Being a professional poker player looks like it would be a fantastic job. On the televised poker tournaments, you are always seeing professional players walking away with huge winnings, sometimes as much as a million dollars. That is a lot of money for basically winning at a card game. Watching one of those tournaments, I’m sure that the thought crossed your mind that you could easily be a professional poker player. Well, maybe not easily, but with a little training and experience, what’s to stop you? And it would sure beat working 9 to 5 at the office.

I’ve had such thoughts myself. I even had big dreams of being this superstar poker player riding around in a limo on the streets of Las Vegas, splashing huge wads of cash to everyone around me. But before long, I snapped out of it. Because it’s just a dream, after all, and a ridiculous dream at that.

Of course, it’s not a totally impossible dream. There are, after all, real-life professional poker players. But believe, me, they don’t go around with their heads in the clouds, filled with dreams of glitz and glory. In fact, all of the successful pros I know are very down-to-earth people. That’s because they don’t treat poker playing as a game, but as a career, and like any other career, you have to work hard to get “promoted.” The do enjoy some of the glories and perks you would imagine, but on the whole, their lifestyles are a lot less glamorous that you might imagine.

First of all, professional poker players need to be very disciplined. Except for a few occasions playing with friends and family, they cannot afford to play poker for fun. Of course, they must enjoy playing poker, or why else would they do it, but they have to take each game very seriously. And given such an approach, playing poker can actually turn out to be quite tense and stressful, as the player has to be patient, alert, and controlled, and must avoid making mistakes.

And then, playing professional poker is costly, especially in the beginning. In poker, everyone starts out as a novice player. To develop the experience required of being a professional, you have to play hundreds of thousands of poker hands. You simply cannot win them all, so you will certainly lose money in the process. Eventually, you may earn enough to make up for any losses, but that could take a long time. And you also have to consider related costs, such as travel, food, drinks, and other expenses you may incur at a casino.

Wanting to be a professional poker player is a lot like being a musician or a stage actor. If that is your dream, then by all means go for it. But until you start tasting true success, don’t quit your day job.