Professional Poker Players

The game of poker is no stranger to western culture. From James Bond competing against the main antagonist in the 2006 movie Casino Royale, to the familiar oil paintings of Dogs Playing Poker by C.M. Coolidge. Poker is played in many different shapes and formats but most people are at least familiar with or recognize the variation called Texas hold ‘em. In this game the goal is to have the best five card combination from two face down cards dealt to a player and 5 face up cards shared by all players in the game, during which players have the option to strategically place bets in hopes of winning the round and therefore the bets of other players. This essay will be looking at factors and forces behind professional poker players who make an income through participating in monetary games of poker. Firstly, the global poker boom, increasing not only professional but casual poker players worldwide, ergo the amount of money available in the game. Secondly, in similar fashion, the impact that technology has had on the game of poker, both in popularity and the skill level of the average joe. The essay then goes on to analyse the social stigmas attached to full time poker players and critically break down the misconceptions. Lastly there is discourse on the gender disparity present in poker and reasons as to why there exists small proportions of women compared to men.

Though most professional poker players are not at all employed under contract, there exist many people in the world that make a living out of playing poker online or in casinos, doing so on a full time basis (McCormack & Griffiths, 2011; Siler, 2010). They earn an income in the game by carefully playing and betting with factors such as mathematical analysis, game theory, and other factors like psychology in consideration (McCormack & Griffiths, 2011), these acquired skillsets allow professional players to statistically win more hands in the long term and consequently more money, but often there is a risk of losing large sums in the short term (Vines, 2012). I think that Professional poker is interesting to look at because the idea of being able to make a living playing card games all day is comparatively in its’ infancy; it is a relatively new type of job and only picking up public traction within the last few decades. Another reason I have chosen poker is because it gives me a chance to evaluate the prospective of making a full time career out of my hobby, in being able to critically analyse topics and facets surrounding the occupation with not just anecdotal information but also empirical research to support.

One driving factor behind the increasing practicality of poker as a source of income is due to a phenomenon at the very beginning of the 21st century, known as the poker boom. Sharing the sentiment as the baby boom, in this period the game of poker experienced an unprecedented growth in players, popularity and coverage. During the poker boom, the World Series of Poker Main Event, which is the annual premier event of poker, though having a $10,000 entry fee, increased from a pool of 839 participants in 2003 to 5619 in 2005 (Cronson, Fishman & Pope, 2008) up to a peak of 8773 players in 2006 (Siler, 2010). One of the main reasons behind the occurrence of the Poker Boom was the advent of the “pocket cam”, which was a camera that allowed an audience to see a players’ hand of cards. This effectively turned poker into a viable spectator sport (Herbert, 2010) since this allowed viewers and commentators to be involved in following along each hand of players on the table. Another significant cause of the Poker Boom was undoubtedly Chris Moneymaker winning the Main Event of World Series of Poker 2003 (Duncan, 2014; Herbert, 2010; McCormack & Griffiths, 2011). In what is colloquially known as the “Moneymaker Effect”, the surprise victory of the amateur player at the time over other established professional poker players garnered staggering amounts of media coverage for the event (Duncan, 2010) and inspired many viewers to try their hand at the game. From these two reasons and the resultant Poker Boom, the increasing amount of money involved in the sport allowed more opportunity for skilled players to solely depend on poker winnings as their primary income.