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- - Going Pro? (http://archives2.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=327435)

I know you get this kind of question a lot, but I've been thinking a lot about this subject.

I'm having a tough decision deciding whether or not to attempt to go pro. My main income comes from 3/6 holdem, over 10,000 hands or so i'm beating it for 3.5 BB/100. Which brings me to my first question.. Is 10k a good enough sample to determine a solid reliable win-rate, 3.5 seems a bit high, compared to what I've seen on some other posts. But I feel fairly confident that it should be around that high, esp. with GameTime+.

I've read a lot of different articles about going pro, but none address the idea of playing poker part time and going to school full time. I have a part time job that pays for my school now, but it doesn't pay well outside of that, 10k or so a year. So going pro would allow me to free up my schedule, and only playing appr 25 hrs a week, I'd make around 30,000 a year(excluding taxes etc.)... which would be plenty enough to cover my nut.

Now the dillema comes in where is it worth taking out student loans to cover school now, so i can reinvest earnings into my bankroll, or just pay now, and focus on increasing more after i finish school(2 1/2 years).

I know this post has a bunch of random questions and is a lot to swallow, but I'm just trying to bounce some ideas around, that I've been debating. I can post more details exactly that I've calculated to those who want to help me in this decision.

Thanks,
-JT

I needed 50k to be relatively confident about my winrate, and even then swings of a few tenths of a BB/100 for my playing lifetime happen occasionally.

10k is not nearly enough. My winrate at 3/6 is 2.89BB/100 over 125K hands. I've went 10K hands and lost money, then run well over the next 10K hands.

Running well when you first start playing poker is probably the best argument against going pro that I could ever come up with. Although taking out loans so that you can quit your job and play more just may be a better argument against.

Take out as much in student loans as you can and take as long to pay them off as you can. It's ridiculously cheap money.

GoT

Interesting link. Taboo but book looks interesting.

No, 10k hands is not enough to determine a reliable win rate. 3.5 is good, and more than likely you are a winning player but don't base your decision to go pro on 10k hands.

Yes, you could take out student loans and all that and have money to reinvest in bankroll, but I sure would not recommend it unless you have to. If you don't take out the loans you are going to be so far ahead of the game when you get out of college. Instead of worrying about paying back your student loans after college, you can worry about paying for a house, or car, or whatever. Don't borrow unless you have to. Think long term. just my 2cp.

Student loans are good debt, like a house mortgage.