Professional poker player

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maybe you shouldnt put him on the spot like that in a public forum; you know, theres websites that answer these questions... i'm just saying, it's a touchy subject for all poker players...

it's not exactly legal YET (but soon)

Not an issue really. It's kind of annoying that we don't have near-instant transactions like we used to, but the waits are generally pretty reasonable. I usually get checks, but have gotten wire transfers in the past.

But don't bet sports. Bad idea.



It's not a big deal actually. Technically, I'm not doing anything illegal to violate any federal laws. The UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) actually only makes it sort of illegal for banks and credit card companies to process deposits. Playing poker online is not illegal in this country, depositing and withdrawing funds is also not illegal. The weight falls on the shoulders of the banks and CC companies, which just makes it a hassle and turns off a lot of dead money.

If you're not using "banks and credit card companies to process deposits," what are you doing then? Looking for specifics; I don't want to be screwed by semantics. Also, you'd have to know at least near as much as I do about sports gambling to discourage me any :p Most people would have told you trying to make a living off poker is "bad."

instant echecks is the way to go; theyre not transparent to banks; the charge appears from some vague company name. its a payment option at most poker sites. i also used my mc debit, and it worked for me this week.

like he said, technically, poker playing isnt illegal, and thank God they are addressing this very issue this week in washington. barney frank wants to change the law. it is a top priority in obamas agenda as well.

most gambling is pure chance; poker requires much skill, plus some chance. i never bet on sports, but interestingly enough, there seems to be a huge divide between sports books and poker sites, and sports books dont want poker to be "legalized" obviously because they think it will be the end or the major loss of sports betting profits.

i think its apples and oranges; poker is poker; sports betting is sports betting. personally, i love playing poker, but i wouldnt think of betting on sports. i imagine most sports betting enthusiasts wouldnt think about poker unkess they also play poker.

i guess the commonality is perhaps ive heard critics of both state that both are rigged against the player. who knows... as long as anything is "illegal" and not regulated, this is always a possibility.

the government is stupid because they could license and tax all of this and make billions and billions yearly. much like marijuana and prostitution. it all comes down to our puritan sense of morality and the powers that be that want to legislate morality and control over americans.

i dont need a politician or a political party to tell me or dictate to me how im gonna live my life; they can bite me. theyre stupid and ignorant, because despite their morality and laws, people do it anyway, everywhere, every way. its a fact! the only thing theyre gaining is re election. meanwhile, the deficit climbs and climbs higher and higher because all that opportunity to tax, regulate and license is ignored another day, and more loss of potential revenue is squandered.

this country is so stupid in so many ways. when will we finally wise up and when will the politicians stop pandering and actually start being realistic and fiscally responsible enought to realize they cant stop people from doing what they wanna do; we do it anyways.

wake up america! tell your politician to stop being an as*hole and start doing the right thing for americans and the country!

Mikegee, surveys show that most [voting?] Americans don't want marijuana legal. I agree with your support of the several things you said should be legal, with conditions in certain instances, of course (especially prostition). Politicians will do what most people want here the majority of the time, so the bigger problem is what most Americans want.

at one time most americans wanted alcohol illegal as well, and of course, that was a stupid costly mistake for the country. i'd venture to say that most americans today would still want alcohol illegal now, but who cares what the majority of americans want, if theyre wrong in principle. the majority of americans is irrelevant. i bethca most aqmericans, if they they were in the position to decide personally, would not have an abortion, and yet abortions are legal. most americans do not own guns, and yet guns are legal. its never been about "majority rule" its about judicial and consitutional legality. this is the loadstone of america, baby..


same goes for tobacco; what is the purpose of tobacco being legal EXCEPT for the revenue involved. if you took a mandated public poll of most americans, tobacco would be illegal tomorrw; FACT! yet, its still legal, and always will be. why? for the $$$. and of course tobacco is extremely dangerous, while marijuana is not, in fact marijuana has medicinal properties, and so we are huge hypocrites because we legalize and tax a deadly killer (alcohol as well) and yet an proven beneficial medical drug such as marijuana is still illegal.

this is an american travesty and if you believe in God, i can guarantee you the devil is laughing at us for our immense stupitidy and hypocracy..

i can imagine the devil laughing at us now, because our laws are hypocritical and just plain stupid. GOD made weed, and i can well assure you he wants us to smoke it. i think its a religuos right, and if ya dont agree with me i'll sue you for my religous rights.bite me.

and for the people out there who say "but what about the children" im not the parent of the kids out there, and im not gonna do their parents jobs, or change my lifestyle because parents out there arent being good parents. to use the "what about the children" excuse is a cop out for parents who are frankly not good parents.

and not to mention; the mafia exists and flourishes because of our arcane laws. street gangs as well. im personally disgusted with watching my nightly chicago news and reading about the hourly daily gang killings; this is all because of drugs being illegal; the american government has to eventually take personal responsibility for the acts of gang bangers and the mob for all they do, because they give them the power and the ability to kill. the only way to stop illegal drug prostitution and gambling crimes is to legalize it and regulate it.

unitl that day, you can well expect a daily tally of more innocent victims in your news broadcasts.

this is why america sucks, frankly..

Well, I don't make deposits

However, as to what you're getting at, you would be absolutely in the clear if you were to make an online deposit as far as Federal laws are concerned, this may differ state to state.

