Whether or not it’s directly related to the effects of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) or simply reality setting in, there’s definitely been a shifting trend in recent months, with many of the young, enormously successful poker players suddenly showing interests in jobs, investments, and/or education. Matt Maroon, Chris Fargis, Luke Kim, Terrence Chan, and others (all of whom are obviously intelligent and have a solid history of playing poker profitably) have discussed pursuing other endeavors in the future, not to mention countless others without blogs that have quietly exited stage left of the poker world.
What exactly does one do when crushing the games for many grandusands of American dollars comes to a halt, for whatever reason, and poker has been the primary means of supporting oneself?
It’s a difficult question, especially when you remove the schadenfreude aspect of it from the equation, that many of us working stiffs are prone to when reading about such a “dilemma”. I honestly have no idea what the hell I would do, if I’d been supporting a very comfortable, enjoyable lifestyle playing poker, with no other job history, training, or specialized education, and was suddenly faced with having to replace that. It’d suck. Mightily. As there’s really no equivalent out there, as far as the freedom and potential monetary upside, and the fact that the only barriers to entry are a brain, a computer, and an Internet connection.
I do know, though, that much of the advice offered to people willing to openly discuss such dilemmas is usually pretty god-awful, although entertaining. The frequency with which anyone uses the phrase “passive income” is pretty much inversely proportional with their experience or ability to create passive income; if someone keeps causally dropping “passive income” around it’s safe to ignore them.
The same holds true for anyone that suggests investing in real estate (especially rental property) to someone looking for a career option to playing high-stakes poker. Sure, there are always exceptions, but the ability and inclination to succeed in one pretty much always excludes success in the other, as they require completely different skill sets.
Lots of people suggesting pursuing trading jobs on financial exchanges, and there’s a decent track record of success in cross-over there, so that’s definitely a viable option. But it’s still a job, with a boss, and required working hours, which seems to be the primary cause of chafing and what, ironically, was the initial motivating factor in many young poker pros turning to poker in the first place.
While there’s no easy answer, as far as replacing poker with (insert some method of supporting oneself), it’s also hard to feel too worried about most of the pros facing this dilemma. If you’re smart and resourceful enough to crush high stakes games (and have some money in the bank), odds are that you’ll land on your feet and find some way to keep the lights on and the train running, whatever the ultimate form is.
