Becoming a pro
 

I'm fairly young...not even in college yet. I take cards very seriously and read books and study all the time. I wish more then anything to make this my profession when I get older. Is there any advice you can give me on this on what to do or any advice in general. Thanks.

Mike

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Go to college and support yourself in college by playing poker.

Get a good job after college while continuing to play poker. If internet poker is still alive and fishy after a few years of working, and working doesn't appeal to you then think about going pro. In the mean time just play as much as you can, read as much as you can, and browse 2+2.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

If you are starting your own thread on this its probably not a good sign you should go pro. If you were in the posistion to go pro you would already have read the 5,000 posts on the subject while browsing the forums.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Start building a bankroll, learn how to manage it.

Get some type of education to skill set to fall back on.

Play when you can, learn, get better.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Don't Lose!

Re: Becoming a pro
 

A fast paced exciting career in the high stakes professional poker world. You too can sit on your ass all day and experience lower back problems from sitting 15 hours at a time. Folding for hours is so much fun but to kill the time you can listen to all the bad beat storys. Every one Ive heard is so original. Its like the first time every time. I would rather be a professional Quintile's test research subject for the latest cures on genital herpe's. Poker is the most boring profession I could possibly imagine. If you find it fun then your playing too many hands and wont make it. Why in the hell would anyone want to rely on this as their sole source of income. Silly ass.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

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A fast paced exciting career in the high stakes professional poker world. You too can sit on your ass all day and experience lower back problems from sitting 15 hours at a time. Folding for hours is so much fun but to kill the time you can listen to all the bad beat storys. Every one Ive heard is so original. Its like the first time every time. I would rather be a professional Quintile's test research subject for the latest cures on genital herpe's. Poker is the most boring profession I could possibly imagine. If you find it fun then your playing too many hands and wont make it. Why in the hell would anyone want to rely on this as their sole source of income. Silly ass.


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Lol.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

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Is there any advice you can give me on this on what to do or any advice in general.

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http://img193.echo.cx/img193/8876/apollocreed2md.jpg

"Stay in school and use your brain. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, carry a leather briefcase. Forget about sports as a profession. Sports will make ya grunt and smell. See, be a thinker, not a stinker."

Re: Becoming a pro
 

what u have to do is, experience a pretty disturbing downswing if u can handle that and still want to play to pay bills soley on poker than my friend and only then would i say that u should check ur self directly into the pyschiatric ward.
good luck

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Go to school, get a degree, have a part time job if cards are *Really Important*. When you have enough to retire, then you can play cards for a living.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

I just read a good article by ed miller on going pro from the internet magazine Going Pro

It should answer most of your questions.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

exactly how old are you? <18? <14?

Re: Becoming a pro
 

My advice is don't do it. Poker is a brutal game and not one I would want to pay my mortgage by playing. Also, try and get a mortgage as a 'professional gambler'. It can be done, but its tough.

You're young so the best thing I can tell you is to do as well as possible in high school, get into a good college, and find a good job after college. Poker will always be there so you might as well get your education out of the way while you can.

When you look at a lot of the 'pros' [tourney players], many have sideline businesses (and college educations). Poker is not their sole source of income. Sure, for some it is, but I think you will find that the happiest people overall have balanced their life with another profession.

So, if you still want to be a pro, just remember one thing. If you have a bad day at the office, you still get payed; if you have a bad day at the tables (or week, or month, or year), it costs you a lot of money.

Best of luck in whatever you choose.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Do it. Take a shot. In all seriousness.

I will probably be one of a few lone voices that will encourage you to take a shot, but I believe that at a young age, whilst your enthusiasm is still high, your living costs are still low, and the game is still as profitable as it is right now, you should go for it.

Just bear in mind that life as a poker professional, is A LOT HARDER than college, and you need a ridiculously high amount of self-discipline to be a professional poker player(or to in fact work in any self-employed career).

Because if you feel you have the work rate, focus, and a true love for the game, who are we to tell you not to do it?

