SO YOU WANT TO BE A POKER PRO

There is so much hatred centered around this word and I have never understood it.  If you are reading this article and are considering becoming a poker pro but do not know this term, perhaps you should reconsider.  Bum hunting is the practice of following terrible players and only playing in tables they are on for the purposes of winning their money.  It mostly applies to heads up matches online in which those who practice this refuse to play anyone not weaker than then they are but I think it could easily apply to those who play in regular 6-max games as well.  The entire purpose of this game for those who endeavor to play it professionally is to win money and to win as much of it as possible in the shortest amount of time.  The notion that one should play stronger opponents as a regular practice sounds rather ridiculous when said aloud, but there remains an immense amount of vitriol surrounding this practice.  Much of it has to do with some sense of machismo I suppose, a belief in the idea that you are only the best if you beat the best.  I could care less about being the best player in poker and while there is a certain amount of arrogance and confidence needed to play this game, the end goal simply remains to win as much money as easily as one can.  Poker is a predatory game and concepts that include the word "hunt" or "hunting" should be entirely appropriate towards how one approaches this game.  If we consider the world of actual predators in the wild, a pack of lions after killing their prey will not then turn on one another.  They will simply wait for the next opportunity to hunt another weaker prey.  In much the same way the notion that good players on a table should battle it out against one another after a mark has left seems ill advised at best.

DISCIPLINE
This is a word often used when discussing this game, but one that is hardly practiced.  People underestimate just how much discipline is needed to play this game, especially for a living.  If you are reading this article and are the type of person who already has their life in order and practices a great amount of discipline in areas of life, health and love then playing poker for a living is probably the furthest thing from your mind.  The truth is one has to be at least a little "off" in order to consider doing this for a living.  Those attracted to this notion are usually those that are more attracted to the lifestyle more than anything else; the late nights, the money, baller lifestyle, hookers and blow and all that.  And in truth those elements do and should exist in the poker lifestyle to a certain extent.  After all, what is the point of doing this for a living if you cannot enjoy it like a true baller.  But all of that should come after your session and only up to a point that it does not bleed into your session the following day.  However f'ed up your life is for the majority of the time, everything better come together in the right way for those 6-8 hours that you are seated in front of your computer to play because if it doesn't there are plenty that will gladly be on the other side of the table waiting to relieve you of your funds.

MAKE TOUGH CHOICES
This leads to my next point which is that sacrifices need to be made if one is to pursue poker as a profession.  The truth of the matter is that poker takes up a lot of time, both in the amount of time actually seated on a table and also the devotion towards studying the game in order to constantly improve.  I have already discussed limiting one's baller lifestyle and practicing a certain modicum of moderation in one's social life.  But apart from having fun and enjoying one's "poker life", sometimes other realities and responsibilities of life may intrude upon one's ability to focus on poker.  I would like nothing more than to spend every waking moment of my daughter's life playing with her and enjoying her company.  But I also realize that in two years I will have to put her in a private school and that she requires food, milk and a suitable place to live.  I try to confine my playing hours to ones in which both my wife and daughter are asleep.  And if I have to play during hours they are awake I will tell my wife that I absolutely cannot be disturbed and will lock the door.  If she cannot follow these guidelines, I will simply leave and play somewhere else on my tablet.  In the end the actual responsible thing to do is to sacrifice time with loved ones in order to devote yourself to a game that can potentially pay for all the things that they need.  Or perhaps the toughest choice of all is the decision to leave the game altogether if it cannot provide for those that are in your care.  I cannot think of anything more irresponsible than continuing to play a game in which one constantly loses when they have mouths to feed at home.

THAT DREADED WORD "BANKROLL"