Would you rather be a lawyer or a professional poker player?
For Alasdair Smith, it was an easy choice. The 28 year-old gave up a career as a litigation lawyer so he could devote more time to playing online poker.
According to Smith, he now makes 4 times as much as he once earned, now he makes more than 100,000 UK pounds a year. Smith is now setting aside part of his online poker earnings so he can pay for a course to become an airline pilot.
Before December ends, Smith will be flying to the Bahamas to take part in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, a poker tournament with a prize pool worth over $1 million.
"I enjoyed my job, but after I took up poker, I found I could make a lot more cash playing online than I ever would as a lawyer," Smith said.
"I have my heart set on being a pilot and this is my gateway to taking the course in Oxford," he added. "It costs 80,000 UK pounds, which is like a second mortgage really. The way things are going, I hope to be able to pay for it in cash pretty soon."
Smith said he began playing poker professionally a year ago, playing against other participants 4 days a week.
He said: "The trick to making decent money in poker is good discipline and knowing how to play good cards once you've got them.
As for Smith's career choice, he says: "I'm determined to get my pilot's license - but I'll keep playing poker."
February 04, 2007
John Tucker