Quitting the full-time poker scene
Professional poker emerges here as a high-earning but deeply taxing career: players describe long, isolating grinds, brutal variance, and the psychological toll of living off a zero- or negative-sum game where income comes from exploiting weaker or addicted opponents. Several former pros say the field has become tougher due to solvers, real-time assistance, bots and collusion online, while live games remain softer but slower and more volatile. Many conclude that, despite short-term money that can rival top tech salaries (especially in places like India), poker offers little long-term stability, damages health and ethics, and is ultimately less rewarding than building a conventional career or business.
Online Poker Fairness and Cheating
- Several commenters doubt that major regulated poker sites “rig the deck,” arguing the house already profits from rake and would face legal risk if caught.
- Others remain suspicious, citing weak regulators (e.g., Malta), historic scandals (superuser hole-card access), and fears of poor RNG.
- Consensus: the bigger risk today is not rigged cards but player-side cheating: real‑time assistance (RTA), bots, collusion, data mining, and HUDs.
- Some crypto / unregulated sites are considered especially risky; “provably fair” models exist but don’t solve all issues.
Economics and Career Viability
- Many ex‑pros describe poker as once extremely profitable during the early online boom (2000s), when opposition was weak and rakeback deals were generous.
- Difficulty has risen sharply with solvers, widespread study, tougher player pools, and strong RTA risk.
- Only a small minority appear to make substantial, stable income; downswings and variance are brutal.
- Compared to software/tech, poker is portrayed as lower upside for most and much worse for long‑term career capital.
Lifestyle, Grind, and Mental Health
- Full‑time grinding involves long, antisocial hours (often 10–16 hours/day, 7 days/week), massive monotony, and constant emotional management to avoid “tilt.”
- Several players report burnout, sleep disruption, depression, and life narrowing to nothing but poker.
- Coming back to traditional careers after multi‑year gaps is described as very hard, especially mid‑career.
Ethics and Zero‑Sum Nature
- Strong thread debating whether professional poker is morally acceptable.
- Critics: it’s a negative‑sum game (due to rake) that makes money by targeting addicts and “soft” players; likened to predation.
- Defenders: all participants are consenting adults; poker provides entertainment and a “third place” social setting, comparable to other competitive or entertainment industries.
- Some former pros say the central skill is finding and exploiting weaker, often troubled opponents, which they found increasingly disturbing.
Live vs Online Poker
- Live games are said to remain much “softer” than online but slower (fewer hands/hour) and subject to high rake in some jurisdictions.
- Online is tougher: stronger players, heavy tooling, legal ambiguity in some countries, and greater cheating risk.
Broader Reflections
- Poker seen as a powerful teacher of probability, risk, and emotional control, but a “trap” for smart analytical people because it’s easier to make money there early than in productive fields.