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Fortune Small Business (FSB) has a one pager in their print mag about Annie Duke. It was a pretty interesting read. She grossed $538,000 last year. She won $340,000 in tourney action but reimbursed a backer $200,000 in tournament fees and split the winnings leaving her a net of $70,000 in tournament winnings. Yes, Annie Duke, one of the world’s best players net $70,000 in tournament play after entering 20 tournaments. She actually did much better in cash games netting $120,000. She earned $48,000 in consulting which just about covered her travel expenses and she earned another $38,000 in appearances. So overall she nets out around $228,000. That also doesn’t count her child care costs which she estimates at $48,000 a year but anybody could have child care expenses so I don’t really count that as a cost of doing business specific to poker.
Now don’t get me wrong, $228,000 a year isn’t exactly bad money but it’s not much better than minimum wage for the NFL or NBA. Heck, during the dotcom boom I knew consultants who were making that kind of money on a pretty regular basis without the swings that are normal in poker. Maybe as the game gets more popular and increased exposure the average earnings of better players may increase but for now, it’s certainly no easy money.
What many people (especially rookies) forget is the fact that professional players are sponsored and therefore can survive practically every downswing cause there gonna be stacked again if they need to. “Normal” players cant, so its advisable to ask for a sponsorship from… lets say, your local musicstore or something 😉
Good post. I think she probably makes a lot more in cash games/side games/home games that she does not report to the Federalies. I’m not calling her a tax cheat, but I’ve bartended from time to time and I always lowballed my tip income. A few thousand here or there adds up after a while.