Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

I just finished college. I am a music major. I plan on taking 1 year off then going to grad school. I was going to go directly after, but I started playing poker and did really well for awhile. So I thought I could maybe "go pro" at least for a year.

Anyway.....Since Dec 1, I have played 12,000 (including 2500 today) hands, playing 4-6 tables of $200 NL. I am down ~$1350.

The bad part is that I feel like I have been playing pretty well. Not brilliantly, but well.

Since October I have played 22,000 hands and am 1.68 pt bb/100. (including this [censored] in december)..I focused on school a lot

Before that I was doing quite well (~6 ptbb/100) over about 30000 hands over the summer (my computer crashed and I don't have exact statistics)

anyway, my bankroll has went to [censored] ($1500) and I am moving down.

It seems like the games have gotten a lot tough since this summer. I just don't feel like I am beating them. Do you think this is just variance?

If I can't make ~$80,000 playing poker fulltime in a year I don't wanna even try. Does this seem possible?


I guess this post is all over the place, but that is how I feel right now. Feel free to put it into any direction you want, this is a big deal to me though so please be constructive if you respond.

Thanks,
Pokerjoker

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

cash out that last $1500 and buy a moped.

seriously.

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

At what point do you do the only sensible thing and start playing Party Blackjack?

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

Seriously though how long have you been playing poker online? Have you even played 200K hands yet? If not I highly recommend you dont go pro. Also if your bankroll is only 1500 going pro is a really really bad idea.(however that is perfect for BJ though)

Should you quit? No. So your running real bad probably for the first time. Yeah it sucks but what can you do that is poker.

It is time though to re-evaluate your game. Go back through PT and look for hands you could have played better and for god sakes post some hands where you felt lost, outplayed, close decision etc. And take a break for a few days to let your emotions cool and start back playing with a level head.

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

I hate sounding so obvious, but what about taking a break from poker for a few weeks to do something fun/interesting, and see if you feel frustrated again when playing?

Sometimes we have hard times because we get bored and tired of playing but don't want to admit it to ourself, or we get just a bad run of cards and slowly, bad decisions start happening more and more.

Get some "me time" away from poker, it certainly could help.

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

From reading this.....Yes, you should...as soon as possible.

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Seriously though how long have you been playing poker online? Have you even played 200K hands yet? If not I highly recommend you dont go pro. Also if your bankroll is only 1500 going pro is a really really bad idea.(however that is perfect for BJ though)

Should you quit? No. So your running real bad probably for the first time. Yeah it sucks but what can you do that is poker.

It is time though to re-evaluate your game. Go back through PT and look for hands you could have played better and for god sakes post some hands where you felt lost, outplayed, close decision etc. And take a break for a few days to let your emotions cool and start back playing with a level head.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nah...just quit.

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

Step down in stakes, and work on your game. I certainly wouldn't give it up.

Try playing less tables. Perhaps 3-4. Concentrate on them. Improve your game selection as well. For those 3-4 tables, make sure each of them has some leaky players. Game selection is KEY. I put huge emphasis on my game selection, and I'm sure it affects/increases my profits tremendously.


Don't worry about making $80000 a year right now, worry about playing well, building your bankroll up, and moving up step by step. If you play well, and your game selection is good, the money will definatly come.

As for $80,000 , that number is attainable even at mid-stakes.

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

As AJ said, try playing fewer tables, I'd recommend start playing with 1 or 2 tables to start up, then when you're winning comfortably on those over a few days, add another one and see how it works out. You can't just start off 6tabling 200nl like you did this summer and expect to pick up where you started. Table selection is also a biig step towards increasing your winrate, find a loose fish and sit to his left.

Re: Should I give up poker forever? (serious)
 

yeah quit ur not gonna make 80k a year...