Once again we find ourselves stumbling over this word. Let's go to
a dictionary for a little look-see. I'm using The American Heritage
version in which I find several relevant definitions
of "professional." Two address meanings of professional in its
adjectival usage: "Performed by persons receiving pay" and "Having
great skill or experience in a particular field of activity."
Another relates to one of the word's noun uses: "One who has an
assured competence in a particular field or occupation."
Based on these definitions (and I must confess that they certainly
convey the sense in which I usually understand the word "profession"
to operate), I would expect that most of those whom we have called
pro vp players are indeed pros. The problem is that those whom we
have heard called "serious recreational," or "advantage,"
or "knowledgeable" players so as to in some way distinguish them
from the "pros" are, in fact, pros also.
I offer myself and the lovely ML by way of illustration. Somewhere
along the line in the early 1990's we began to learn that vp play
offered the potential for winning casino play. By 1995, we were
quite skilled at several games and were keeping careful records. We
have never had a losing year since this epiphany, though two have
been unconfortably close and the jury is still out on this one which
could go either way. Nevertheless, though we have no intention
whatsoever of ever attempting to make a living at vp play, it would
be more than a little bit disingenuous for us to pretend that we're
not professional vp players. We clearly are and have been for quite
some time.
One prominent difficulty in understanding the notion of "being a
pro" in the sense in which I'm using it here is that so many people
confuse professionalism with the notion that it appplies only when
one makes one's living in the pursuit of a specific field. For
instance, I am now a fully retired Professor of English. There is
absolutely no doubt that I was a professional professor for forty
years. <g>
During all those years, I also wrote a wide range of published
materials from the academically esoteric to the more broadly-aimed
academic stuff (many of you know the fellow who wrote the mini-bio
for Robert Service in the DAB, for instance) to the blantantly pop
culture, gimme-the-money stuff (Casino Player, for instance). Not
for one moment have I ever pretended to make a living from my
writing, though much of it was for pay. (In fact, I have clearly
cautioned several of the vp writers who post on this board to avoid
getting tied into writing regular columns; that's a gig worse than
than Dante's trek through the Infernal regions. But nobody ever
listens!) But, to return, much of my writing was for pay, sometimes
quite handsome sums. However, though I was (and am) a professional
writer, I have never made a living from that endeavor.
Though one meaning of being a professional in any field is to make a
living from that activity, it is not the only meaning of being a
pro. I suspect that neither I nor ML will ever make a living at our
vp play, but have no doubts about it --- we are both professional vp
players. And so are many of you.
Pete