Playing for a living? -- Is it realistic?

[john111_x]

It seems to me that playing poker for a living would be very difficult right now. Everyone seems to be a fairly solid player these days. Back when all the old pros were rounding they could go to the casinos everyday and scoop up thousands in free money from stupid tourists. Now a days even the stupid tourists have read Doyle Brunsons super system or at least know basic strategy. The majority of poker players are full of bs, constantly lying about their earnings - fact is 90 -95% of players never and will never beat the rake. When I started playing in the late 90's there was still a lot of free money available - there is still plenty of easy money but it's not nearly as plentiful as it once was. I've been playing poker part-time - and have considered playing full time. I've been fairly profitable at live games for the past few years. I have a lot of friends in LA and Vegas who play for a living and it just seems like the money goes around in circles. No one really gets ahead and stays ahead for long - unless they get a big tourny score. Even a lot of the top name pros on tv are broke most of the time. Just wanted to get some other opinions. Is it harder to make a living playing poker these days with the increased skill level? Or is it easier given the explosion of popularity - making more money available than ever before? I'm not sure.....just wondering what you think?

[HPG ADMIN]

Originally Posted by john111_x

When I started playing in the late 90's there was still a lot of free money available - there is still plenty of easy money but it's not nearly as plentiful as it once was.

Just curious, but were the game better in the late 90s or during the boom years (i.e. 2003-2006)?

Originally Posted by john111_x

I've been fairly profitable at live games for the past few years. I have a lot of friends in LA and Vegas who play for a living and it just seems like the money goes around in circles. No one really gets ahead and stays ahead for long - unless they get a big tourny score.

Is it harder to make a living playing poker these days with the increased skill level? Or is it easier given the explosion of popularity - making more money available than ever before? I'm not sure.....just wondering what you think?

Even though I don't play poker much anymore, I think we are in the worst case scenario right now, where the education level of the average player has gone up but the liquidity of games has gone down (due to the poker boom dying down, and the online crackdowns).