Interesting topic.
I sincerely believe with all my heart that gambling works best as a "part-time" job -- for supplemental income. In fact, it's a noble virtue -- certainly wiser than golf, tennis, or other recreational activies which cost money but have no possibility of generating income (Don't get me wrong, I love golf, I'm just saying that paying $4,000 in clubhouse dues and greens fees is looked upon as "normal" while sports investing is still an "outlaw" activity -- the hypocracy!). People out there watching sporting events and not having money on the outcome (non-gamblers) are wasting their lives away, in my view. Spend 20 hours a week in front of the TV with no money on the games? WHAT'S THE POINT??? Why not take that knowledge and experience, work a bit and make a few extra hundred a month? That's my belief. WHY MORE PEOPLE DO NOT GAMBLE is a complete mystery to me. It's baffling!
Okay, I got that off my chest, now to your questions.
I cannot tell you the vast degree of difference between HAVING A JOB and gambling on the side, versus having ZERO income and having to rely on ALL of your income from gambling.
It's like the difference between playing slow-pitch softball versus the major leagues.
Since my gambling activities date back to 1985, nine of those sixteen years I had a job. Having a job meant I NEVER had to worry about a cold streak, because if I went bankrupt (yes, folks that happened a few times back in the 80s), I could just wait for another paycheck to come in and be back in action. But if you go bankrupt (or hit a horrible steak) and you have no other income, you are either in the flophouse, or forced to pull out the Want Ads. Horror of horrors! A job! Eeeeeek!
The trouble with having a job for me was that I tended not to take gambling as seriously. Since there was not as much pressure to perform, I was lax in my research and played looser with my money. I bet for action, instead of income. I would shoot craps and do all kinds of stupid things (remind me to tell the story of how I got buried $35K in casino credit lines one time -- that NEVER would have happened if I was a full-time gambler). When I have a fixed income, I have to do my homework. No work. No eat. And, I like to eat. ANd, I like to play.
I will share with you this -- that my various writing assignments bring me about $2000 income a month -- which is my monthly nut (no frills -- just pays the bills). I need another $20-25K a year to survive -- which comes all comes from gambling (which means I need to produce about $2K on average). I have found that having about 50 percent of my income from gambling is a nice compromise (for me). The alternative was just too much pressure -- especially while married (single, it was much easier). Of course, everyone is different -- some people need $80K a year to live on. Others need $20K and they are happy as clams. I guess I fit somewhere in the middle.
Pepin brings up several good points about gambling's downsides. The wonderful thing for me about having both POKER and SPORTS is that if I feel a burnout on opne of them coming, I just shift to the other. I also find this tend to "energize" me and I approach each with a new found enthusiasm when I make the transition. When I was getting crushed in the NBA for one month this season, when I lost like 24 of 28 and that cost me about a quarter of my bankroll, I simply said STOP! I took a month off, went to LV and CA and played poker for three weeks -- 70 hours a week. Came back with the money. By that time, I was tired of poker and ready to take on sports again. NHL playoffs and baseball started. Perfect timing. See what I'm getting at?
My point is -- since EVERYTHING is monotonous after awhile, I love having CHOICES. Putting 80 hours a week one week, then taking the next week off, or playing less games -- or doing different sports, or playing poker, or going to Atlantic City, or Califonria, or Las Vegas. Or going offshore, Or betting futbol. I mean, CHOICES are the agent which maintains equilibrium.
So far as happiness -- a lot of it has to do with who you are and what you are comfortble with. I tend to have a very naturalistic outlook about life and could not care less about material things. Car is paid for (a 1995 van). No debts. Nothing really fancy in life, but we eat like kings and drink a bottle of good win every day. Go to Europe once a year. Spend three months on the road per year. I had a new Mercedes a few years ago -- but it was a headache (insurance, tax, and payments were like $700 a month). So, I got rid of it, and bought a used van with cash. Why drive a Mercedes, when I can drive a 5 year old car with no overhead? If I can travel around, go to Europe once a year, and spend time doing WHAT I want WHEN I want, that's a lot more important to me than brown-nosing some bosses azs every Monday morning. If I had to do that, I'd kill myself. I mean, I'd just take a knife and cut my throat. Working for a prick? Not for me. I'm going to do what I want. That's just the way I am. Some people are different, of course.
Do I get angry and frustrated with gambling? You bet! Do I get fed up with it? Yes, I do. But tell me a job where you don't have some kind of burnout fator? Doctors, lawyers -- they all have days when they just want to say "screw it!" Hell, I even heard the actress Julia Roberts talking about how "tough" acting is on the James Lipton progrma the other night. Makes $12 milion and bitches about working. Incredible. The key to success and happiness is having CHOICES in life. If you are boxed in, you suffocate. At least I do. DIVERSITY, Being able to shift gears and move when you have to.
One final word of caution: I have been married ten years to the same wonderful woman (she has worked at various times, but stayed off work the last three years). No children (by choice -- it's bad EV). Children would add a great amount of pressure to anyone that does this for a living, as I would say to gamble full-time professionally with young children would almost be impossible (it can be done, but I can count on one hand how many people are in that situation -- and they are ALL poker players). Another point -- It is NOT a profession I recommend, full time I mean. The downside is having no health coverage, no retirement benefits. I get no paid actions or holidays. And I have to write the IRS a big fact check every year.
Gambling for a livng CAN be done. But the price you pay is sometimes high. Thus I think compromise is best. What we poker players call "semi-pros are in the best situation of all. They have jobs, and then they supplement their incomes with something they enjoy. The same can be done with sports, as well.
As far as happiness, I appeciate Jack's nice words. I'm happy most of the time, but there's nothing more difficult to me than going 0-5 one night and having to turn on the computer and start doing 6 hours of homework for the next day's games. It's very difficult to stay motivated. THAT"S why most poeople don't make it in this business.
NOLAN DALLA
[This message has been edited by Nolan Dalla (edited 07-22-2001).]
[This message has been edited by Nolan Dalla (edited 07-22-2001).]
