How to play poker and win

Good morning Dinks.  I don’t know if I ever told you about my poker clients, but I don’t think so, so now I am going to tell you because my poker clients make thousands of dollars each month, all from the comfort of their own homes.  These three young men play poker for a living; they don’t have part time jobs or any other jobs.

All they do is play poker, make money and travel to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker tournament every summer.  These three young men are professional poker players, that’s how they make their living; they make approximately $120,000 per year playing poker.  Oh and did I mention they are 3 college dropouts and they are only 22 years old.

Poker is just a game, or is it?

I have seen the World Series of Poker on TV, but I’ve never actually met anyone who makes their living – and a good living at that – by playing poker.  So I asked my clients “how did you start playing poker?” and they all had the same story.

All three boys started playing poker in college as a way to make some extra money or as a way to make new friends.  They started winning and quickly became addicted the adrenaline rush of winning money without actually having to “work” for it, that they dropped out of college to become full time poker players.

Poker is a business just like any other profession

This is the case for so many people, sometimes we don’t end up being in the profession that we planned, and sometimes we just fall into a career and then fall in love with it.

My clients chose to play poker for a living and at the end of the year their balance sheets are in the black. However not every day at the office is great.  One client says that the difference between playing poker and having a “real” job is that some days he ends up losing money, that doesn’t happen to those of us with 9 to 5 salaried jobs.  But it can happen to anyone who is self employed – regardless of your profession.

The key to being successfully self employed is to not bet all your money and always keep a reserve to make sure you always have money.  Don’t spend money that you don’t have.  One of the main reasons why start up businesses go broke is because they spend money too quickly before turning a sustainable profit.

How to always make a profit in a risky business

My clients keep their poker business profitable because they treat their winnings like a salary.  After all, playing poker is just like running any other kind of business.  They allocate a portion of their winnings towards long term investments, a portion for daily living expenses, a portion in short term cash for emergencies and a portion in reserve to keep on betting.

The key to never going broke when you are self employed is to stick to your budget and don’t be tempted to spend money that you don’t have.  Being in debt is not the way to run a business and racking up personal debt is not the way to gamble responsibly.

Photo by ImagesofMoney

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.