Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I just opened an Empire account 3 days ago and have increased my $500 initial deposit up to a $650 stake by playing only 1-2 hours a night. If you add in the $100 sign up bonus that I have almost cleared (I need 500 raked hands - I'm up to 350 so far), I'll have $750 in my account. So $250 in profits in about 5 hours is $50 an hour which is a lot less than my multiple 6 figure income on Wall Street. I play mostly 25NL, 50NL, 100NL, but went up to 10/20 one night after a couple of bad beats at 100NL in order to make my money back quickly. I could probably make more if I increase my game (I hear the 30/60 games are real fishy!). Furthermore, I've only been playing 1 or 2 tables at a time so I could probably increase my win rate by going to 15 or 20 tables at a time. I'll probably need to install 4 21" monitors on my computer so there's the initial investment of $5,000 bucks. Plus I won't have free health care that I get at my job. Since I work on Wall Street, I am used to big PnL swings, so the ups and downs in my stake would just be an odd-lot to me. The other thing to consider is all the perks I get at my job - like the steak dinners at Del Friscos with $500 bottles of Bordeaux, followed by a few hours of lap dances at the VIP club. Not to mention the front row tickets to Yankee games.

So by my calculations, I can increase my $50 an hour rate to about $300 an hour by increasing the number of tables and playing higher stakes. If I play 10 hours a day, that's $3,000 a day times 200 days a year (I'll take a lot of vacations), I can expect to make $600,000. I was also thinking of teaching my wife to play - she could probably pull in about $300,000 a year working part-time. My kids also like playing hold 'em, but they are 9, 6 and 4, so they can only play in the play money games. But they should easily be able to pay for their college educations when they turn 18. Plus, with all the money I'd pull in, I could make even more by investing the profits in day trading and real estate. Or better yet, I can just buy Google and double my money in a few weeks! You also have to factor in the money I'd be saving by not having to pay $10 for a salad and soda at the overpriced New York delis. I'd save $225 a month on my train pass. And I wouldn't have to spend money getting my shirts dry cleaned since I could just sit around my house and wear the same clothes every day and change my underwear every 3 or 4 days.

What do you think?

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I did this a year ago and I'm doing fine. I only change my underwear once a month, though.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

Why only 10 hrs/day? Why only 15-20 tables? You're leaving money on the table.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

So, you're considering giving up your respectable and high paying job to slog it out in the Internet poker rooms.

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I just opened an Empire account 3 days ago and have increased my $500 initial deposit up to a $650 stake by playing only 1-2 hours a night.

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Welcome to Internet poker. Sorry to burst your bubble but a good first few days doesn't mean you'll keep winning the same amount every day of the year. In fact, some of these swings can be brutal.

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I play mostly 25NL, 50NL, 100NL, but went up to 10/20 one night after a couple of bad beats at 100NL in order to make my money back quickly.

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Dear dear dear. You get frustated easily and jump to a potentially crippling 10/20! As any poster will tell you, not exactly wise money management. One of the keys to winning Internet poker is to maintain complete discpline and to stop jumping to bigger games unnecessarily before building an adequate poker bankroll and getting enough experience at the lower limits.


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So by my calculations, I can increase my $50 an hour rate to about $300 an hour by increasing the number of tables and playing higher stakes

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I can assure you your $50/hour rate is largely illusionary to do the very few hours you've played. And making $600 is not as easy as increasing the number of tables you play and increase in limits... After all, the quality of the players become much tougher in higher limits. Economists would say "a diminishing rate of return" for the higher limits.

I think if you're still interested in playing, stop thinking on terms of making enough money to quit your job, read LOTS of good poker books, lurk the twoplustwo boards, play disciplined poker and build up a reasonable and sustainable bankroll from small.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

Yes.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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What do you think?

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Sounds like a great plan! Don't listen to the doubters man. Go for it!

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I did read a few good books. Positivley Fifth Street - I regard this as one of the best books I've ever read. I especially like the chapters on the strip clubs since that reminds me of what I do every time I'm in Vegas. What do you think the connection is between poker and lap dances?

Slanksy's HE for AP is also very good, however I made the mistake of using his limit strategy for NL originally.

I bought Cloutier's book on NL, and now I am a NL master.

My ultimate goal is to win the PP Million Satellite and make it to the cruise in March. I'd love to make it to the final table and win $1mm+. Then I'd divorce my wife and run away with Shana Hiatt! I'd only have to win one tournament a year to make a decent living.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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I bought Cloutier's book on NL, and now I am a NL master.

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Good, it's time to making the switch to professional poker playing NOW. The poker world is your oyster.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I think Mr. Nutsack is joking and if he is it is a very funny joke!

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

The original post was funny, but even funnier was seeing Blue Bear give honest feedback to a post that was clearly a joke.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

Actually, it is not completely a joke. It is a mix between truth and fantasy. I actually did make all that money in the past 3 days at 25NL, 50NL and 100NL. I did steam after a couple of bad beats and played 10/20 for a few hands. Got lucky and made 250 on a nut flush. I have to admit, that was stupid play which I don't normally do, but I do fluctuate between 25, 50 and 100 NL - I don't like to stick to one limit because I get bored. I do work on Wall Street - that is true. And I am married with wife and kids. The part about quitting my job is pure fantasy. I think I would burn out and don't think I could make a good enough living to quit. I play at night purely for fun, but I do expect to make money at it over time. Also, I do fantasize at least three or four times a day about winning the World Poker Tour. And I do think about Shana Hiatt a lot!

