You seem to be a lover of the game but if someone offered you 1m a year as long as you never gamble. Do you take it?
Hey mate <3 £1m never to gamble again, defo not - no even close, it's nothing to do with the money either, I would say from this point in my life im unlikely to make £1m at gambling so I'm sure it's +EV to accept but Ilove to gamble, even just recreationally I really enjoy gambling, betting football on saturdays, betting on the darts when it's on, the snooker etc, even just playing blackjack/craps/roulette etc I really enjoy. I do what I want cos I like doing it and there is no point in having money if you cant do the things you like doing
I find myself in a somewhat weird position where I like grinding because it's fun to me, and the positive financial aspects are largely a bonus. Would you pursue a similar lifestyle if the rewards were halved? Quartered? How much does money really mean to you? I'm fairly sure it doesn't have a direct relationship to my own happiness but it seems like a cash game grinder is working a more traditional job.
You find yourself in such a lovely position because you're doing something for a job that you really enjoy. I remember my brief spell in that sports shop and I used to wake up in the mornings and think "oh my god it's the day fucking hell I cant wait till it's over" this is noway to live your life every day, annoyed that you're awake and wishing the next ten hours away, life's too short. I've met guys before with all the money and things they ever wanted, and other guys with 5% of what those guys have and one is miserable as fuck and the other couldn't be happier, if you find away to survive and you enjoy it then you have won at life, once it's all about money and things before YOU (and what you want) then you've lost.
So in answer to your question yes I would still, just like if something I'd have wanted to do more came along I would almost certainly have done that. I more fell into pro gambling rather than deciding I wanted to do that, your path in was determined,mine was more casual lol.
In answer to the question what does money mean to me, nowadays it means an awful lot to me, when I first started out it didn't mean a great deal because actually I had no real need for any large amount of money, my basic living costs p/ month between 20-24 about £1k so as long as I had that I had no worries, I had a great network of friends in poker and if hard times came (which they did) then I could always borrow a bit or get staked and would soon be back on my feet and flying again. This meant shooting at big games, buying things or going on silly trips was all justified in my mind, I don't REALLY need the money so let's spend on having fun/trying to make fortunes. I guess on reflection I could have put some amounts away into house fund or something and set up some security for myself that way, but that wasn't really my personality and my view was always if I have cash monies then they should be in play and working for me, not tossing around in some 5% bank account or ISA. Actually though I was pretty sensible with my money in that I always looked to invest it in stuff rather than buy silly things, andI still earn today from money I made in gambling 4 years ago so a pat on the back for me !
As I gotten a little older things have changed, now I have financial commitments and have seen so many downswings and upswings that my attitude is completely different, now I don't embrace going broke anymore, as I once did, I'm actually pretty scared of it and it's certainly true that each time you go down and come up your resilience is damaged a little. The money is so much more real now too than it used to be, and I guess I'll never be the same gambler as I once was (utterly fearless) which is kinda sad but this is life.
This is why it really breaks my heart when I see guys 18/19 come onto blonde and say "ima gonna be pro" and start off with an X buyin bankroll at
/10c and then look straight away at being staked for 25c/50c when they have practically zero life expenses and commitments, this is the best times of you life financially you can take risk after risk after risk and it's absolutely fine because the price you get is so good, if you hit it then now you're off and running, if you miss and fall then it really doesn't matter one fkn bit... I was constantly busto at 18-19 (I was swimming round a marina cleaning boats ffs) virtually everyone I know was broke when they were 19 too - you're not supposed to have any money at 19! You gotta make the most of it and enjoy it because it's a luxury that even me at 26 is quite jealous of now, and once it goes it goes forever. So when you come into £2k or something at 19 dont "invest into a poker bankroll" ffs go on a holiday somewhere see something most 19 yr olds cant afford to do, using it to play 25c/50c instead or 10c/20c just crushes your soul.
I feel good though that i took advantage of it when I was that age.
Very fun question btw.
If Plo was banned what would your game of choice be?
WHAT! NO PLO! Ha, well I guess NLHE still technically my second best game (actually been playing a fair bit of NLHE out here and blown the cobwebs off) although I suppose I would stick then to the UK mixed games, super-stud/padooki etc as i'm almost certainly comparatively better at those games to the field than I am at NLHE. I'd play more tournaments this is for sure
luckily no-one is banning PLO!
I've played a lot of No Limit Omaha lately, as you are well aware Adam
How much has the most winning poker player won? Purely through poker play or staking not including opening sites etc
hmmm. I would say $150m - $200m lifetime and also I would bet HEAVY money that this person is not in the top 500 poker players in the world in terms of ability. Actually I would bet LARGE money he isn't in the top 2,500
That's utter guess work on my part mind.
I know some very, very good pro's making like $6-$10m p/ y - it's all about where you play not how you play for the big monies! You don't have to run faster than the bear ...
Can you remember our poker billionaire conversation? Still think it's true?
Hmmm, not sure I do, we used to have a lot of conversations at 7am when I was hammered and coming in from blackjack session
- the younger, more wreckless me ofc...
The gambling world is much richer for you being dragged out of retirement.
Thank-you <3