Become a pro

[JiWe]

Ok Hi all, my first post here so bare with me.
I have search but not found any answer to my question, a question that may be a little silly.

What do you guys think is the lowest stake to play at and be a pro.

I mean that you don't have to become a millionaire to be a pro and that myselfe would consider myself a pro if I made $1500 a month thereby I wouldn't have to take a student loan that is about $1000 a month.

so what is the lowest stake to make this kind of money a month? are there some stakes thats just to much work to be a pro?

Cheers
/Joel
Ps. I blame my poor spelling on the fact that I'm a Swede.

[TrickyTree]

Im sure you could comfortaly make that kind of money playing either 3/6 or 5/10 if you can put the hours in a remain disciplined. But remember you must have a decent bankroll to attempt this. Dont use your student loan!!!!!!!!!!

[JiWe]

haha no worrys Im not planning to I just wondered. Im a begginer at the micro stakes so it will take years before I get a bankroll for 3/6

[Kaz The Original]

Multi tabling 2/4.

[Siingo]

If you have the dicipline and put down a litel time to study books about the game then it wont take years. I started at .5/1 with $37 ( and yes I was lucky in the begining ) in april this year and now I multi tabling 2/4 with a good bankroll for that limit. You can make that kind of money when you multi tabling 2/4 and still have time to study and some sparetime left. I too play becaus I do not want to take that sucky swedich student loan.... Suger att behöva betala hela XXXXX livet ( Swedish if anyone wonder )!!!

Good luck!

[sammy_g]

You could conceivably make $1500 a month multitabling .5/1 if you played full time. I really would not recommend this, though. Consider playing the Party 2/4 game.

[Airpoaneman]

Great point every1.

I just spent 5 hours last night typing up a 4 year plan while I am in college, not knowing the exact bb/h that I will be able to take in I was limited in my expectations.

(very minimal outline) If I start with .5/1 for say a month with 10/1 tournaments I can take my bank roll up to about $500.00 or so. I also am comparing how much I would make in a real job so I would be making about $6 and hour at this rate which is significantly less then a real job would pay. But after I fully gain the basics and move to 20/2 and 1/2..so on and so on. After the next month I will be making twice an 8 or 9 hour job would pay. And that is only in 1/2 and 2/4 games. Taking into consideration 200k, 250k, and Friday specials at Party Poker with minimal expectations I would easily make what I make in a month on one decent hit. Using sub-qualifiers I would need to win a FREE TICKET to the 200k,250k, or Friday once every 30 TRIES!!! to break even which is ridiculous. Given the added experience I will be able to successfully play 50/5 tournaments and 3/6 by 4 to 6 months. With an average of about 4-7bb/h (not sure if this is too high or too low of an expectation) I will have a bankroll of about 6,000 after 4 months taking out 1,500 for multi table tournaments which I am much better in then ring games. Even if my expectations are too high I still will be able to beat higher limit as my experience grows.

Along with college, 5 hours of study a day, 4 hours of cross country running, a few hours of Student Body work, hanging out, classes, sleep, and poker I will try to read one GOOD poker book a week( which should allow me to use more and more hard core strategy in my play).
College will be about $125,000. But if I apply and get an internship over the summers this company will pay for year 2 3 and 4. I will be working for them for a year after I graduate.

So I have about 30,000-50,00 to pay off.
Not including very small scholarships.

[radar5]

What..... Business slowing down at the ranch?

[47outs]

.50/1.00

[rjc199]

lol, you are in the same boat as me.

I'm 25 and planning on going back to school to get a M.S. in Comp. Sci (I have a B.S. in Eng. Sci). I have no background in programming so I'm basically going to take undergrad classes for two years. I have hardly any job skills so if I work it will be for minimum wage. I have no money to pay for school, and I can't apply for a loan because I won't be a degree student.

The only way I can pay for this school is to sell my car and play poker. And I've been on a loosing streak at poker!!!

[Malarky]

[ QUOTE ]
What..... Business slowing down at the ranch?

