers. The problem in poker is that many backers do not handle it like a business deal and many players are either to young to understand what they signed up for or just not working hard enough on turning a profit as to living the casino life. Matt is 100% coming to terms with the fact that playing poker on the felt is only a piece of the the puzzle. You must not only win but you must become a viable commodity that people would like to invest in. Who the hell wants to invest or sponsor some punk,drug taking casino rat that only cares about themselves, not anyone that has half a brain that's for sure. Would people have invested in a young STEVE JOBS if he was seen playing black jack instead of working on his business. Some of the most talented kids are completely clueless in business and how to project their image off the felt.Have you not learned one thing from a guy like PHIL HELLMUTH? He plays the part on the felt but couldnt be nicer when approached in public. He cant hide hes 6'8". Do you ever hear PHIL IVEY say "IM THE GREATEST EVER" or BRUNSON or GREENSTEIN or TOM DWAN . Matt is realizing that maybe he let hes one chance get away and wont allow himself to srew up next time. Take a guy like Dennis Phillips, here is a guy that did not even win and has created a nice life in the world of poker. WHY? because he has had plenty of pain leading up to his moment in the sun. How about Money Maker ,he has had his balls broken for the last 8 years yet he continues to be a complete gentlemen with many business opportunities. Are either one of these guys he half the player of some of these young kids ? NO WAY, but these kids can't hold his jock strap when it comes to real life and dealing with people. Lets face it only a very small % can truly make a career on the felt but there is no reason to crush a dream, Just be honest with yourself and out work the field. you might have a better chance.
It is possible to be a winning successful poker player. However, I don't believe that most players could make a living at it long term. I've seen first hand how much a poker player can dominate the tables for years. Most professional poker players grind their living on the live tables and will not have their winnings known by the public. A handful of these players win very consistantly and could make a very nice living. But there is a downside. Living your life in poker rooms has all kinds of temptations not related to poker. All of these temptations will kill your game. The Craps table & other casino games are the downfall of many successful poker players. Alcohol, Drugs and Woman of low moral character (and men) are always readily available in just about every larger poker room. This is what kills most of the would be successful poker players. "living the poker lifestyle" includes some or all of these vices. Most Winning poker players lose focus and spend their winnings (ususally more) and time on these vices. Even online players eventually get to the casinos and lose focus on why they are there. Overcoming these temptations is what makes a successful poker player a winning poker player. There just aren't many of them out there.
Very few players can or do make a living playing poker over the long haul. The reason is the house rake. Give 9 players 200k each. They play at the same table 8 hrs. a day 5 days a week. They play 30 hands and hr.which works out to 60k per yr. The house rake is 5$ per hand or 300k per yr. It will take the house only 6 yrs to take all the money in the game. And this does not count food,fuel, drinks and other costs. And 6 yrs would not even be considered long term. Pretty big hill to over come no matter how skillful you are.
The house rake is already understood to a player attempting to play for a living. If not for staking you would have empty tables in the higher buy in tournaments. 75% of the players are dead broke. You do have wealthy people playing on the tours but most of the players are staked. Online poker with its reward system did make the dream of playing for a good living reality to many players. You could play breakeven poker on Poker Stars and earn about $125,000 per year at Super Nova elite. So lets say you lost $75,000 but maintain your volume ,a player would still earn $50k. Lets say you ran at a 2% ROI this year. You would earn around $185,000. I don't know that if the Casino online Poker Rooms will be able to offer such a reward system as STARS did.
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Comments
mikeyb111
9 years ago
You do realize you're talking about poker right? If you haven't noticed by now how many players can play just as well as you then you're deluding yourself.You had your run of luck and now it's someone else s turn.
bparmalee
9 years ago
While there will be a new boom in online poker when they finally get it worked out.. no one knows when that will be. It could be as soon as 2 years or as much as 6-8 years away. There are some elections that will have an impact on this moving forward and also the unknown level of backlash from anti-gaming groups may have some impact. It's not really something you can plan on cashing in on because nobody knows what the structure will be. Will there be rake back? Will one site be dominate negating their interest in paying "pros" to push them? Full Tilt and UB were pushed hard by these "pros" and that has back fired on the industry and poker itself. Poker Stars (also pushed by "pros") handled their players properly but they still wont be allowed back into US market because they didnt shutdown when they were suppose to. I wish you good fortune going forward but ignore US internet poker as some kind of cash infusion. It's a long way away and it could look at lot different from the internet poker of old (no rake back, no tracking software and actual penalties for multi-accounting)
Freckles99201
9 years ago
Matt:
Cudos. Your entitlement did show through on television, so I am quarduple impressed with what you wrote above.
WOW! I lucked onto this, I'm so impressed with your commitment and newfound wisdom, good for you. Inspiring! Go, Sonics!
I am playing SMALL, hit 2 final tables in my last 2 live tourneys, cashed in one, bubbled other, after each I went over the key hands with 2 different players and I can FEEL those miscues / mistakes, and am committed to improving!
