bob, if you had a real job and had to commute to work each day can you deduct the gas, mileage, etc.? If you are an electrician and buy a book at Amazon about electrical work, can you deduct that? If the answer is no, then you SURELY cannot do it as a poker player. If the answer is yes, then MAYBE you can as a poker player and it's worth looking into... but maybe even then the laws will be different for gamblors since it hasn't typically been thought of as a viable job in the past.