Dr. Frankenstein, build a NL Pro

[SuitedSixes]

Ok, here it is: I have decided that playing poker professionally is my only chance for true happiness. I hate what I do for a living now. What I want to do for a living I can't make a living doing. I keep thinking about David Ross writing about the time he is able to spend with his kids. Therefore, I need to get my act together and get serious about NL. From the sounds of things (and from personal experience) 6-Max is the way to go.

Some personal background: I have been grinding it out at limit, and anytime I get a decent sized bankroll, my life gets in the way and I need to spend it. My current job, though sucky, does have one advantage in that I am able to play poker while I work, so I will be able to put in the hours with a steady income incoming. I am setting a goal of 9 months to get to the point where poker is my primary source of income. How do I get there?

I am going to take two weeks off . . . no playing poker. In that time I am going to read and study any books or threads that anyone deems worthy.

Suggestions? Advice? Thanks in advance.

-66s

[phisfliuch]

[ QUOTE ]

Suggestions? Advice?
-66s

[/ QUOTE ]

- Search for "Poker journal" and "Turning pro" by theBruiser500 for some perspective.
- Find Matt Flynn's response to "When are you committed to the pot?"
- Reread TOP, PL/NL Poker by R&C, Improve Your Poker
- Play in live games occasionally
- Avoid 6max or multitabling until you can consistently plan your play early and systematically put opponents on possible hands at a single full table.
- Avoid getting bored while playing. Practice your planning/reading skills during hands you're not in. If you play without thinking, you should take a break.
- Never, ever use your bankroll for anything other than poker. If you need to pay yourself something, do it systematically.
- Don't move up arbitrarily. Have a plan for testing it and coming back down.
- Figure out what you think a "session" is by number of deals and determine your anticipated risk/reward potential for that session. Eg, maybe you play 10% of possible hands, and think a session is 90 deals; that's about 9 +/- 3 expected playable hands in those 9 orbits; ballpark blind + calling cost for each orbit; maybe you'll win 1/2 of your playable deals at an average pot, etc, etc... This will be imprecise, but it will give you a framework for your expected theoretical performance.
- At the end of a session, review your key hands. Search 2+2 for similar situations. Post your hand on 2+2 if you would like to get varying perspectives on the problem.
- Later on, reread HEPAP and start to move back to limit.
- Try other poker forms for small stakes.
- Convince yourself about what's the correct play.

[schwza]

there are some good threadshere (http://archiveserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=plnlpoker&Number=690171&Fo rum=All_Forums&Words=&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=6 87127&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=8494&daterang e=1&newerval=1&newertype=y&olderval=&oldertype=&bo dyprev=#Post690171)

also, i couldn't figure out how to make the link work, but look for a post by Tdomeski called Retro. it has a bunch of old threads.

just as a note of warning though, i'm not sure how useful you'll find some of this stuff. i play 6-max NL200 on party and some of the content in these posts is over my head/not relevant to my game (because they're mostly about deep-stackes, high-stakes, full-table games). certainly worth taking a look at though.

as for books, i like super/system (but ignore the part where he says "if i get raised when i have a marginal hand, a lot of times i'll just move in." stacks on party aren't deep enough and the players aren't good/tight enough to get away from top pair) and pot-limit and no-limit poker by ciaffone and rueben (?). again, ciaffone and rueben advocate playing somewhat tighter than you want to in smaller stakes 6-max party games - e.g., they say that in an unraised pot, you should consider folding 22 to aggression on a flop of J42r, whereas if you ever made that fold on party i'd climb through the internet and throttle you. good luck.

and what job do you have where you can play poker? i don't dare try - instead i spend a lot of time on 2+2 /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[LokiV]

Do you have 6 months of living expenses covered + your bankroll? Since you're removing from your bankroll for other expenses I don't think you do.. and hence you are doomed to an ulcer, failure and oblivion.

Seriously though, go to the psychology forum where they discuss this NON-STOP. Turning pro requires a lot of planning and capital, more than just your bankroll, much more.

[fimbulwinter]

one thing:
get a poker mentor. post your location here and see if one of the forum regs can help you out.

way more than in limit, you'll need one on one help with the game you're playing. only someone who's been there and done that can really give you that kind of advice.

fim

[SuitedSixes]

Thanks for the advice.
[ QUOTE ]
and what job do you have where you can play poker? i don't dare try - instead i spend a lot of time on 2+2

[/ QUOTE ]
I work in a computer room twn hours a night. To avoid 'detection' I play remotely on my computer at home.

[SuitedSixes]

Thanks for the advice and warnings. I will not quit my job until I have at least 6 mnoths of living expenses covered . . . if this is the magic number. As I mentioned this is something that I really need to do, but do correctly so I am not going to cut any corners. I am going to do this . . . well, professionally.

[SuitedSixes]

I live in Arizona. I was planning, before quitting my job, to spend time with someone like Tommy Angelo. Because there isn't NL live at the casinos near me, all of my play will be on the internet so I will need to find who specialized in internet play.

Would there be any benefit to watching other people play on the internet? Are there any great ones to watch on Party?

[SuitedSixes]

Thank you, your post was exactly what I was hoping for. I am intrigued by this statement:
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- Later on, reread HEPAP and start to move back to limit.

[/ QUOTE ]
Could you elaborate?

[ddollevoet]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the advice and warnings. I will not quit my job until I have at least 6 mnoths of living expenses covered . . . if this is the magic number. As I mentioned this is something that I really need to do, but do correctly so I am not going to cut any corners. I am going to do this . . . well, professionally.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can't build your bankroll with out dipping into it for living expenses. How are you going to build a 6 month reserve??

Nothing personal, but maybe you should read some money management books before you start the poker books.