Name a profession...

[cambridgealex]

take way the over on 500

Agree with this.

Must be close to 5 figures.

Really?

[gouty]

...That is on-par with poker in terms of number of people in the UK who rely on it as their sole/primary income.

A full time poker dealer.

[scotty77]

There are tonnes of SnG/small stakes cash grinders tho.  Whether they are pros or just play poker for an income is debatable.

Know of probably 50+ people on Sky alone that play for a 'living', some of those playing as low on 4nl, and thats on a modest site.

Probably 1500-2000 that make 'decent' money at it, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are 10k plus who grind enough to consider it their main source of income.

[Amatay]

Know of probably 50+ people on Sky alone that play for a 'living', some of those playing as low on 4nl, and thats on a modest site.

huh?

[scotty77]

Know of probably 50+ people on Sky alone that play for a 'living', some of those playing as low on 4nl, and thats on a modest site.

huh?

Yeah I know but they are out there!  They obv must live with their parents or something and grind grind grind but guess some people are just happy with £100 or so a week to keep them ticking over.

[Rupert]

does media/operators etc count as people who rely on poker? or specifically players?

[cambridgealex]

specifically players

[pleno1]

theres tonnes of live cash players.

way over 100 online mtt players

way over 100 sng players

way over 500 online cash game players


like scotty said, so many people playing bowl stakes making enough to get by.

[gouty]

I have changed my mind.... An MP I am now going for.

Exactly 650 players make over 25 k a year which is the average wage in UK?

I can't think of a profession with less people.

[pleno1]

meh, making a living doesnt mean you have to earn average wage, it means that you have to make enough money to survive and live and depend on it.

basically anybody earning over 12k a year.

its like just saying that working in a restaurant isnt a profession or dismissing anybody who is a poker dealer as a profession because they dont earn over 25k.

[Doobs]

Making a living doesn't make you a member of a profession.

[tonytats]

As a profession tho its almost ignored / hidden under the carpet , not to be spoken about by the media in general , if for example madonna. was at wembley it's all over the papers , or some Mickey Mouse non league team get there , they big it up .There were amateur / recs from all over England trying to get there / getting there for 30£ , players from the continent , America etc and virtually no mention of it in the media ,in pubs it's now as popular as pool / darts probably more so ,yet generally overlooked by the media , shame really
Is it ignored as it is seen as gambling ?
Horse racing is publicised , yet virtually no mention of poker ?

[Doobs]

Making a living doesn't make you a member of a profession.

And just because you have The Camel doesn't mean you have a regulatory body.

And you can earn nothing at all and still be a member of a profession.

[DaveShoelace]

As a profession tho its almost ignored / hidden under the carpet , not to be spoken about by the media in general , if for example madonna. was at wembley it's all over the papers , or some Mickey Mouse non league team get there , they big it up .There were amateur / recs from all over England trying to get there / getting there for 30£ , players from the continent , America etc and virtually no mention of it in the media ,in pubs it's now as popular as pool / darts probably more so ,yet generally overlooked by the media , shame really
Is it ignored as it is seen as gambling ?
Horse racing is publicised , yet virtually no mention of poker ?

I just thing mainstream society don't really care about poker. There is a lot more money in horse racing which is why it gets more attention.

[DaveShoelace]

I've had the conversation of "how big do you think the 'serious' poker player market is" with lots of very high up poker industry people over the last few years. By serious I mean plays the circuit/reads poker news/posts on forums/uses software/knows what rakeback is etc. They might be low stakes, high stakes, recreational, pro, winning or losing, but they take the game seriously. Poker fans, essentially.

They all said a similar figure, which is my estimate too, about 30,000 for the UK.

Obviously most poker fans are far from being (or wanting to be) a professional player. I personally would set the line at about 1,000 career poker players in the UK.

I think the ISPT probably shed some light on this. I'd love to find out how many uniques played in the €30 sats/€300 day 1s/€3,000 directs. You would think at least half of the UK pros would have played in at least one variant of those.