Trooper Leaving Poker for Candy Business

So the Trooper posted this vlog today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV7yarUMXzU

He said he is tired of poker, and vlogging about poker. He is going to dedicate himself to the candy business he started with his girlfriend, Sparkli Sweets.

Trooper did pretty much invent the poker vlog. Other poker vloggers, who came after him, found more success and got sponsorships with poker sites (Andrew Neeme, Brad Owen, Rampage, Jeff Boski, others). These other vloggers were often better players and they also included hand breakdowns and strategy in their vlogs (which Trooper avoided).

Anyway, Trooper says he will still have his weekly games at the Westgate and will occasionally post a poker vlog, but for the most part, he is focused 100% on candy now.

One thing The Trooper might be overlooking is this, most of his candy customers were fans of his poker vlog. These fans would be in Vegas for a vacation and would pay high prices for his candy because it would be delivered to them by The Trooper himself. It was a chance to meet him and support his business.

Now if he is pretty much giving up poker vlogging, without daily videos people may forget about him, and not see any reason to buy overpriced homemade candy.

First time I watched this guy. His video is basically he has been getting crushed playing poker at the gig is up. Outside of a very select few, and I am talking about a very few, the failure rate of making a living playing poker for profit full time is less than 1%. For everyone one Daniel N there are 10,000 trying to be like him.

I'll never forget like 15 years ago or so I was in the Hooters poker room, yes I posted this before. I was sitting next to a former school teacher and he quit his job, quit his marriage, family, etc.. He moved out to Vegas with over $100K with illusions of making millions. He was down to his last $20K and living in one of those shady ass extended stay motels, where you get the dingy kitchen next to your bed.

Guy was completely demoralized. Later that night I went to the Hooters bar and just thanked the holy spirit I was not that guy. Just going to assume he killed himself.

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Originally Posted by tgull

First time I watched this guy. His video is basically he has been getting crushed playing poker at the gig is up. Outside of a very select few, and I am talking about a very few, the failure rate of making a living playing poker for profit full time is less than 1%. For everyone one Daniel N there are 10,000 trying to be like him.

I'll never forget like 15 years ago or so I was in the Hooters poker room, yes I posted this before. I was sitting next to a former school teacher and he quit his job, quit his marriage, family, etc.. He moved out to Vegas with over $100K with illusions of making millions. He was down to his last $20K and living in one of those shady ass extended stay motels, where you get the dingy kitchen next to your bed.

Guy was completely demoralized. Later that night I went to the Hooters bar and just thanked the holy spirit I was not that guy. Just going to assume he killed himself.

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Yes, respect I guess to grizzled vets like Druff and Crimm who scratch it out but I would immediately hels if a fortune teller were to tell me that would be my life - grinding it out in casinos with the dregs of society.

teachers are usually retards

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Originally Posted by lol wow

teachers are usually retards

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This is true for inner city teachers. With all that said, I actually felt bad for the guy. First I took like $200 off his stack, but he was literally depressed that he risked it all, quit his family and was sitting in a Hooters poker room. Then staying at a non chain extended stay had to be the worst. But when I dropped $70 at the Hooters bar on wings and beer I actually began looking for him again to make another meal out of it, but the dealer said he left after busting.

bro

First vlog Trooper released of his new career:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78gt7pfjlCU

Ha, good clip. So, in 2024, does that candy man come off a little like a pedophile? Also, those kids never pay for the candy bars...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tgull

First time I watched this guy. His video is basically he has been getting crushed playing poker at the gig is up. Outside of a very select few, and I am talking about a very few, the failure rate of making a living playing poker for profit full time is less than 1%. For everyone one Daniel N there are 10,000 trying to be like him.

I'll never forget like 15 years ago or so I was in the Hooters poker room, yes I posted this before. I was sitting next to a former school teacher and he quit his job, quit his marriage, family, etc.. He moved out to Vegas with over $100K with illusions of making millions. He was down to his last $20K and living in one of those shady ass extended stay motels, where you get the dingy kitchen next to your bed.

Guy was completely demoralized. Later that night I went to the Hooters bar and just thanked the holy spirit I was not that guy. Just going to assume he killed himself.

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Part of the problem is people who think tournaments are the be all end all. Truth is to make legit money in Poker you have to play cash games and be successful in them. They help fund your tournament play. While you will have ups and downs in cash its at least a decent shot to profit in a session.and long term. Tournaments unless your playing the local tournament dailys and crush them your not making any money and likely losing more often then not with them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ryback_feed_me_more

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tgull

First time I watched this guy. His video is basically he has been getting crushed playing poker at the gig is up. Outside of a very select few, and I am talking about a very few, the failure rate of making a living playing poker for profit full time is less than 1%. For everyone one Daniel N there are 10,000 trying to be like him.

I'll never forget like 15 years ago or so I was in the Hooters poker room, yes I posted this before. I was sitting next to a former school teacher and he quit his job, quit his marriage, family, etc.. He moved out to Vegas with over $100K with illusions of making millions. He was down to his last $20K and living in one of those shady ass extended stay motels, where you get the dingy kitchen next to your bed.

Guy was completely demoralized. Later that night I went to the Hooters bar and just thanked the holy spirit I was not that guy. Just going to assume he killed himself.

---

Part of the problem is people who think tournaments are the be all end all. Truth is to make legit money in Poker you have to play cash games and be successful in them. They help fund your tournament play. While you will have ups and downs in cash its at least a decent shot to profit in a session.and long term. Tournaments unless your playing the local tournament dailys and crush them your not making any money and likely losing more often then not with them.

