Lee Davy continues his confessions series with an op-ed inspired by a 2+2 thread asking if poker players are especially self obsessed and selfish?

Whilst browsing 2+2 I read a thread called: Are Poker Players Especially Self-Obsessed and Selfish?

If that’s not worthy of a point of view I don’t know what is.

There are only a handful of poker players who have allowed me to peek under the hood. Most of them only show their shiny veneer. If you haven’t had a good look at the guts, it’s difficult to understand what makes a poker player tick. I am aware of the size of the sweeping arc my brush is about to make.

A lot of poker players are self-obsessed because they feel they need to be. If you want to be an outlier then you need to get 10,000 hours of practice in the books. You need to be self obsessed, you need to make sacrifices, and this means you have to be a little selfish.

There’s also the eternal search for sponsorship. Everybody has that dream. After Jason Somerville signed for PokerStars recently he said it was like the Holy Grail. These days, that comment could apply to any form of sponsorship. In a recent interview with Kristy Arnett she said, “It’s tough playing on your own dime.” She’s right. It’s one of the toughest aspects of professional poker.

Poker, especially tournament poker, is all about staying in the game. You know that if you stick around long enough you will eventually win that big score. You only hope that when it actually arrives it isn’t used to pay off your make up. This is why sponsorships are so important. They keep you in the game. You can spend your money on other important things like eating and paying rent.