Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Player Classifications

First of all, Happy New Year to my devoted blog followers.  Speaking of New Year, attended a party held by daughter's friend, Helen.  Chatting with another guest, I told her that I had been at work earlier.  She asked where I worked and I said at the casino as a poker pro.  We had some discussion about that and she asked me how to determine that you are  pro.  I answered "it is my primary income", which is not true.  So, thinking more about poker player classifications, here is what I came up with.

Level 1
Recreational poker player, plays home games with friends.

Level 2
Occasional casino player, plays small tournaments with low buyins and sometimes limit cash games

Level 3
Regular small tournament player, plays smaller nl cash games.  Probably plays 3x week, holds regular job.

Level 4
Big game player, big buy in tournament player.  Probably plays several days a week but probably not only income source.

Level 5
Grinder.  Plays weak tournaments and small cash games.  Plays every day.  May make a living but probably not a good one.

Level 6
Pro.  Plays big cash games and big tournaments.  Makes a lot of money.  May not be well known.

Level 7
Touring pro.  Sponsored, travels world wide, lots of final tables at WSOP, recognizable name/face by most regular poker players.

Level 8
Poker degenerate.  Thinks about it all the time, plays online, plays as much as possible.

Where am I on this list?  Sort of a mixture.  I am not a big game player but like big tourneys.  Would be a grinder under different circumstances.  Definitely a poker degenerate.

One last thing about new year party.  Chatting with another guest about her being mauled by a bear when she was 10 years old.  How we got to that information I have no clue, but it was a crazy story.  I asked her if she saw "The Revenant", and she had.  Her memories of the mauling were thankfully faint and I didn't see the scars.  Lesson, never come between a mama bear and her cub, and don't run into the cub with your bicycle.





1 comment:

7 Dewey said...

I'm definitely a poker degenerate LOL but I also think you missed the "semi pro" category: Plays small & big tournaments & cashes frequently in both (more so in small tournaments) and plays cash games small and large. Holds a job. That's me.

Bears: I was about 10 years old when my family visited Yellowstone. Stayed in a cheap (but cool) cabin with bathrooms down the road about 100 feet. My sister (age 8) and I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night only to become stuck in stalls when a bear cub entered and being small persons we thought this to be a large bear LOL and we were pretty scared. My father came looking for us about 5 minutes later and shooed the cub away. No sign of the mother thank goodness. A lasting memory and thankfully nothing like a mauling.