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by budman
5735 days ago
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Such a great post. I have played live medium stakes poker in Vegas for 14 years now. Have witnessed the boom firsthand. Before the poker tv "boom" it used to be sort of embarrassing when family and friends from back home would ask about poker and what not because it always had a negative mystique about it. During the boom everyone was all of a sudden interested and wanted to listen about how exciting it must be. But the boom completely skewed reality and perspectives unlike anything I have ever seen, even compared to the housing boom. I can't count how many times in past 7 years I'd be at table full of early 20 somethings claiming they are or am thinking about going "pro" (quiting job/college for poker FT). For every Tom Dwan type of story there are probably 1000x the stories similar or WORSE to the Washington Post article. It was never my business so I never made it my biz, but I used to be sad seeing so many talented/bright and charismatic kids be so lost and throwing away years chasing the rush and shot at being famous. Gambling, in any form, takes a very special tough minded character to do in long run since, like matt says, the losing streaks will come. I have told my wife one thing I wish I could erase from my mind would be poker. And I am a long-term winner! It just wears you down and matt mentioning how most can't fathom the emotional swings is true. It becomes worse the more early success one has because the resulting crash will be harder. The smoke and mirrors of poker created by TV is FAR from real. Away from the lights and camera while they hype most of these guys up is mostly a collection of low lives grinding 60hrs a week on their asses just to pay the bills. Many of the big names the world has come to know have also gone broke at times. Not always because of poker but it just harbors other bad habits. Anyway, enough of that. I do want to say Matt that during it time I was an avid follower of your blog. I could always tell you were one of the more grounded and mature young players that was having success and always knew you wouldn't let your head get too big. Sorry it took a tragedy of that magnitude to get you out but in the end it was probably best. |
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