Many
people have become enamored with online poker
and ask me frequently, “I want to play online
poker professionally, what do you recommend?”
One problem I have with this question is that
is seems that the decision has already been made.
Online poker is a lot of fun as a hobby, but playing
for a living is quite different and is a decision
that should be carefully thought out before quitting
your day job.
There are some great benefits to playing Online
poker for a living:
- You can work your own hours.
- You are your own boss.
- You can take as much vacation as you like.
- You can work wherever you want in the world.
- You can work in your underwear, lol.
I quit a very good job as a Finance Director with
a large pharmaceutical company to be able to take
advantage of these benefits. I moved to New Zealand
for a couple of years and enjoyed a nice relaxing
life. The great thing about online poker is that
I could work around my social life rather than
plan my social life around work. It was a good
life…but playing online poker full-time
began to take its toll after a couple of years.
As with any job, playing online poker for a living
is not all fun and games. Playing 10 hours a week
can be a lot of fun and be a great hobby but the
fun and thrill of playing online poker is not
quite the same once you start playing 40 hours
a week in front of a computer. I still have a
passion for online poker and enjoy playing most
of the time, but playing online poker full-time
was not something that I saw myself doing for
many years.
I have been fortunate in that I am still involved
in online poker full-time as a business with my
book, website, and publishing company. This makes
playing online poker once again a part-time activity
that I can enjoy when I want to without having
to rely on it 40 hours a week to pay the bills.
Before making the transition to full-time online
poker, think very carefully about how you would
enjoy playing online poker in front of a computer
screen full-time for many years. It would be a
shame to ruin what is now a great hobby for many
of you.
Let’s look at some of the practical downsides
to playing online poker for a living. Although
it is great to have as many vacation days as you
want, these vacations days are not paid! I always
enjoyed four weeks of vacation before with my
finance job, but it is quite different when you
know that no income is coming in while you are
away. If you do decide to play online poker for
a living, I recommend setting aside some vacation
pay each month just like a regular job. This way
you can feel like you are being paid and enjoy
your vacation without worrying about money.
There are also some additional expenses for being
self-employed. American residents must pay full
FICA and Medicare payments, which is 15.3% of
your salary up to certain limits, rather than
the 7.65% you pay when working for a company.
You must also pay for medical and dental insurance.
Remember
also that gambling income is taxable in the United
States just like regular income, even if you play
part-time. If you are an American citizen and
move overseas, you are able to deduct over $80,000
a year from your income since you are not residing
in the States. This effectively eliminates most
income tax, but you still must pay the FICA and
Medicare taxes.
Obviously,
online poker has some inherent risks that are
part of the job. You will have an unstable income
each month with the risk of actually losing money
during a month. Even experts can play hundreds
of hours and still lose money. To play professionally,
you need to be the type of person that can handle
these fluctuations. Although they shouldn’t
happen too frequently, they will occur, and believe
me they are not much fun.
Finally,
many players who ask me about playing online poker
are still rather limited in their playing experience.
They make a lot of money over a few hundred hours
and think about how great this would translate
into a full-time job. Online poker is a game of
luck and skill and a few hundred hours of play
is not nearly enough to know how much you could
expect to earn. Even a player who should normally
lose one big bet an hour could win up to 250 big
bets over a 100 hour period simply by getting
a lucky run of cards. Be sure that you have enough
experience and bankroll before you even consider
making the plunge to online poker
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