The game of poker has grown in popularity over the past few years as extensive media coverage, high value tournaments and the fairytale moments where unknown poker players become overnight millionaires have proven to be a very attractive proposition for recruiting new players. The fact that poker players can play live tournaments as well as online poker on a regular basis, gives them an opportunity to bring in revenue and take up poker as a full time career.
Angela Parker worked as a nurse in ER Trauma in a hospital in Houston, Texas and coped with all the pressure and stress that an ER job brings along with it. Parker was an amateur poker player and also a keen follower of the game, secretly longing to become a full time poker player. The 32 year nurse recently decided to give up her ER nursing career and take up a career as a full time poker player.
Parker is aware that being a full time professional poker player has its perks as one gets to travel extensively, play in beautiful hotels and work on their own schedule. However, the market is extremely competitive and if she does not do well at the table, she will not bring in any revenue. Parker was willing to take the risk and states that her ER job taught her how to handle stress and pressure and she will use that same mindset to sustain her at the poker table and help her during her down times. She currently plays a lot of low-stakes no-limit hold’em poker to make her living.
The former ER nurse believes that professionals who have worked in high pressured and stressful environments will be better equipped to play poker and deal with similar situations. She has drawn inspiration from another female professional poker player Kelly Minkin who took the 29th place at the 2015 WSOP poker and won $222,821. Parker says her biggest goal is to become the first woman to win the main event of the WSOP and is happy that the number of women who are taking up poker as a full time career is growing.
Parker has been playing poker for less than ten years and knows that she needs to work hard at her game for her to make it big on the poker circuit. She has hired a poker coach and is working hard on her poker strategy to play the big events. She says her current goal is to take it easy and ‘just get in there and have fun playing poker’