I am getting ready to go play in a tourney in 2 hours, studying a bit first, inspired by what you wrote,
KG
clunker
9 years ago
This is poker a game of chance in which you are dealt 2 random cards[luck] and then 5 more random cards [more luck] are placed in center of table to be used by everyone. There is some skill involved in figuring the odds of making certain hands when in different situations with different dealt hands but it is all luck when it comes to the cards you are dealt and the cards that are placed in center of table. All the studying and hard work in the world will not make you a winner if the cards fall badly for you. The biggest skill needed in poker is to be willing to go broke and have nothing in life[that's a winning poker player].
WPS22
9 years ago
So everyone can use those 5 cards in the middle? I thought they were just for me. That explains a lot.
BryceFox
9 years ago
I love when I see posts like this from (obviously) a losing player. I hear it at the tables, also. "Luck, luck.. it's all luck!" My response to them is, "... then why do you play?" I guess its the 2 percenters, like myself, that just know better. I just won two tournaments in the past two days, and ironically, I had no luck, bad luck, HORRIFIC luck!! But, I still won. How is that possible? Hmmm...
barts185
9 years ago
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas A. Edison.
Hectic_619
9 years ago
People continue to hate on others who try to better themselves. I guarantee this will continue to happen long after we are all gone.
WPS22
9 years ago
Great post. Because of the luck factor in poker its so easy to ignore how hard you need to work to succeed. It's amazing how many people act like Jason Mercier just runs really well, its nice to see someone who knows attribute his success to hard work like it deserves.
clunker
9 years ago
The most over used and boring word in poker HATE. If you say some thing that someone else does not agree with then you are a hater. If you say so. The reality is that no matter how hard you work at getting better at poker almost no one but the house{rake] is a long term winner. A smart poker player who is trying to better himself would be the guy who wins the 1st 10k tourney he ever enters and wins 2 million $'s. Then never plays again. Hows that for hate.
Randy85
9 years ago
Poker is all luck, or mostly luck? This is CardPlayer.com and registered users have this sentiment? I expect this kind of thinking from the general public, but on a poker website? C'mon... Yes there is variance involved in the short term, or sometimes maybe even medium term, but in the long run poker is a game of skill. That is why thousands upon thousands of people play the game professionally and earn their income from it each year. And countless more good recreational players make at least some profit consistently. Poker far too often gets lumped in with dumb luck gambling as if it were a scratch ticket, at the very least keep this kind of dribble off of websites for poker fans. (And if the users posting "poker is luck" are just trolling and trying to get a rise out of other users-- get a life)
WPS22
9 years ago
Your last sentence is dead on. They are just trolls
mikeyb111
9 years ago
The point is that the skill factor is reached very quickly and then everyone plays more or less the same. The underlying concepts in poker are not complex enough. Even in a game like chess where skill and knowledge prevail 70-80% of the games end in a draw at the top level. So even in a game like that there is almost nothing that separates the top players from each other. Now someone is going to tell me that they can keep getting better at a silly game like poker---- I say get real.
WPS22
9 years ago
So are you saying there is no one on the planet who is at a higher skill level than you?
Randy85
9 years ago
^ To each their own opinion but I completely disagree. Poker, particularly no limit holdem, can be a very simple game if one so chooses (or is limited by their skill set and experience). However, high level poker contains layer upon layer of strategy, logic, foresight, math, and much more. I surely don't claim to be at an elite level. But I think I know enough to know how much I don't know, which I think is a pretty big step in improving as a player. If you think you have poker anywhere close to solved, you don't know poker at all. The thought processes of top pros playing poker analyze the game so much more thoroughly than most people would imagine. One thing I do agree on is yes, at the very top echelon of pros, the top 1%, there is not a huge disparity in skills. But for the vast majority of players there is always massive room for improvement. I don't know how poker ranks amongst the most complex of skill games, but to me your opening statements about reaching the skill factor etc are pretty absurd. No offense, everyone probably has some off-track opinions of one kind or another, but I think this is a case of "ya don't know what ya don't know".
mikeyb111
9 years ago
two cards dealt to you, five community cards and four betting rounds and out of that you get "layer upon layer of strategy, logic, foresight, math, and much more". You gotta be kidding. Clunker knows the truth. If you want to buy into the skill hype go ahead. All that does is confirm what P.T. Barnum so famously said.
clunker
9 years ago
If there is so much skill in poker why has poker not produced a Griffey, Brady, Manning, Clemens or Tiger Woods. A player who dominates for 5,10 15 years. Common sense would lead me to beleive that if skill was a big factor in poker that there would be at least one dominate player who would stand head and shoulders above all other players not for 6 monthes but for 6 years 10 years 20 years. What you get in poker is short term run good player Grospelier,Mercier or who ever gets hot next. But because of the huge luck factor in the way the cards fall this will never happen. What you will get is a player who runs well for short periods of time a few times over a long career. A top player who wins a big tourney every few years because he enters 100's if not 1000's of them. It looks great to have 10 million in winnings over a 15 year career but that 10 mil isn't minus the 11 million it cost to win in expenses. As far as the top 1% why do they need backers and corrupt poker sits to fund their play if they are doing so well.