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I am not sure why you think anyone can make money long term playing cash games. Yeah I get a few here and there do ok, but the majority and I am talking 95% get slaughtered. Who would ever invest in a business with a 5% chance of a return? Nobody.

There is a reason why all these poker pros we all saw on TV disappeared over the years. It's not because they retired. They either went broke or realized it was time to get out before they went broke.

I got out of the game because every night I was pulling out $5K, the next night I was leaving $5K. Over time the losses just built to where it overtakes your wins. Very few people are immune to the variance. A guy here and there maybe, but unless you have sustainable backers you are finished long term. The math just not work...for most

Trooper posted an update:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro5QxRlL1hI


He says that the poker games on the strip aren't fun anymore. He says some casinos, like The Horseshoe, have a 6+2 rake now. He says the players are different, less fun. He says he yearns for the 2008 era, when every casino had 2-3 tables filled with drunk tourists giving their money away.

So it boils down to--It's hard to make money now at poker.

Trooper is selling Sprkli Sweets candy at 3 farmers markets a week in Vegas and he is also doing drop-offs at hotels on the strip for people visiting Vegas. Their most popular item is Pecan Pralines. They look pretty good, to be honest. He has been posting videos of them trying to get the company off the ground. The videos are actually sort of compelling. They seem to be making money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp-nsJ_vClk&t=637s

So, big update. The Trooper is shutting down his candy business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE0vAwyKnTI

His business that made brittle and pralines and marshmallows, used to be called Sprkli Sweets and now is called Old School Candy Kitchen, is closing because the commercial kitchen space he was renting for $2900 a month in Vegas DOESN'T HAVE AIR-CONDITIONING.
The building only had a swamp cooler and thus the humidity was over 60% and he needs it to be under 35% to make his candy properly.

He says he can't find a replacement kitchen rental space, so he is throwing in the towel and selling all the expensive kitchen equipment he bought. The business lasted about a year and a half.

What will he do now? Who knows...

How could anyone be so dumb to rent commercial space in Vegas with no A/C?

Was he not aware of the 2 months of 110+ highs, and the other two months with 100+ highs?

This excuse might be bullshit or half bullshit. Usually these new business ideas are more dream than anything practical. The average schlub often has a "great business idea", gives up everything to start it, and then loses big $ and realizes it's hard to keep up with costs AND maintain a steady stream of customers.

That's why I always laugh at small business owners who chase me (and others) away due to perceived slights against their ego. If your demeanor and customer service skills are shitty, your business will 100% fail, unless it's not directly customer-facing, or unless your product/service is so amazing that people tolerate it (think Soup Nazi).

In this case, it looks to me that the candy thing just wasn't profitable enough. Rather than admit this idea was a flop, he's blaming a (likely partially true) issue with the AC.

At least he can go back to what he was formerly doing, whereas those who quit their jobs have a harder time doing that.

I have had friends/friendly acquaintances chase their dream by starting a business. I often see the fail coming, but I usually keep my mouth shut.

Yeah, it was mind-blowingly dumb that they didn’t find out about the air-conditioning issue with the kitchen space until after they had moved in and bought all the equipment and paid for all the inspections.

It does also seem like they felt like it was just too much hard work. They were cooking all the candy and then also selling it at outdoor farmers markets. Trooper mentioned that last summer was torture, standing around all day in 115 degree heat to sell $150 worth of candy in a day. Fewer people would go to the farmers markets in the summer, so he made much less then (but had to endure the killer heat).

He posted a short video a few weeks back with the message "Never Quit."

https://youtube.com/shorts/_pOugKwK2...Li6WSF0d-HpPdO

About a third of the commenters on The Trooper97Vlog page for The End... video are roasting him.

There is a chance this is an April Fools joke, but I don't think so. They moved their equipment out and he said he isn't going to any more farmers markets.

So Trooper is back to grinding poker and posting regular poker vlogs. He wins more sessions than he loses but he had a couple of big losing sessions and appears to be down $93 after the first month of play. Not an auspicious start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90OfRqd8Pag

People are wondering if he should maybe get a dealing gig during the series. (He used to deal at the Linq in 2015 or so). Other people are wondering if he will decide to pack it in and leave Vegas at some point...

I really enjoyed his vlog. he loved his ice coffee. Fav was mail time people would mostly send him coffee coupons. He stayed at the Sahara Motel raunchiest dump ever , he got a nice hotel room after a few years. He did a vlog on the 2plus2, people chased him off.

My response to poker pros who want to leave the game to start a "great" non-gaming business idea:

Don't.

How old is Trooper? He doesn't look young. Hopefully he isn't near busto.

He's 52.
(and finding it's hard to make a living grinding poker these days)

Trooper just had two losing sessions in a row and is down $587 for the last few months of his "Pro Poker Playing." Hard to pay the bills when you are losing at the tables...

The Trooper is down money-wise for poker this year. His new brilliant idea? To become an Advantage Play slots guy. Instead of saying Advantage Play, though, he refers to it as Action Pursuit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4hCPL-lYMA

He also has been feuding with Ryan DePaulo in a lot of his recent videos.

Trooper is going all in on Advantage Play slots and is telling people he is going to put less effort into his poker vlogging youtube channel. He says that people should go over to his Advantage Play ("Action Pursuit") channel. Trooper says slot machines are "100 times more fun than poker."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zihV_cPIN6Q&t=9s

I think Trooper's descent is interesting to watch.