High On Poker

I’m the self-titled Devil’s Advocate of Poker Bloggers for a reason. I’ve got to jump on this one, which I read in Iggy‘s most recent post (not his words, but a 2+2 post he quoted), but is seen in many places.

One player stated that if you can be successful at poker, you can be successful at other things that are better for you than poker.

Well, I say thee Nay!

This is one of those self-perpetuating fallacies. Here’s the deal. If you are good at poker, you might have some transferrable skills. You might be a good people person, or a good math person, or a hard worker, for instance. But just because you are a good people person, it doesn’t mean that being a waiter is a better living for you than poker. Just because you are good at math, it doesn’t mean that you would succeed as a scientist, computer programmer, or even mathemagician. Just because you are a hard worker at poker, it doesn’t mean you will be able to work hard at med school.

Poker is poker, and while you need some transferrable skills to play well and succeed, there is a reason why a given person chooses to play poker. That reason is also the reason why they will not necessarily be more successful in another career. Note the “not necessarily.” Some people may be better off in some other career.

The only general thing I will concede is that some poker players would be good entrepeneurs, because they are self-starters, like to be their own boss, are committed, and hard-working. BUT (and this is a huge BUT) some of those players are also bad at organizing themselves, are committed and hard working at poker because it is a passion, and are not so much self-starters as they are action junkies. So, even the entrepeneur angle isn’t locked up.

I guess I’ve made my point. I just don’t believe the general rule that a poker player could excell easily and have an easier lifestyle if he chose another profession. It just doesn’t work that way. The heart wants what the heart wants, and for many of us, the hearts wants poker.