How does the IRS handle professional poker players?

Question

These professional poker players who play all the time, how does that work with the IRS? Not tournament play. but high stakes cash games

Answer 1

The IRS treats it as if they were self-employed.  The players fill out Schedule C (Business Income) and Schedule SE (Self-Employment Taxes).

Also, as part of "the war on drugs", ANY time $10,000 changes hands, the IRS must be notified by the casino.  So in the big games where everyone brings in $100,000 cash to play, the IRS gets the final results from everyone at the table.  They don't need hand-by-hand results, but they get notified as each player cashes out.  There's no evading it.

Answer 2

A lot of them don't cash out unless they need money.  The casinos will store their chips for them, at least as long as they're regular players.  I've heard a lot of the big sharks have a couple mil in chips in a few different casinos at any one time.  They don't earn interest on the money, but they don't pay for anything at the casinos either.