Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
With the phenomenon of internet poker reaching a good few years of maturity, it is interesting to see the types of lifestyles that are developing with many of the young online poker pros that are now dominating the game. Many see this as very similar to super star athletes and how they handle their lives and new found wealth.
Consider the fact that many of the online poker pros are actually only 18 or 19 and have discovered that by playing good poker, they are actually earning almost US $250,000 a year instead of the usual $40,000 job that everybody else is getting use to. This leads to many of the similar symptoms that are found in many star athletes. All the bad things like drugs, unsustainable spending, depression, etc. Many young pro poker players actually do not realise that there is an estimated life span of a poker player of only 12 years and that burn out is actually an extremely common problem amongst the pro poker playing community. Some young players over spend on the initial success and end up being broke, whilst others turn to drugs to soothe their social isolation.
The moral of this story and increasing disturbing phenomenon is similar to how it works out with all other fields of high income like high income jobs and sports. The best thing to do is to always try to look for balance in life. Many poker players do their best to find other hobbies to keep busy. Some poker players involve themselves in more charity work to keep their minds refreshed whilst other poker players will switch between playing live, travelling and just sitting in front of the computer all day, knowing that they are keeping life fresh and exciting and avoiding an monotonous repetitive lifestyle.
