This is a great topic!

Calculating what you currently earn/hr is a great start. And translating that into what you would need to make per hour figuring that you are not going to play 40hrs/week is an important step. I would also encourage people to calculate what they are currently spending(keep track of everything for a month -it's a great eye opener), what expenses they will be incurring with out a job(health care, retirement saving, DSL, etc), what expenses will be less without a job(commuting, work clothes, lunches out), and also what expenses will now be tax deductible as a poker pro(DSL, new computer, vegas trip that you would take anyhow). Analyze it like it were a business you were going to start(that is really what you are doing).

Many businesses fail because they don't have enough funds to keep them going through the hard times. Since only a experienced, winning player is going to seriously consider going pro, it should be safe to assume that you already have a sufficient roll.

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have $50k saved

you should have a year's worth of living expenses saved. I know people recommend 6 months, but to be safe, you want more


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Many people actually reccomend 3-4 months of a safety net in savings, but Pokerace is right, as a poker pro, you should have more to accomodate downswings and any possible emergency. Use the figure your getting from tracking your spending for a month. If your making $50k a year, your living expenses are not $50k per year(if they are, you DEFINITELY shouldn't quit your job), they are are your take-home pay(gross minus taxes) minus your savings. From there, figure at least 6 months, preferably more...and put it somewhere that earns interest yet you could pull a month's expenses out at a time without a problem.

You also need to figure in what your long term goals(buying house, family, etc) are and what you are going to do if/when poker falls out of favor. Yeah, there will always be a ton of low limit games, but there was just a post the other day in one of these forums about 15/30 games being harder to find.