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe he took a hiatus to study for his AP EXAMS WHICH HE GOT all 5s ON LAST EYAR AND ALSO I AM STOCK BROKER THAT SELLS STOCKS IN MINITURE HORSES AND EVERYONE IS JEALOUS BECAUSE HE IS THE ILLEGITIMATE SON OF PHIL HELLMUTH

[Playaz]

i just started playing at a B&M room (a local dogtrack with a pokerroom upstairs that usually has about 25-30 tables goin and full) and WOW!!! i thought party players werent very good, the fish at party look like pros compared to the people at the dogtrack... i played at a $2 solid fixed bet table for a month, 3 times a week and only 1 1/2 - 3 hours per day (this doesnt include the 30min-2hour wait time to sit down... saturdays are BUSY), and made $1200ish after rake/tip/gas money

[Ponks]

[ QUOTE ]

The only way I can pay for this school is to sell my car and play poker. And I've been on a loosing streak at poker!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Ouch, hope you have a nice car to sell or the poker luck turns around for yah.

Ponks

[Nottom]

You should be able to make $1000/month pretty easy at 2/4 if you are a solid player. Even playing just 10-15 hours/week or so if you play 4 tables.

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
Taking into consideration 200k, 250k, and Friday specials at Party Poker with minimal expectations I would easily make what I make in a month on one decent hit. Using sub-qualifiers I would need to win a FREE TICKET to the 200k,250k, or Friday once every 30 TRIES!!! to break even which is ridiculous.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are serious about all this, I would recomend avioding the big multi-table tourneys until you are at least at the 3/6 level. I also don't recommend playing in satallite to these things. I'd much rather just sit down and play my normal game and say "if I win enought to enter (insert random big tourney name here) today then I will play in it."

[MicroBob]

this was discussed at length in a couple of posts started by the now legendary pokerhorse in the books forum and the internet forum.


pokerhorse doesn't think it is possible.... but he also had an inability to handle logic.

most of us agree that it is possible at 2/4 and 3/6 if you are a mediocre player with decent multi-tabling abilities.

$600/wk X 50 wks = $30k/yr

if you can win 1BB/hr at 2/4 and play 4 tables then you are making $16/hr. this is a very attainable goal even for a so-so player like me.

round-down to $15/hr X 40hrs = $600/wk

if you move this up to 1-1.25BB/hr X 4 tables at 3/6 then you are pushing $1k/wk or $50k/yr.


this does not even include any rake-back deals or bonus-chasing at other sites that may boost your income along the way.

these numbers are VERY attainable for the player willing to apply himself and learn the necessary material down cold.


i have been playing mostly 2/4 - 3/6 (and bonus-chasing) as my only source of income for 4 months.
i know others on these forums who have been doing it for much longer than me.
although if you get good enough to make $1k/wk at 3/6 it would probably be prudent to step up to 5/10 or even 15/30 at some point and make more money in less time.

obviously, this should only be done when one has played enough winning poker to have a high degree of confidence (as well as a large enough bankroll) to ensure their chances of success at a higher level as much as possible.

[JiWe]

Thank you very much for all the replys!!

as I said I'm not planing on getting my income from poker, Im only a begginer. but It's nice to know that the possibility is there if I work my bankroll up.

yeah and one thing. Limit or no Limit?

[bdk3clash]

[ QUOTE ]
With an average of about 4-7bb/h...

[/ QUOTE ]

Based on the posts you've made, I think it will be quite a while before you can beat micro and small stakes games, and quite a while after that before you'll be beating them for the figure above.

Winning 4-7 big bets per hour figures out to about +2 to +3.5 big bets per 100 hands, (assuming 200 hands per hour on 4 tables). The above figures might be reasonable for a good player playing 4 tables, but I just don't think you're there yet.

I mean, a month ago you were literally asking what you could do to get bad hands to fold, berating the regulars, and questioning whether micro-limits and small stakes games were beatable. You're all over the place in terms of focusing on tournaments (both limit and no limit, single table and multi table) and ring games (both limit and no limit.)

Pick a type of game (I'd start with limit ring games, but that's just me), read the beginner texts for said game, play a ton of hands, re-read the texts, post hands here (interesting ones, or ones that confused you, not the thinly veiled bad-beat-whines you've posted in the past), engage in discussions, be humble, and you'll be on your way.

As things stand now, I can only predict that your 4 year plan will not succeed poker-wise.

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
yeah and one thing. Limit or no Limit?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats completely up to you.

I think you are better off learning to play limit since many sites don't have big NL games that can compare to the profit you can make at a 5/10 limit game and even if they do the games are usually much tougher than the comparable limit game.