Being involved in the business side of poker for several years I have seen many friends experience both the highs and lows of this great game. Likewise there was a time in the beginning when I thought it would be fun to play poker for a living. I think everyone has that thought in their first year or so at the tables, especially after their first big cash.

Everyone sees the “T.V. Pro’s” especially, or the guys online with $200K in front of them and thinks, “that has got to be the best job in the world.” After attending my first PGA Golf event this week, I can tell you that being a professional poker player is nothing compared to even being a B-Level PGA golfer.

Although even golfers have swings (no pun intended), their bankroll is always rising. Likewise, instead of sitting behind 2 or 3 computer monitors every day grinding it out, they are playing the best golf courses in the world. All this while some guy carries their clubs for them and masses of people follow them down the fairways cheering for them. After the round, regardless if they cashed or not, they go into the country club for the royal treatment. They get beers served to them and get to bullshit with the rest of the pros. I’m sure between all the autographs and old men giving high fives, there is also a fair amount of nice looking women that they can score with. How many degenerate online poker players do you know, even if they are making shit loads online that are getting this type of treatment.

Another thing that blew my mind at this golf event was seeing that most of these dudes have their own rock star style tour buses. To have a tour bus that takes you from event to event must mean you are balling pretty hard. What’s amazing is many of these guys are making mid six figures so far for the year and have not even placed in the top 10 of any one single event. When looking at the PGA Money list for 2007 you can see even the B-Level pro’s are making pretty damn good money for only 7 months into the year.

I guess it would be easy to look at a professional in any sport and see what a great life it is. But there is no comparison to being a pro golfer. You’re not getting beat up on a grid iron, or sweating your ass off at some training camp all spring. You simply go out and play a game you love on the best courses in the world. All this with really no risk of going broke any time soon.

Even if you’re rolling like Gus Hansen or Sbrugby, being a professional golfer has still got to be better than sitting on your ass all day calculating odds.

That’s it for this post….. Just a quick observation of the differences between playing poker professionally and playing golf professionally. For the time being I still suck at both so don’t expect to see me rolling in a tour bus or sitting at the $300-$600 anytime soon.

In every Las Vegas casino, there lies a room for slot players that is the equivalent of Bobi’s Room for the highest limit poker players. In these rooms gamblers have the chance to win and lose thousands of dollars with the simple push of a button or pull of the handle. Your typical Las Vegas slot player is the type that probably shows up with $500 and a players card. These are the type you hear in the buffet line speaking about how they start with $100 each day in their left pocket, and the precede to put any winnings into their right pocket.

In all honesty if you are going to Las Vegas in this day and age with only $500 to spend, allow me to make a suggestion, Go to the Moonlight Bunny Ranch and look up Bunny Love. This will be such a better investment than sitting at the same 25 cent Red,White, and Blue machine waiting to strike it rich. Plus you’ll have a memory that you’ll never forget. Whatever you do though, avoid Airforce Amy at the ranch, she looks like she could be a real crazy bitch if you caught her coked up or on the wrong day.

Anyhow, back on to the high limit slot talk. Most of these Las Vegas tourists stroll past the high limit slots and wonder, “Who would actually play those things”. **Hand raised** I’m actually not a regular high limit slot player, but I would say I dabble in the field a bit more than anyone else. My high limit slot degeneracy all started in 2004 when I hit a $10 spin for $30,000. I’ve never been right since then.

But here are my thoughts on all this. Usually I don’t mess with the high limit slots unless I am up a dime or so, usually from poker. Now most professional poker players would frown upon this as they would see it as a “mini T.J. Cloutier move.” But with me, I am not trying to grow or conserve my bankroll……hell I don’t even have one. I am not a professional gambler, I am not a business man either. I AM a business………..man.

Working in the poker industry for the last 5+ years it has become clear to me that barely anyone, myself included has appreciation for the value of money. I have thought about this often over the years, but even more so lately. The subject was fresh on my mind again after an incident yesterday on the golf course. The shaft on my Tight Lies 3 wood snapped in mid swing! This in itself is pretty amazing considering my club head speed is that of an 80 year old man.

Anyways when I went to the pro shop afterwards I found myself pondering if it was really worth spending an EXTRA $45 for the premium graphite shafts. What the hell is the matter with me. The night before I played in a $50 sit and go, donked out first, and thought nothing of it. By no means am I a big player like some of the other bloggers here, but I have had my fair share of swings in the $1k - $4k range for a single session. Luckily I am at a stage in my professional life that a few swings like this once in a while are not going to make a difference in my net worth or lifestyle. The fact that I can win or lose this much without feeling any pain, makes a $45 decision about a golf club so negligible. Yet somehow it still troubled me on why I didn’t just say, “yep gimme the best shaft you have.”

It’s just bizarre to me how poker players can win or lose what is some other people’s 2 week paychecks in a single session. Yet when we have to deal with money in the real world we can fret over decisions that are $100 or less.

I think many poker players that play at any level over $2-$4 are like me and have delusional views of the value of money. For instance, if you lost your $215 buyin playing in the Sunday Million, would you pissed off all day? Probably not, as you expected this was likely to happen. Now let’s say your wife came home and showed you her manicure/pedicure and knew hairdo that she got done on a whim, with a price tag of $215. Most guys would be like wtf? Actually maybe not, (letting your wife spend freely on herself is such +EV for later on in the evening.) But you can see the rationale here….Either way it is $215. Why is different if it leaves your possession at a poker table versus somewhere in the real world.

On the topic of the value of money, it just baffles me when I hear people speaking about saving 10% on a $20 item, and that’s why they waited to purchase. Or the people that drive 8 extra miles to save .05 a gallon on gas. Somehow though, more people in the U.S. have this mindset than the mindset most gamblers have. Although I suppose these people also don’t know the feeling of either winning or losing $1000 in 1 hour playing a game on the internet.

All in all, my conclusion is that we all need to seek a few sessions with Dr. Melfi and get our heads screwed on straight when it comes to the value of a dollar in the real world versus the poker world.

Finally I have found a home to blog my inner most thoughts……well actually probably more random B.S. than anything. I have been looking for a spot to blog for quite some time now. When my friend Beanie started up this site, I figured AlwaysBluff would be the perfect spot.

Many people might find it odd that I wouldn’t blog on one of my own sites considering I have too many to count now days. However the problem with writing a blog on a site like PAW is there is too much politics. Imagine if I ripped one of my affiliate partners on my own site. Likewise all my posts would have to pertain to poker affiliate jargon, and that could get quite boring.

As an introductory blog post, I suppose I could share who I am. Although I guess it would be funner to just post and let you (the reader) figure it out. Some of you may remember a guy in 2005 that was going to play in the WSOP dressed as a pink bunny. Well as much as I hate to admit it, that dumb ass was me.