Randy85
9 years ago
Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one guys.
bparmalee
9 years ago
Erik Seidel has been pretty dominate over a long period of time. Last year was sick for him by any ones standards. So if you are looking for the Griffey of poker I submit Seidel.
clunker
9 years ago
Seidel had a great few monthes last year basically beating small field high buy in sit n gos. In the 9 fields he made money in the total player count was just over 500 I believe. Nice short term run by a good player sgainst small fields but Griffey like 20 yr career I think not. He has had a long career and a good career but dominate year in and year out, no.
THEJOEF
9 years ago
Clunker, many business ventures need financial support. I agree that playing poker for a living is delusional at best but that's what makes life fun and exciting. Having a dream, a plan and then executing that vision to the best of ones ability. Race car drivers, PGA touring pros, Bowling pros, Pool players, Track stars all have backers, so that the talent can focus on the sport or game that they play. I see backing in poker as the most important part of its success. There is no way that the WPT,WSOP our any other tour could survive without sponsorships or backers. The problem in poker is that many backers do not handle it like a business deal and many players are either to young to understand what they signed up for or just not working hard enough on turning a profit as to living the casino life. Matt is 100% coming to terms with the fact that playing poker on the felt is only a piece of the the puzzle. You must not only win but you must become a viable commodity that people would like to invest in. Who the hell wants to invest or sponsor some punk,drug taking casino rat that only cares about themselves, not anyone that has half a brain that's for sure. Would people have invested in a young STEVE JOBS if he was seen playing black jack instead of working on his business. Some of the most talented kids are completely clueless in business and how to project their image off the felt.Have you not learned one thing from a guy like PHIL HELLMUTH? He plays the part on the felt but couldnt be nicer when approached in public. He cant hide hes 6'8". Do you ever hear PHIL IVEY say "IM THE GREATEST EVER" or BRUNSON or GREENSTEIN or TOM DWAN . Matt is realizing that maybe he let hes one chance get away and wont allow himself to srew up next time. Take a guy like Dennis Phillips, here is a guy that did not even win and has created a nice life in the world of poker. WHY? because he has had plenty of pain leading up to his moment in the sun. How about Money Maker ,he has had his balls broken for the last 8 years yet he continues to be a complete gentlemen with many business opportunities. Are either one of these guys he half the player of some of these young kids ? NO WAY, but these kids can't hold his jock strap when it comes to real life and dealing with people. Lets face it only a very small % can truly make a career on the felt but there is no reason to crush a dream, Just be honest with yourself and out work the field. you might have a better chance.
mikeyb111
9 years ago
So if a drug taking casino rat can be a great poker player than there's the proof that there isn't much to the game.
mrjimbob
9 years ago
It is possible to be a winning successful poker player. However, I don't believe that most players could make a living at it long term. I've seen first hand how much a poker player can dominate the tables for years. Most professional poker players grind their living on the live tables and will not have their winnings known by the public. A handful of these players win very consistantly and could make a very nice living. But there is a downside. Living your life in poker rooms has all kinds of temptations not related to poker. All of these temptations will kill your game. The Craps table & other casino games are the downfall of many successful poker players. Alcohol, Drugs and Woman of low moral character (and men) are always readily available in just about every larger poker room. This is what kills most of the would be successful poker players. "living the poker lifestyle" includes some or all of these vices. Most Winning poker players lose focus and spend their winnings (ususally more) and time on these vices. Even online players eventually get to the casinos and lose focus on why they are there. Overcoming these temptations is what makes a successful poker player a winning poker player. There just aren't many of them out there.
clunker
9 years ago
Very few players can or do make a living playing poker over the long haul. The reason is the house rake. Give 9 players 200k each. They play at the same table 8 hrs. a day 5 days a week. They play 30 hands and hr.which works out to 60k per yr. The house rake is 5$ per hand or 300k per yr. It will take the house only 6 yrs to take all the money in the game. And this does not count food,fuel, drinks and other costs. And 6 yrs would not even be considered long term. Pretty big hill to over come no matter how skillful you are.
THEJOEF
9 years ago
The house rake is already understood to a player attempting to play for a living. If not for staking you would have empty tables in the higher buy in tournaments. 75% of the players are dead broke. You do have wealthy people playing on the tours but most of the players are staked. Online poker with its reward system did make the dream of playing for a good living reality to many players. You could play breakeven poker on Poker Stars and earn about $125,000 per year at Super Nova elite. So lets say you lost $75,000 but maintain your volume ,a player would still earn $50k. Lets say you ran at a 2% ROI this year. You would earn around $185,000. I don't know that if the Casino online Poker Rooms will be able to offer such a reward system as STARS did.