As a former professional poker player, Matt Maroon got a lot of enquiries from people asking him if they should ‘go pro’. Now an entrepreneur, he gets similar enquiries from people asking him whether they should start their own company. He discusses the similarities between pro poker and start-ups in A Little Better Advice.
My goal was to help them at least realize that going pro means a hell of a lot more than just quitting your job and gambling all the time. And it even means a lot more than just being good at poker, because something like 30% of people are winning players, but only a tiny fraction of them could successfully do it for a living. Success as a professional is more about bankroll management than poker skill, and avoiding going broke is a lot harder to do well than beating a $10/$20 game.
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They’re not really looking for a yes or no answer. Most of them are just thinking out loud or looking for confirmation of the decision they’ve already made.