Deadspin article: "Why you'll never make a living playing live poker tournaments."
interested to see what the community thinks of this article, which was published today:
15 Replies
FWIW a $500 buyin tournament can still net you $15000-$25000 so these guys will play in buyins that small live action. Boski was playing in a $10 tournament on ACR with me last week.
amazing bump
Cliffs.
kessler definitely has income coming outside of poker or just has a lot saved up
doing what he does gives him notoriety - look, there's a freakin thread that's derailed to him
he's a known entity in the poker world despite being a loser player
he would not get this kind of social recognition if he just spent his days at a golf course
same exact reason why so many people who don't need money are happy to run small businesses which themselves may not even be profitable
so you can introduce yourself at
I assume he's easy clearing 70-120k in poker over the year and that's his main income and the fact has been grinding since the 90s i assume he has comps all over
I assume he's easy clearing 70-120k in poker over the year and that's his main income and the fact has been grinding since the 90s i assume he has comps all over
in a casual glance, it doesn't look like he's had a winning year in over a decade
Makes sense Kessler would become a big topic within this thread as he's probably the best example we have of what it would look like if someone grinded these things constantly for a long time
in a casual glance, it doesn't look like he's had a winning year in over a decade
Instafollowed
The Deadspin article "Why You'll Never Make A Living Playing Live Poker Tournaments" by Darrel Plant discusses the financial challenges faced by professional poker players focusing on live tournaments. The article highlights that more than two-thirds of top players at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) likely incur annual losses. Among the minority who do profit, approximately five out of six owe their profitability to a single large cash win. This underscores the reliance on infrequent significant payouts to offset consistent losses. Additionally, the article points out that the limited availability of smaller events with higher median payouts makes it difficult for players with a 25% return on investment to sustain a decent living
I think there are some pros now who could live off of Triton events only lol
You know you're old when you remember when this thread was started...
The good thing is Kessler lives dirt cheap between all the free comps and he prob has near zero expenses. The bad is he lights money on fire in poker and other games - not sure where he has the money to sustain this but it's sort of depressing to think about his existence.