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I think i just heard from one of the poker gods. Dear god please shine some light on me and my game. I sure need it

THX in advance: RLoftin

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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I think Mr. Nutsack is joking and if he is it is a very funny joke!

[/ QUOTE ]If he's not, it's still a very funny joke. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?

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Don't forget the benefits of joining a productive and well-respected profession.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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...like the steak dinners at Del Friscos...

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Your first mistake.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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Yes.

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I love it.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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The original post was funny, but even funnier was seeing Blue Bear give honest feedback to a post that was clearly a joke.

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YES. BlueBear, come clean that you thought he was serious. Stop trying to play it off like you understood from the beginning.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I wish I had this much direction in MY life.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

Cut him a break, he's from Australia. They're like the Canadians of the southern hemisphere, a little slow eh?

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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I only change my underwear once a month, though.

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Underwear? Que es esto? No comprende.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

YES. BlueBear, come clean that you thought he was serious. Stop trying to play it off like you understood from the beginning.

Way to go! Rub it in!! I absolutley hate it when people miss the irony and actually try to *help* others. I HATE THAT! I'm surprised no-one haven't notified the moderator yet.

You're a real class act, RyRy.

Adde

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] geeez, you are guys are so observant and so right, I'm embarassed. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I'd rather see ten badly timed decent replies like yours was than ten people posting the same old crap.

Thanks for trying to help out, nice to see some genuinely offered advice with no hidden motive.

Lori

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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Cut him a break, he's from Australia. They're like the Canadians of the southern hemisphere, a little slow eh?

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Canadians of the southern hemisphere...lol. I'm gonna use that. So true, but without snowshoes.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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I'd rather see ten badly timed decent replies like yours was than ten people posting the same old crap.

Thanks for trying to help out, nice to see some genuinely offered advice with no hidden motive.

Lori

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The first post was a stupid and very obvious attempt at humor, what were we suppose to do?

Btw they took the word gullible out of the dictionary.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

Btw they took the word gullible out of the dictionary.

That's because the correct spelling is "gullable"

That's all.

Lori

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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Btw they took the word gullible out of the dictionary.

That's because the correct spelling is "gullable"

That's all.

Lori

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holy [censored] i just go so [censored] owned

[img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gullable

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I think everyone should go pro! I figure the third world countries, if everyone just quit what they were doing and went pro, everyone would be wealthy!

Also, all the people in the US making less than 6 figures, and all the families on welfare, should go pro. Would solve world hunger.

Think about it, a few people would work producing food, clothing, goods, etc. The rest would play poker and generate wealth to buy these products!

- Tony

P.S. Actually poker must be way more +EV on a spending power (not dollar amount power) basis in countries where the avg wage is a couple of bucks a day. All a "pro" there would have to do is play .50-1!

Considering 50 an hour only gets you a bachelor in Manhattan
 

Your winrate is too small, last thing you want to do is work like a Chinese illegal in Little Italy....... [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

BlueBear, since your reply was to my post, to get things straight, my post was against others, not against you.

Adde

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

Try to get offered a redundancy package. Worked for me.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

Don't do anything without investing in the Party Poker Pattern Mapper.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

So what do you really do in Wall Street? Investment banking (underwriting/advisory), sales & trading, research or are you on the buy side?

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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I play mostly 25NL, 50NL, 100NL, but went up to 10/20 one night after a couple of bad beats at 100NL in order to make my money back quickly.


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Are you kidding me? Assuming you've just started playing poker, you are a very lucky man. You just made one of the worst bankroll mistakes possible. Again, you were lucky to come out alive. Give it a couple months before you find your true wage.

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

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I play mostly 25NL, 50NL, 100NL, but went up to 10/20 one night after a couple of bad beats at 100NL in order to make my money back quickly.


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Are you kidding me? Assuming you've just started playing poker, you are a very lucky man. You just made one of the worst bankroll mistakes possible. Again, you were lucky to come out alive. Give it a couple months before you find your true wage.

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I agree 100%. It's common knowledge around here that you have to play enough hands to get to the Long Run before you can accurately determine your true win rate. Try to play at least 750 or 800 hands. Once you get to this "Long Run", it's like heaven. The poker site will actually pay you your win rate on the hour every hour. Terms like "standard deviation" and "variance" DO NOT EXIST IN THE MAGICAL LONG RUN! The Long Run is a place with fluffy white clouds, women who laugh when you quote "Rounders", little puppy dogs running down candy cane lanes, and ever-increasing bank accounts!! It is a wonderful place, the Long Run. I hope to see you there soon!

Re: Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?
 

I had a very successful weekend. My original $500 stake is up to $850 ($100 of which is the sign up bonus I cleared). I've been jumping around from different limits to try and figure out which tables make me the most money. I think 50NL is the sweet spot. I tried going up to 200NL, but I found the action there too slow and tight. I did a search on everybody at my 200NL table and found that most people were playing 2 or 3 200NL tables at a time which made the play very slow. It seems like the quality of players at this limit was pretty good, but the main problem I have is the slow response time by some guys as they are juggling 3 tables at a time. The 6 or lower 50NL tables seem loser and faster paced and I was able to hit it big on these tables. I also had success playing $20 single table tourney's. The edge I have at these tables is pretty significant since it seems there are usually 3 out of 10 bad players who get busted going all in within the first 10 hands. I figure I have a 30% edge at these games, and won 2 out of the 4 that I did yesterday. The limit games are pretty boring because they are just too textbook. NL is much more fun!