[Nomad84]

[ QUOTE ]
All I can say it's tough, it's stessful, and it starts to suck really bad after about the fourth month. I went pro for about 6 months, made about 25K four tabling 3/6, then took a nine to five job for considerably less money. Although you may be skilled enough to earn a living at it, you have to be emotionally prepared for a roller coaster ride. Turned out I wasn't. Grinding out 30 - 40 hours a week only to break even for that week is tough, and believe me, it will happen to you if you play long enough. I may be making less money now, but at least I have peace of mind and can play poker as a hobby rather than a job.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[ QUOTE ]
Of course, theres other problems that go along with going pro:

1. Forget about getting a loan or credit card

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not a long term proposition to me, and I won't be needing to borrow money any time soon. This should not be a factor for me within the next year or so.

[ QUOTE ]
2. No health insurance or 401K

[/ QUOTE ]

I *think* I can get cheap health care if I need it, but I will definitely look into this further. I don't know too much about investing. Aside from employer matching, what are the benefits of a 401k vs. just investing through Edward Jones (who I currently use)? I have a Roth IRA, but I don't know a lot about investing in general.

[ QUOTE ]
3. You can't really enjoy the money you make since most of it belongs to your bankroll anyway

[/ QUOTE ]

I have considered this, but I'm glad you mentioned it anyway.

[ QUOTE ]
4. You become too obsessed

[/ QUOTE ]

This is something that could be somewhat problematic. I have a tendency to attack something with too much of my time and energy until I've either gotten as good as I can get at it, or until I find a new challenge. That's part of the reason that I don't imagine I'd like to play professionally for more than a year. I love playing, but I'm afraid that if I play 1500 hrs/year, it's only a matter of time before I would be looking for a new challenge. As a side effect, I think that might help me to do better in grad school at that point.

[ QUOTE ]
5. You get an uneasy feeling when somebody asks what you do for a living.

[/ QUOTE ]

Obviously, I have no stance on this because I haven't "been there."

[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, good luck! By the way, if you need 2K/month to live on, you need to expect to win at least 4K to make up for the bad swings, unexpected expenditures, and the fact that no one will let you borrow money (except maybe your parents).

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks! That is the idea right now. I'm fairly certain that I can net $4-5k/month on average, but like I said in previous posts, if I don't, I'm not going to be in financial trouble. Hopefully I can get a better picture of my true winrate in the next few months. Thank you for your input!