Let’s be honest: not everyone plays poker to quit their job and go pro. If you look at ten years of Texas Hold’em, it’s crazy how much the level has risen and how big theory has become in the ecosystem—coaching offers (mental and technical), tools for players (HUDs, solvers), tons of strategy videos (YouTube, Twitch), plus all the Masterclasses.
You also need to know your opening ranges, your push-or-fold charts, and at least grasp things like bankroll management (BRM) and the Independent Chip Model (ICM) to optimize your play—especially your profit at the FT. Many young players start with clear goals: they want to crush the $1/$2 limits games, and once that’s done, move up.
Nothing wrong with that wave of new grinders who take poker very seriously—even making offerings to the GTO god. But they’re not the ones I want to talk about. I’m talking about the others, who in my view are the big majority: the people who play… for the fun of it.
Don’t talk to them about bankroll management. They never had a bankroll and never will. They have a poker budget. Different mindset. Just like they put money aside for a week in Marrakech or Costa Rica, they set aside an amount they can afford to spend at the tables. That changes their relationship to risk, because the idea of not winning is already priced in. If they win, great. If they lose, no big deal—that budget was made for that.
I know lots of these recreational players who only want a good time with friends or in online MTTs where variance is queen of the ball and loves to head-butt anyone who smiles too early preflop with a pretty premium, by cracking it with some junk like 8-5 offsuit.
These occasional players are amateurs in the original sense of the word—people who love the game. Of course they don’t try to lose, but their main goal isn’t to draw a perfect upward curve on SharkScope; it’s to have a good time, like watching a great movie. The difference with the cinema—where you rarely get a refund when it’s over—is that in poker, thanks to variance, even the newest recs (the “fish,” as the GTO crowd would say) can still finish ITM.
For a recreational player, poker is like riding a roller coaster at the fair. Pure play. Long live the recs who shout too loud when they go all-in when they shouldn’t—but who never forget that, deep down, it’s just a game. To hell with theory—long live fun… as long as there’s budget left for it.
Thanks you recreational players!
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