Re: Becoming a pro
 

fold preflop

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Support yourself through college playing poker. This is what I'm doing. I used to want to become pro aswell after graduation. Now I have no desire to. Its too stressful/boring.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

poker sucks. it's boring. and sucky.

go to school and play poker on the side. once you've made $100,000 playing poker, reevaluate the situation. if you still want to go pro at that point, by all means, do it.

most people on these forums have a job and play poker on the side. they seem to be happier in general than the people that exclusively play poker for a living.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

My guess is you've watched Rounders one too many times and you want to be on ESPN and the Travel Channel. So if you really want to do this...
Study poker books. Play as often as you can within reason. Work hard in school. Go to a good college. Get a well paying job (hopefully something you enjoy) because its a much easier and more consistent way to build a bankroll. Be sure to set some money aside to play with. Play poker on your free time making frequent trips to casinos, not just playing online. See how you do in cash games. Enter some big tournaments. But first you must realize that what you see on TV is hardly representative of what a tournament is actually like for the typical player. Of course it looks glorious when they show the last few tables of the WSOP where everyone gets knocked out only to win a mere 20 or 30K. Don't lose sight of the fact that about 700 players lose 10K in that event. These 700 losers include many of the best players in the world. "WSOP ANYONE CAN WIN" most people just lose though. I'm not trying to discourage you but you should keep in mind that its not all fame and glory when it comes to tournaments. The same goes for trying to become a pro by supporting yourself with poker alone. Many people fail at this because very few people have the discipline to do it. Retire some day and play as much as you like.
Also you could go to college and become an internet billionaire when you're in your late 20s and then sell your company leaving you with enough money to support a family and play all the poker you want.
These 2 plans have 2 things in common: poker (obviously) and COLLEGE
So my biggest piece of advice is to go to college. As long as you have a job you will always have money and thats what you will need to play poker. <font color="black"> </font>

Re: Becoming a pro
 

could you elaborate a little bit on becoming an internet billionaire?

thanks.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

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could you elaborate a little bit on becoming an internet billionaire?

thanks.

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Come on. Everyone knows how easy this is. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Becoming a pro
 

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could you elaborate a little bit on becoming an internet billionaire?

thanks.

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i will tell you all my billionare secrets for a mere $119.85. you can pay me in monthly installments of $39.95. but wait! if you PM me within 15 minutes of this post, i will throw in a set of razor sharp knives at no additional cost! this is a value of $20, absolutely free!

this is a risk free offer. if you are unsatisfied for any reason, you may return the package of secrets to me within 1 business day of receiving. you cannot keep the knives free of charge, though...you must send those back as well, and pay your own shipping.

cheers!

edit: forgot to mention...if you keep the package, and don't pay me the 2 additional installments, i will kill you and your family. have a great day! don't wait! order now!

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Poker is boring. I'd rather get a nice degree and sit at work doing nothing for 50k+ a year. And also, poker is one of the hardest things in the world. Greg raymer played for like what? 12 years before he got to where he is now.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

I am kinda like mikeh to. I'm only 15 but I play cards a lot. I am gettin pretty good to. Reading any material and taking all of your advice here to heart. I have seen strides of improvement and right now I feel like i'm playing the best I ever have. Obviously i'm no where near the professionals because of my lack of experience but I would love to play poker when I grow older. I don't know if I want to become a pro because i have a huge passion for stocks and have managed my own and parents portfolio since 6th grade and have been extremely successful.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

I have kinda planned on going to college getting a really good job but playing poker on the side. Possibly playing in some bigger tournaments and seeing where they take me.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

yes this is a good plan. if you were smart enough to manage a portfolio at such a young age then you are smart enough to beat poker and smart enough to avoid playing poker professionally. instead, you are smart enough to go out and build wealth through means of something other than a zero-sum game. or in poker's case, a negative-sum game.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

I think it would be smarter to have a great retirement savings then when you retire you can play a lot more but still play part time when you have a full time job.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Anybody got some advice that I can tell my parents to let me open up a poker acccount online. I'm 15 years old and I don't think they will let me. I want to just put in like $20 and play in .25-.50 blinds and stuff. Some rooms you can play .05-.1 blinds. Got any advice?

Re: Becoming a pro
 

People that play poker for a living like Phil Helmuth and Phil Ivey are exceptionally good because they love what they do. In an interview I read, Ivey said "I love everything about poker". He obviously has a passion for the game and folding hands over and over and receiving bad beats every once in a while really doesn't affect him. If you love poker... (not like) but really love it then yes, you should go for it. But, you're only 15. Something besides cards might come along and spark your interest a few years from now so I wouldn't fail middle school because of some current national craze.

response to michiganfan
 

No offense MichiganFan but honestly 15 is way too young, especially because with a 20 dollar deposit you'll lose it all eventually. Not taking a shot at you but that's severely underbankrolled for any of the limits you describe. Then, if you go back to mom and dad for a reload they'll think you have a gambling problem. It's a lose/lose situation. Good luck in the future though.

