going pro, or no?

[filo]

I guess my question is how much cash should I have backing me before I take the plunge. I currently have about 18k but would feel much more comfortable if I had about 100k. My monthly nut is about $3200.00. I figure I win about 80% of the time I play with an average of about $400.00 I think If I had more time to invest playing without the day to day worries of my job, I would not only get better, but earn more. Should I wait until I feel more comfortable with my financial postion, or take advantage of the extreme growth currently in the poker world?

[jedi]

Get a job, play part time as a hobby. Have fun. Don't take poker too seriously.

[lezboagogo]

Im with Jedi on that one. Keep working until it becomes apparent that work is wasting your time and talent. Don't make the decesion. If your really good you won't have a choice

[MasterShake]

Do you have a good paying job? Do you get satisfaction from your job?

Do you enjoy the 8+ hours a day you spend at work? Would you rather play 6+ hours of poker per day?

Alot depends on your work situation, if you work at McDonalds as an assistant fry cook, go pro. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[BluffTHIS!]

The other 2 posters didn't answer the question. My repsonse is that besides having an adequate bankroll that you keep growing in order to play poker, you also need 6 months+ living expenses saved. When you are on a poker downswing it is your bankroll that keeps you in the game, and while it is not producing your normal monthly income that is where the savings (which later have to be replenished) come in. You did not make clear whether the 18K was your bankroll or your savings in addition to it, but if it is your bankroll alone it is not enough.

[The Dude]

Buy and read the book Gambling Theory and Other Topics by Mason Malmuth. It has mathematical equations that will give you precise answers to your "how much" questions. The program Stat King, for sale by ConJelCo is an easy method to log your live stats, and automatically calculates all the stats you'll need, using the formulas in Mason's book.

[Terry]

To be winning $400 a day you must be playing at least $30/60 or $40/80, in which case your BR is much to small ... and you would have to be a good enough player to know that to be beating games that size for that much money.

If you win 80% of the time you play, you are quite likely the best poker player in the world and should probably be playing for higher stakes ... unless you win $400 when you win but lose $1200 when you lose.

The other possibility (likelihood, I suspect) is that you don’t keep accurate records ... and you have no idea how you actually do at poker. It’s called “selective memory”.

[BluffTHIS!]

[ QUOTE ]
To be winning $400 a day you must be playing at least $30/60 or $40/80

[/ QUOTE ]

This is NOT true when multitabling online. You could do it much lower like 5/10-6max limit if you are very good or 10/20 for sure. And anyone who thinks you can't is playing bad.

[bernie]

1st thing is to lower your monthly nut. $3200 is quite large. If you're going to use 18k for both a BR and an Expense roll, it's simply not enough, imo.

Lets say you go for it. You go on a bad run for -5k. Which is easy on a live 20-40 game. Month is up, now you owe 3.2k. That's almost 1/2 your roll + you'll need to keep another 3.2k on the side in case for next month. So your roll is now 7k. Would you be comfortable in that spot? I wouldn't.

b

[Terry]

[ QUOTE ]
when multitabling online

[/ QUOTE ]

The way the original post reads, I’m nearly positive the original poster is not an experienced player multi-tabling online. I’d wager he is a guy with a good paying job who has run somewhat lucky while playing over his head and who has not “counted” or “remembered” some of his significant losses. My comments were not general – they were specific to that scenario.