Also, I know plenty about sports betting. I've never done much of it myself, but that's only because of what I know. The margins are ridiculously slim, even if you are really good, because of the vig. Just making bets on spreads and lines for full games, even if you are the best of the best, is going to return a very small ROI, so you have to bet obscene amounts to make any real money. The only people really making money are the ones with crazy complex computer algorithms, and they're not betting games, they're betting all the weird extras (first score, # of sacks, etc). Yeah, you might find a middle here and there, but you'd need a handful of massive bankrolls spread across a variety of online books to take advantage. I strongly advise you or anyone else against ever betting sports in any capacity beyond trivial amounts among friends. This should mean more to you coming from someone who gambles for a living.

In fairness, a large portion of those who smoke marijuana will never show up in those polls, they are inherently biased.

Politicians will do what will make them money and keep them in office long enough to get a book deal, those who serve the people are the exception to the rule.

All drugs should be legal, prostitution should be legal, gambling should be legal. But please don't hijack my thread, take it to PPR.

sorry man, my bad; i can start a new thread. i just got on a roll there..

any big wins lately? i had a fun game last nite; came down to me and 1 other player, he was getting all the cards, and his stack was like 10 times bigger than mine. i was biding my time, folding a ton of junk, and slow playing a few choice hands and i lucked out and doubled up twice, and then started playing middle pairs, cuz i noticed he was chasing and even playing low pairs (that always amazes me). i ended up getting my lucky hand (i know, i know..) K9 sp, and i told him so, and said im going all in; he called, and and i beat his 33 by getting a K on the flop. he was down to chump chips, and we both went all in after the flop; we both had a pair of 10s, lol middle pairs, and i had a 9 kicker and he had an 8 kicker, and i won; looong game, but i hung in there and didnt give up early. fun times

I've been struggling for the last couple months actually. I've been getting deep a lot, but running into coolers, losing flips, spewing off stacks and only making small cashes. I had a real chance at a huge score in the Sunday Brawl on Full Tilt a little while back. Lost a monster coinflip blind vs. blind with 11 or 12 left. If I win that I'm top two on the final table bubble. 1st was 80k+........

FTOPS (the bigger series of tournaments on Full Tilt) are coming up real soon, so I'm hoping to do something there. Here's the events I'm looking at.

Wed 5th - $216 No Limit Hold Em
Thu 6th - $216 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
Sat 8th - $109 No Limit Hold Em With Rebuys
Sun 9th - $256 No Limit Hold Em With Bounties
Sun 9th - $322 No Limit Hold Em
Mon 10th - $216 Pot Limit HA (Hold Em/Omaha)
Tue 11th - $535 HORSE (Hold Em/Omaha Hi Lo/Razz/Stud Hi/Stud Hi Lo)
Tue 11th - $216 No Limit Hold Em Turbo 6-Max (6 players per table instead of 9)
Wed 12th - $256 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo With Bounties
Thu 13th - $216 Limit Hold Em 6-Max
Fri 14th - $216 No Limit Hold Em 6-Max
Sat 15th - $120 No Limit Hold Em 6-Max With Antes From Start ($20 goes to charity)
Sun 16th - $129 No Limit Hold Em With Bounties
Sun 16th - $535 No Limit Hold Em Main Event

Might play a few more, depends how I'm doing.

After that we have WCOOP even larger tournament series on Pokerstars, but I don't even want to think about that until FTOPS are over.

wow; good luck in those tourneys! sounds like fun

say, do you find the competition different at different sites? i know that's a rather odd question, but i've played at full tilt, poker stars and UB, and i notice at times that there's common varying playing styles that seem to differentiate site per site(not all the time, but i notice patterns..)

for instance;

poker stars; it seems a lot of players play a lot of garbage, and the result in my opinion is a lot of garbage hand wins.

full tilt: all in city all the time; donkey town usa

UB: pretty tight play, not too much bluffing, a lot of slow play and nut traps.

im just curious if you notice similar, or, different patterns based on site to site.

Well, the real difference in playing style has more to do with the stakes you're playing for much more so than the site you're playing on. I haven't played your stakes for quite a long time, so I can't really comment on what you're likely experiencing. However, for me there is some difference. I don't play on UB out of principle, my main sites are of course Pokerstars and Full Tilt, but I also dabble on Sportsbook (Cake poker skin) and Bodog. I've had more success as far as ROI is concerned on the latter two, but they simply do not offer enough tournaments to support my playing schedule.

On Stars, the ante structure in tournaments makes for what seems like less action, but it's a very small distinction. I would have said 6 months+ ago that the players at my stakes on Stars are "trickier", but I actually think that title might be more deserving of FTP players (at least in the smaller field tournies like rebuys). Bodog players are tight and weak for the most part. Sportsbook players are loose and weak for the most part.

Haven't posted in a while, but felt like posting a quick brag because I'm drunk and I can.

Won a tournament 3 weeks ago for $30,000, got 3rd in another tournament today for $8,000. I'm having a pretty good month

Sorry I haven't been posting in PPR at all, I go through phases where it's "politics are awesome!" or "politics are stupid!".

Gnarly.

I forget, do you play online mostly, or do you go out and play tournaments?

A buddy of mine played pro online for several years, he was probably making 40K a YEAR, yea I'd say you had a good month.

Recently it's been closer to 80% online/20% live. Once I move again it'll probably get back to 95% online.