So I was thinking about how much poker playing mirrors traditional career paths.
It goes like this:
1st phase trad. career- You are a kid.. you see your dad doing some work at home.. you learn the basics of what he is doing. You learn how to write, keep notes, keep a schedule.
1st phase poker career- You see your dad playing cards with his buddies. You learn the values of each cards.. the hand rankings from high card A all the way to royal flush.
2nd phase trad. career- You turn 14 and start investigating your college career. You read about how to get experience to ready you for the real world.
2nd phase poker career- You read a beginners book on poker for a high school book report. You find FTR but are completely clueless as to what people are talking about so you bookmark it and go away.
3rd phase trad. career- Your dad tells you about how to do good at a job. He tells you to always be on time, work attentively and hard, and obey the company rules.
3rd phase poker career- Your dad teaches you the ABCs of poker.
4th phase trad. career- You get your first job at 16. You make minimum wage and are hating life but you stick with it. You learn a lot about discipline and as you go the job gets easier because you become more skilled at the mundane things your do. Because you work harder and better than your co-workers, your boss writes you a letter of recommendation for your college application.
4th phase poker career- You use $10 to deposit onto a poker site. You grind 2NL, make a minimum amount of money but because you follow the ABC poker strategy. You learn a lot about discipline and soon the money comes easier because you are becoming more skilled at the basics of poker. You slowly but steadily increase your BR to about $125 over a few months. In a home game a more skilled friend notices how much better you have gotten and recommends you go to this website he really likes. You discover FTR again.
5th phase trad. career- You head off to college to learn a trade so you can make more money. You get a better paying internship but it challenges you more. You stick with it, though, and are much better off because of it. The college years fly by and soon you graduate and get your first real job.
5th phase poker career- You devour all of the guides and posts on FTR and learn about BR management. You move up to 5NL and although the going is tough at first, you find you are making money much faster than 2NL. Your BR increases to $300 pretty quickly.
6th phase trad. career- Your first job pays pretty good, but man you hate being at this entry level position. Everyone seems to pile all the crap work on your desk and your boss seems to pick on you. You really aren’t learning anything else and feel like you are stagnant. You go through bouts of depression and finally contemplate quitting.
6th phase poker career- You move up to 10NL and at first it pays better, but then a bunch of strange crap happens. Variance strikes and you meet your new boss.. Mr. Tilt. You blow $200 in 2 days and wonder what the hell is going on. You feel like you are going backwards and didn’t learn anything. You go through bouts of depression and finally contemplate quitting.
7th phase trad. career- You decide that this job isn’t for you. You feel you can do better with more education and this time towards something you know you will love. Your dad was an independent contractor and loved what he did.. you already know a lot about it, so you apply to a technical college and with your college degree and recommendations you easily get in. You get a side job that doesn’t pay as much as your last one, but it doesn’t matter to you. You actually feel like you are getting somewhere now.
7th phase poker career- You decide that you can’t stand this anymore. You feel you will do better if you educate yourself more on the game. So you buy a couple of poker books recommended on FTR and read them front to back twice. You read some of the more advanced articles on FTR and suddenly they make more sense. You learn about equity and ranges. You go back to 5NL and suddenly things seem so easy now. You fly back up to a $300 bankroll.
8th phase trad. career- In your semester of tech school you get a job as an apprentice with a good independent company. The pay is comparable to your job in phase 6, except now you really like what you are doing. Your “boss” isn’t near as tough on you and gives you hands on knowledge on how to conquer your chosen career path. The classes are all hands on and you learn a gazillion more fast!
8th phase poker career- You move back to 10NL with renewed confidence. Now you aren’t crushing the game yet but you are a solid winner. You build the roll to $700 in a few months. All the time you are studying FTR and a few other books. Your boss “Mr Tilt” still visits every so often, but now since you understand equity.. you know variance is a normal thing that happens to everyone. You make friends with a couple of guys that play high stakes. You have a few sweat sessions with them and learn a gazillion more fast!
9th phase trad. career- You graduate and already have a job lined up doing sublet work for a medium sized company. You are making twice what you made in your tech school apprenticeship and feel liberated. You work out of your home and don’t have a boss breathing down your shoulder. Life is good.
9th phase poker career- You move up to 25NL and are a marginal winner.. but the money is much better already! With rakeback you are making $15/hr and making a nice side income… and you never have to leave home to play. Life is good.
10th phase trad. career- You meet someone and get married. The job doesn’t seem to pay enough to support a family now.. so you pick up a few more hours and once again the job isn’t so fun anymore. Your work quality deteriorates and the company decides to stop sending you work. You are unemployed!
10th phase poker career- You decide that maybe there is something to this poker pro stuff! You decided to start playing more and make it more of a real job. Things are great for a couple of weeks. You are on track to make $2k your first month as a poker “pro” and you have now moved up to 50NL. Then, in your third week you begin to get tired. You have neglected working out and eating right. Suddenly variance bites you in the ass hard. You are deep on two tables and get coolered on both. Suddenly your old friend Mr. Tilt drops by for a visit and when he leaves he takes all of your month’s earnings with him. You have to move back down or risk going broke!
11th phase trad. career- After floundering around for a couple of months, you and your wife have a heart to heart and you suddenly realize what’s important. You sell your house and downsize and get another job with a smaller company. The pay is a little less, but you feel much more comfortable.
11th phase poker career- You post about what’s going on with you on FTR. Everyone on the site has been there so they offer good advice. You decide to spend more time studying and taking care of yourself and cut your playing hours back. You decide to get nittier with your bankroll and start over at 25NL playing less tables. You are making slightly less money at first, but are much more comfortable.
12th phase trad. career- You steadily increase your work and get your own apprentice. He works for you and you pay him 50% of whatever he does.. thus increasing your own pay by 50%! After a few years you are no longer doing the work yourself but have 5 people working under you. You come to the office and review what they do for 4 hours a day and that’s it. Life is great.. you spend more time with your family and only work when you want to.. not because you need to.
12th phase poker career- You gain more and more experience and soon realize now YOU are the one giving advice to people on FTR. You spend about a year at 100NL making a decent living and then give midstakes a try with 50 (!) buy-ins. At 200NL, you have a downswing immediately but are able to work through it because of your good BR management skills. Rakeback makes you a small winner for a few months and then, through good diligence and study you have your first 20k month and there’s no looking back. Life is great. You travel the world and play in some big live tournaments a few times a year. You play poker for a living online about 30 hours a week. You spend as much time with your family as you want and only grind when you want to.. not because you need to.
Sure there are a lot of sub-phases in there.. and everyone’s experience is different. But it seems like this is pretty close to what successful people/poker players all go through to succeed.
The main idea of the post is that the great majority of us have to "pay our dues." The way to get rich quick is to do it slowly.
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