What I Don't Like About Poker Society

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I'm a professional poker player.  While I've met a ton of poker players who I like, I'm not a big fan of poker society in general, or how the poker lifestyle is depicted.

First off, what is with all of these micro stakes losers hating on some of the most successful poker players in the world.  Look on the forums, blogs, and articles.  It's everywhere.  It's almost never highly successful players hating on other highly successful players either.  It's almost never somebody with a reputation to protect.  You don't see this in any other game.  You don't see Tarvaris Jackson hating on Peyton Manning.  You don't see Jerome Jordan hating on Lebron James or Kobe Bryant.  Part of the problem with online poker is it's so anonymous.  These cowards usually don't even have the balls to post their hater comments under any name other than guest or anonymous.  If they spent half the time they spend hating on others on actually studying the game, they might actually get somewhere in the poker world.  However, that would take too much hard work.  It's easier to just make excuses and tear the successful guy down.  If you're going to hate, at least have the balls to post your screen name.

Super turbo HU players seem to get an abnormal number of haters too.  It's not the "cool" thing to do.  Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, & Phil Galfond don't play HU with 30bb starting stacks, so we must rip the guys that do!  If you don't think it takes a lot of talent to beat $1K HU super turbos, then I'll have to invite you to come and sit me.  Play me for 4,000 games.  If super turbos are all about gambling, then both of our adjusted EV ROIs should be about -1.5% (the rake) after the 4K games.  I can assure you that won't be the case.  The same clowns who think super turbos are all about gambling & luck are the same guys that donate money to my retirement fund on a regular basis.  Would you rather make $350K/year playing a form of poker that isn't considered "cool" or would you rather be a micro stakes grinder at NL cash games trying to imitate the "cool" players?

People also tend to hate a lot on players who know how to market themselves.  Is this because Phil Ivey isn't heavily into social media?  What's so wrong with thinking like a smart business person?  People in other avenues of life don't get bashed for this.  Poker is a business, and lots of players leave a ton of money on the table.  Maybe they're afraid of looking like a "dbag" in the minds of these haters.  Maybe they're just lazy.  Maybe there's other reasons.  However, make no mistake about it, there's a lot of money to be made in the business side of poker, and self promotion can be key.  Posting your profits daily doesn't make you a "dbag", it just makes you more aware of a good way to promote yourself.  I don't go bragging to friends and family about how much I make, because that doesn't give me any benefit in business.  In fact, many of my friends and extended family probably have no clue how much money I actually make.  This was especially true before I started up a twitter account and synced it with facebook.  I'll bet a lot of my friends and extended family probably thought I was making $60-$80K/year.

Haters: stop hating and get a life.

This next portion might piss more people off, because I think it's more widespread throughout the poker society.  It may even piss off some friends of mine, but I like to speak my mind and share my opinions, and if people have a problem with that and can't respect honesty then they need to get over it.  What's up with everybody trying to show everybody else how "balla" they are?  To me, regularly dropping thousands of dollars at clubs doesn't make you cool.  Regularly making ridiculous prop bets for absurd amounts of money doesn't make you cool.  I'm fine with prop bets where somebody is pretty sure they have a good edge, but in the poker world these are few and far between.  Putting thousands and thousands of dollars down on -EV casino games like roulette and craps don't make you cool to me.  Spending 75% of your yearly income on a car doesn't impress me.  To me, these things don't make you "balla", they just make you irresponsible.  I don't know if young people are watching too many rap videos or what.  This problem is actually widespread among professional athletes as well.  70% of basketball and football players are broke within 3 years of their last game.  How sad is that?  These people are given ridiculous amounts of money and they just blow it all.  The other year a guy making $250K/year lost a $50K pair of earrings at practice.  He spent 20% of his yearly income on a pair of earrings!  Ask yourself, is that "cool" or irresponsible.  To me the answer is obvious.  It's no different in poker.  You hear of successful players going busto all the time.  Part of it is people not balancing their lives well, or not working hard enough in a poker environment that is getting tougher and tougher day after day, but a large part of it is surely the "balla" lifestyle these players choose to live.  Hopefully this paragraph doesn't offend players currently living this "balla" lifestyle, but forces them to take a good hard look at some of the choices they're making, and make some changes.  Again, I'm just sharing my opinions.

I really don't fit into the "balla" poker lifestyle.  I invest a large percentage of my profits into retirement accounts each and every year.  I have also used large chunks of money to help out my family with loans.  I have a nice house and a nice car, but for my tax bracket, they are both probably below average among poker players considering their typical spending habits.  I don't usually do prop bets unless I'm pretty damn sure I have a significant edge.  I don't just gamble to gamble.  I'll get on some $100 super bowl number boards, but those are neutral EV and not a large chunk of money.  I do fantasy football every year, but in about 17 years of playing, I'm pretty sure I've only had one losing year overall.  Yes I've been playing fantasy football since I was in 4th grade.  Like poker, I consider that to be investing, not gambling.  I've always thought to look to the future, and not just the present, and being financially responsible.  I had a paper route since I was in 2nd grade all the way up until I was 14. when I could legally get a real job.  I saved a large chunk of that money for a car and college.  Once I was in college I had a part time job during the school year and a full time job during summers, until poker came along.  I got married at the age of 25.  I play structures of poker that are seen by the community as the "black sheep."  Because of all of this, I don't really fit into poker society all that well.  I am by no means the stereotypical poker player, but I think that's a good thing.

I think it would be a good thing if this stereotype of the average poker player changed.

I realize this will probably be a pretty unpopular post in the eyes of many, since it's goes against the masses in the poker industry.  It goes against what is seen as standard.  However, I think it's something that needs to be said.  If you want to hate me for my view then hate on hater.

Thanks & GL,

Jared

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