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:
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.
kessler definitely has income coming outside of poker or just has a lot saved updoing what he does gives him notoriety - look, there's a freakin thread that's derailed to himhe's a known entity in the poker world despite being a loser playerhe would not get this kind of social recognition if he just spent his days at a golf coursesame exact reason why so many people who don't n
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
https://x.com/chainsawtrackerin a casual glance, it doesn't look like he's had a winning year in over a decade
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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.
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.
his sister is worth millions and owns her own company and put him on payroll, he talks about this in an article where he's featured by some poker magazine after having his first ever winning series
his sister is worth millions and owns her own company and put him on payroll, he talks about this in an article where he's featured by some poker magazine after having his first ever winning series
"Long-time poker pro Allen Kessler never had the respect of his peers — but that all seemed to change after the 2010 World Series of Poker"
Well he still doesn't.
Grinding poker seems so 2010's now. Seems quaint like AOL and flip phones.
Where did all your poker grinders go over the years?
I'd think stocks, crypto, sports betting all scooped up the poker degens over the last decade
Does anyone know if Kessler grinds online?
Do many of these live tournament grinders play online? Seems like it would just be more convenient playing on ACR and maybe Bovada or Betonline or the legal online site and mixing the other sites? In Vegas, you could play on the the legal sites and which offshore ones? I heard you can't play on ACR but lot of people seem to be playing there while in Vegas? What about in Michigan? I know the issue with playing on the legal sites is volume as it would be hard to make much since there just isn't that big of prize pools.
I know Erin Baldwin seem to be someone who always plays lot of live tournaments and I believe he plays on Wsop online as well for tournaments but does he play on ACR or Betonline or Bovada? If someone lives in Vegas, it makes sense to play both or you could play lot of live tournaments only as that seems to be the only place you could possibly do it. But what about people who travel the circuit throughtout the US and plays circuit tournaments? Those players I would never get because traveling all those stops costs a lot in travel fees that it would just seem very hard to profit in it when you factor that into it. Then you factor in hotels and cabs and food. If someone lives in Vegas and plays live tournaments strictly, well they probably earn lot of comp dollars or they could just bring some food with them in those backpacks that many seem to have. Does anyone know of any live tournament pros that are profitable doing this for many years and doing so while traveling the circuit? Can't imagine more than a few total.
Kessler must love the lifestyle - traveling tournament to tournament, getting comped rooms/free meals, etc. He must see this as more of a lifestyle than a means to making money - good for him if he's happy but seems depressing to me.
Yea, I dunno. I personally love the "gambling life" and if I wasn't dumb when I was younger I would definitely want to do it. ****, if I didn't have a gf and a dog I'd still consider it-only for a while.
As mentioned, I don't think is realistic unless all your travel and food is paid for. Those expenses eat up any real ROI you have
