Thinking of turning pro

[prayformojo]

I'm only half facetious when I say this: marry someone with a stable career with benefits and some sort of security of tenure and position. I am not and never will be a poker pro, but I am a lawyer in private practice. When I entered the profession a number of lawyers remarked without a drop of sarcasm that having a teacher as a wife will be an enormous asset. I know Ed gives advice intended for people without dependants, but having someone with a regular, guaranteed income, insurance, health plan and pension to depend on can be a boon for anyone in business for himself.

[Nightwish]

Why can't you go to grad school and play poker part-time?

[Karatitis]

PokerJoker,

All the threads in this discussion should provide you with guidance on deciding whether to go pro, and whether your situation is best suited for part-time or full-time.

Personally, I play as a part-time player, almost exclusively online, with ocassional roadtrips to a live casino. I concur whole-heartedly with the post indicating that playing part-time is a great way to supplement your income, get more experience and feel what it's like to play poker professionally.

The boon in internet poker has increased the competition in the marketplace, and now several sites offer bonuses. While I think the field tends to be much weaker at the bricks n' mortar casino I venture to, the ring games online are much faster, and with multi-tabling I can see many more hands than I can in a live environment.

I put money away into my RRSP every year, still get my weekly paycheque from my employer, and I'm still getting good poker experience, while also still reading poker books and forums such as 2+2. In a few years I hope to make the full transition to full-time player, and playing part-time has been a good way for me to experience the full gamut of emotional highs & lows while playing.

Best of luck to you, and as my music teacher in high school once told me: "If you want to do something, learn it, live it, breath it, and don't let anyone tell you what you can't do".

Take Care.

[Keith Fellmy]

yes he was the owner of NetSys if I remember right.

If you are 22 years old, there are very few professional decisions that you can make, that will turn out to be permanent career-limiting moves. So do it for a year. The worst that can happen is that you can go broke. Then you get a job like everyone else.

[JobyWan]

Also keep in mind that we are in the glory days of internet poker. Like the dot.com bubble, it will not last. In a year or two, the endless well of lower/mid level fish will dry up and we'll be left with lots of very skilled players competing for a shrinking pie. $60 an hour is good while it lasts - so I say play hard and often now while the time is right and start your degree in a year or two.

JobyWan

[Mister Z]

[ QUOTE ]
Also keep in mind that we are in the glory days of internet poker. Like the dot.com bubble, it will not last. In a year or two, the endless well of lower/mid level fish will dry up and we'll be left with lots of very skilled players competing for a shrinking pie. $60 an hour is good while it lasts - so I say play hard and often now while the time is right and start your degree in a year or two.

JobyWan

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been thinking a little about the concept of the 'bubble bursting' lately - does anyone have a link to a good thread on this? I'm curious what people think about the longevity of the popularity of poker. I think it's a pretty big exaggeration to say that in 2 years the influx of new players will dry up to such an extreme. As high speed internet makes itself more and more available in the states and other countries, I think we will see a pretty steady stream of new players coming to the game for quite some time. Sorry to derail the thread, I know this topic has been beat to death but this is something to consider for someone considering going pro.

[Lady Dont Tekno]

I don't have any links but I believe that alot of the threads deal with the idea that the boom hasn't reached Asia yet. If it catches on there, the sky's the limit.

LDT

[ QUOTE ]
I don't have any links but I believe that alot of the threads deal with the idea that the boom hasn't reached Asia yet. If it catches on there, the sky's the limit.


[/ QUOTE ]

The gaming analyst for Deutsche Bank recently published a major research report on internet gaming. (Obviously all these sell side research guys are whores, but still...) In the report, he noted that 90% of Party's business was United States. The penetration of online poker in Asia (particularly China) has been hobbled by draconian legislation and the lack of widespread broadband connectivity; the regulatory environment in Europe is more favorable. The IPO of Party is a good thing for US players, since it gives the company more capital to drive marketing in Europe and lobbying efforts in the US and elsewhere. If online gaming were "legalized" in the US, or there was a greater uptick in poker among Europeans, the pool of fish would increase vastly. I personally think that a European WSOP champion would have been great. The online poker operators need to become a driving force to getting poker more "user friendly" for non-English speakers. For example, WPT, WSOP type programming should be developed for German and French audiences, and the more basic English language poker literature (e.g., HEP by Sklansky, WLLH by Jones, etc.) should be translated into those languages as well.

Just take a look at this link to see what the French poker players have to choose from, when it comes to introductory literature: Amazon France search for "poker"

[Eratosthenes]

... or you could play a lot of poker and take grad classes part time. Going back to school is very hard after you've been out for a few years. I think a lot of the pros here would like to have a structured diversion from poker--like having to show up at a class at 10:00AM every day or having to practice an instrument for a while every day. (Avoid those damn 8:00 classes! Actually, 10:00 would be pretty early for me.)