Becoming a pro 30 years ago

[Gusborgs22]

I was wondering, how old school pro's become what they are in the old times?
No internet, no coaches, no videos, no foruns, no freerolls.
Like, if you live in a small town with 1 casino: 3 MTTs in a week
Moving to Vegas? Spending months in casinos watching great players?

 

[Lena M]

Hello.
I think that the players who really dreamed of becoming professionals were ready for anything, including moving to another city, such as Vegas.

 

[abgvedr]

I was wondering, how old school pro's become what they are in the old times?
No internet, no coaches, no videos, no foruns, no freerolls.
Like, if you live in a small town with 1 casino: 3 MTTs in a week
Moving to Vegas? Spending months in casinos watching great players?

Yeah well i think game was a bit different back then. Not so agressive. Less people really knew whats going on.
And also poker is not like rocket science its prety basic maths here. So if you smart enough you could understand it without no coaches.
And also life 30 years ago was really different overall.
Its like on some meme picture i saw
30 yr old man in 1980 - 2 kids good job and a house
30 yr old man in 2030 - "Mommy whats for dinner today"

 

[abgvedr]

Also, this is weird. So many old school folks here and nobody can talk about how poker was 30 yrs ago?

 

[Pokerstudy]

Old Poker pros today, negotiating hotel room rates lol
https://www.hospitality-school.com/hotel-room-rates/

🤔

 

[neptun1914]

I recommend you to read Doyle Brunson's autobiography book. It is very interesting and show how poker transformed from 1950s till modern era.

 

[Collin Moshman]

Interesting question. I think the main ways would be:

** Individual study: Thinking through the game yourself and implementing different ideas with trial and error.

** Networking: Talking with other winning players about strategy

** Reading: There was poker literature back then, such as Super System which Doyle had already written 30 years ago.

 

[Zvezda kz]

I think all the same in every town there were many games among friends or colleagues, in a friendly atmosphere, for spending an evening with loved ones. Well, as far as I read some biographies of famous players, many were played by relatives who taught them the basics of poker, and they also traveled to cities where they played poker in local casinos.

 

[eniseysmail]

They are probably now called professionals. I think that ordinary players used to play live poker. Some ordinary player won a tournament - then, probably, it was considered that you were cool and a pro.

 

[sharipov8090]

yes, these times now seem fabulous and not a lot strange.people without much information played at the level of professionals.And this once again tells me that I need to learn to play without auxiliary programs.

 

[casique31]

Your post got me thinking. The first thing is that if they learned in a casino how many hours away from home, unlike us who can always play for hours at home, this probably created some personal and family problems that they surely must have gone through. They must have been very committed to their dreams of becoming professionals.

 

[zerosalex]

live cash games and lucky at big tournaments. live cash game is an easy way to make good consistent money if you know what you are doing. but instead of playing for $100 play for $1000 at least then work your way to eventually sitting down with at least 10k knowing you will make a profit no matter what. again you have to know what you are doing.

 

[DS3]

I believe one aspect which no one has underlined so far was that they were gamblers plain and simple. They were attracted to poker because they were driven to gamble and poker makes as much sense as anything if you were inclined that way.

The game has changed immensely over the past 30 years and although some will still claim all poker players are gamblers period, I argue otherwise. It is a way more diverse game these days with many who came to poker via computer/strategy games, other with an academic interest in math and statistics and then those who love the game but are not interested in gambling generally.

I think the old school guys were mostly attracted to poker by the compunction to gamble.

 

[Pokerstudy]

I believe one aspect which no one has underlined so far was that they were gamblers plain and simple. They were attracted to poker because they were driven to gamble and poker makes as much sense as anything if you were inclined that way.

The game has changed immensely over the past 30 years and although some will still claim all poker players are gamblers period, I argue otherwise. It is a way more diverse game these days with many who came to poker via computer/strategy games, other with an academic interest in math and statistics and then those who love the game but are not interested in gambling generally.

I think the old school guys were mostly attracted to poker by the compunction to gamble.

I 100% agree, I took the path as a news photog instead, but in reality, everyday was an adventure vs trade off for money gain...not so much from a gambling perspective, but just uncertainty. Same reason I drove 5k rides for Uber..which really was not much different than being a news photog in terms of the crazy shit etc...Poker brings out that same kind of emotion I suppose! The fun and adventure! Those guys had a natural instinct to just have a good time and live on the edge a bit, but not stupid enough to 'only' gamble. Only idiots like Stu Ungar (although an amazing poker player) went down that path back in the day with sports betting.

I will never gamble, have zero interest in it. Poker to me is not gambling, it is knowing what you are getting into and moving on if you lose. 80% skill 20% luck.

 

[GARCIA PABLO DANIEL]

hello

I believe that those old school professionals have pursued their dreams and with a stroke of luck and knowledge of the game they will achieve their goals. I am happy for them. I hope we can achieve it in these times that are more difficult.