Take care,
Matt

Re: Becoming a pro
 

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Anybody got some advice that I can tell my parents to let me open up a poker acccount online. I'm 15 years old and I don't think they will let me. I want to just put in like $20 and play in .25-.50 blinds and stuff. Some rooms you can play .05-.1 blinds. Got any advice?

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Listen to your parents.

They are smarter than you.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

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could you elaborate a little bit on becoming an internet billionaire?

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Develop an algorithm like Clark, but learn from his mistakes and don't blow company funds on gambling.

Re: response to michiganfan
 

That's why I didn't think I would get approved. I think I'm going to stick with the tournaments i'm currently playing in. I totally agree with you. I was like well when I lose it and I ask for another deposit they will definitely think i'm addicted.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

I'd rather get a nice degree and sit at work doing nothing

and you say poker is boring?


50k+ a year

in a 40 hr workweek....why not make twice as much playing 20 hrs a week of poker?


poker is one of the hardest things in the world.

no its not.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

i wouldnt make your goal to be a career poker player...but its nice to pay your way through school with and can allow you to save up enough capital to make investments so you dont have to play poker...

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Never plan on becoming a pro. You can't count on it. Very few players are that good... and you have to find out if you're one of them before you make that decision. You become a pro when you start winning enough to, and if that never happens, then so be it. You can still enjoy the game.
Poker, unfortunately, is not a sound financial option unless you are VERY good at it.

Re: Becoming a pro
 

I just meant he could start up an internet company that becomes very successful and make a lot of money off of it and sell it for billions of dollars like Phil Gordon did.
In no way was I implying that this is easy or realistic.
But that part of my post was a joke so I don't know why you needed clarification. <font color="black"> </font>

Re: Becoming a pro
 

Go to college. Ignore poker if you have to in order to not just go, but do exceptionally well.

First, you are looked at very negatively in today's world without a college degree. Like it or believe it or not, people DO judge others harshly, all their lives, and will take any possible angle to do so. Lack of a college degree is an angle to take that actually has some sense behind it.

That's because completing college requires discipline. That may be its primary benefit, actually. It teaches you to take on major goals that you do not care for and succeed in them. This is what a lot of life is about -- being able to do not just the easy and fun and quickly done stuff, but the hard and dull or aggravating or totally unfun stuff that takes forever to get done. If you can't do that -- basically NO job is good for you. And who would want to hire you? If you've graduated college, you've proven you can do more than what some jerky, impulsive kid can do. There's no guarantee, but you've shown that at least you have the potential to have an adult approach to work and life.

But aside from what college shows to others, particularly employers(and don't forget the opposite sex), college is also an incredible life experience. For the working poor it's a much different one than for the idle rich, but both backgrounds are very sheltered and narrow in their own way.

College takes you outside of the opinions and experiences of your social group, your peers, your parents, your family, your religious structure, and plops you into a place where you are not only free to think, but it's required. The idea of a liberal education is an old one that is often underappreciated today, but the chance to study the literature, philosophy, and cultures of other people, times, and places, even to the small degree one can in a single major, can be enormously broadening and enriching. And sometimes, fun and fascinating. A college education is your chance to "see the world" intellectually, or at least a far broader slice of it than you'll get as a child.

It also exposes you to peers who are also "growing up," or at least growing wider, intellectually and experientially, and makes for an exciting social time. They'll challenge you, annoy you, and form new friendships and new social communities with you.

Even if you have to slog through college working full-time, it's still a great experience to have gone through.

As dull and aggravating as some professors are, college is an experience far too rich to pass up. How much of your ignorance you keep, and how much of an actively curious, more open spirit you take with you, is up to you, but the experience of college will make you a more interesting person to be, and to talk to.

Poker will always be there. And it beats many of the jobs you would have while in college. But don't let it take over college, or take its place. College only lasts a few years, and is a valuable life experience that will mean a lopt not only to you, but to countless others you meet, for the rest of your life. You truly do not want to miss out, or make any less of it than you can.