Question for the pro's & semi-pro's

Stump12 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 6:47 am

When you sit at a table and engage the fish/recreational player/tourist, and they ask you what you do for a living, what do you tell them? The truth? Or make up some lie?

Very interested in the answers.

viking4life · **Joined:** Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:30 pm **Posts:** 21

lol does it really matter....u can be a damn good player and not be a pro.....Just because you live in Vegas and play all the time does not mean your that good either especially at the 1/2 limit. If you can play then you can play regardless of if you do it daily or not.

Stump12 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 8:22 am

Thanks for your input viking. Now if someone who lives in Vegas & plays for most if not all of their income could please chime in I would greatly appreciate it.

missingflops · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 10:12 am

I am neither a pro nor a semi-pro, but there are times when I don't feel like talking about what I do at the tables. My stock answer is that I do "consulting" work for businesses (which is basically the truth worded in a non-traditional way). I find that is usually generic enough that it doesn't invite a lot of follow ups. If someone does ask for more specifics then I just try to keep answers very general. Even though I don't fit strictly within the call of Stump's question, my answer if I did would be the same. If you feel like you shouldn't disclose your true occupation, then have a generic answer that will hopefully divert follow up, but have additional generalities ready as a backup. The key to a good generic answer is that you have to have some familiarity with the subject matter of the answer that you can give some credible follow up.

jkinsey435 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:33 pm

What missing said. However, when I engage another player I do inquire about their employment and see how they respond. It can be a useful tool.

vookenmeister · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:19 pm

I think you will find that 99.999% of the people sitting at a 1/2 table in Vegas have some other means of income besides poker. Gist is 90% of the people at the table lose money over time or something like that. Even if you are pretty damn good (after a 1000 hour sample or so), you cap out at $20-$30 hour max playing $1/$2. If you're making close or more than that after a 1000 hours then you should be moving up to higher stakes.

That said. I think if someone is playing 1/2 or 2/5 and relying on poker as their primary income it is not a good idea to let on to strangers how good you are. You are much better off if they think you are a chump. How much extra $$ does it make? Who knows? I'm sure there is a difference. Personally, I usually end up running my mouth or showing my cards or doing something to let the table know that I'm a good player. I do this for many reasons... mostly because I don't get to play live very often and I am just having fun and I'm playing at stakes that don't make a difference in my income. Honestly, I also get caught up in the pride thing and want people to know I'm good even though I shouldn't.

The reality is I should just sit there and make fun chatter without disclosing any info in regards to the fact that I study and play poker religiously but the money doesn't matter as much to me so I don't have to care as much. If the money makes a bigger difference then you want people to think you are a chump. So don't tell them you're good, don't show, don't tell them you're a pro whether you are or not... unless you really suck. then you might want to tell them you are a pro to confuse them

Online I have been asked a few times in the chat box if I'm a pro. When I notice (usually I don't see the chat with 12-14 tables going), I just reply nah, I'm in IT which is the truth.

If you're primary goal is to make money then it is better if your opponents underestimate you.

vookenmeister · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:24 pm

another thought... I'm pretty sure the solid pros who aren't quite as recognizable like Benton (hi Benton) don't want the tourists at the table to know he is a pro. I'm pretty sure he faces plenty of noobs at his 5/10 action and would not be happy if the dealer all of a sudden said, "hey benton how much money did you make this month?"

robvegaspoker · **Posted:** Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:19 pm

Excellent point. Vook. I've mentioned before that I'm a bit concerned that where I play most often, I'm so well known by all the dealers I might be sending signals to the other players that I don't want sent. Actually, I just blogged about such an instance. I commented that I knew the dealer's day off, and another player felt intimidated by that.

I guess that she took my familiarity with the room to mean I played there a lot (true) and thus I was a pro or at least a very good player (not so true). I wonder if I should stop being so friendly with the dealers there?

OTOH, I might just fall into the category of being a bad enough player that having my opponents think I'm really good could work to my advantage.

lowballplayer · **Joined:** Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:51 pm **Posts:** 25

I do not currently play for a living but did for ten years. I almost always responded with the truth when asked but never brought the subject up at the table. I was playing at a higher level though(at least equivelent to 5-10nlh if not 10-20nlh.

BentonBlakeman · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:09 pm **Posts:** 1630

I have a built in excuse now with my son and just tend to say that Im a stay at home Dad. Before he was born i normally was honest (somewhat) but never replied "Im a Pro." My standard response was "I dont have a real job because i like to gamble too much. Im pretty much a degenerate." While this wasn't exactly the truth i felt like I wasn't lying to them about not working and gambling a lot but also didn't harp on the fact that I was a "professional." Normally when the dealers heard this they would just laugh which left the tourist puzzled but not curious enough to ask further questions. It also alerted the dealer to the fact that I didn't want my "business" to be talked about by them as most got the picture from my comments to the tourists.

oh yeah, and Hi Vook

Question for the pro's & semi-pro's

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