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I am a pro..well by most people's standards. I make my living through poker. I took the leap two years ago. I am 27, two children, mortgage, etc....

I can't give you advice, I don't know you or your situation well enough, BUT!!! You better know you're a winner. Not just be up over the last couple of months. You have to know before sitting down that there is no possibility that anyone has done more preparation, no one is paying more attention to the game, and no one is more relaxed.

Knowing the odds and being a short term winner isn't giving you an accurate view of reality. You have to be able to perform day in and day out at your best under the pressure of knowing that if you don't win--you don't eat.

I would recommend schoonmaker's Psychology of poker.

I can also give you some stats of my own. I started with 25K. I play in the $10-20 and $20-40. I only play about 8 days out of the month and I average somewhere around 9-12K a month. I play online everyday---small stakes. I play in two home games a week. It sounds great, BUT, I know I'm a great player. I also have a good bankroll and a college degree to fall back on. I study something to do with poker for an hour everyday and have for years. I excercise, eat very healthy, get plenty of sleep, etc... Between online and live play I average playing somewhere around 800 hands a DAY. I am a model of consistency and self control.

I'm not telling you this to brag, but you and everyone should know that poker takes the same attributes as any other profession to be great. Hard work, dedication, and consistency. You're not leaving one job to play poker professionally---You're leaving one job for another job.

If you don't treat it that way, or think it will be different for you YOU WILL LOSE

my honest opinion from your posts is that you're not ready...sorry, but I believe that you would already be president of the company you work for if you presently had what it takes to be a true pro. Succesful poker pros would be successful at anything they did. They are willing to do the things that others are not to be winners... Just like you could take just about any CEO or successful business owner and make a great poker pro out of them.

Sincerely,
unseasoned pro

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Thank you for the advice. Seriously...and this goes for everyone here... anyone that takes time out of their day to help me is a true colleague/friend in my book. I have to disagree with some of your comments though... First. 800 hands a day to a 4-8 tabling 6 max player is a joke. Sorry, but seriously I play over 350-400 hands an hour, and this is a very low average. Secondly, I dont plan to play professional online poker for the rest of my life, just the few years while I go to school. Also at the amount of hands I play, "the R word" alone would pay me more than I make now, I prop. I make more than 3X almost every other player does in "r/b". Its about 2.5-3BB per hour per table.
I understand that this is your situation, and it works for you. But my situation and yours, and everyone else at 2+2 are all different.
Lastly, about the President of my company comment..my CEO makes 2mil. a year, he owns 51% of the company and I doubt is worried about any 24yr old genious(which im not), taking his job since hes married to the other owner's daughter. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Seriously you dont understand the buisness I'm in. Its a different type of lifestyle and job than anyone can imagine here unles you've done it. I do very unethical things to decent people just to gain revenue or security of revenue for my company....both consumers and my crew of collectors...it's my job to protect the compnay, not myself, nor my employees.
Bill colectors are A22holes, bill collector managers are even bigger A22holes, and collection agency CEO's and directors are Satan. All the rumors and stories you here about us are probably true. Lie, cheat, and steal, the motto of a good collector.
If you can't tell from my sarcasm, I'm far too nice of a guy personally to be such a D!ck at work, it gets hadrer and harder to keep Richard the D!ck and Rick the laid back, poker player, nice guy, musician dude seperated. That's the root of the whole problem.
I think Ive gotten a ton of great advice in this post, but I think it's life expectancy is overdue [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
Basically I know now that to play 5/10 FT and going back to shcool is going to cost me about 20-25K total for all expenses...and thats before paying for school. Ive come to that and will be taking steps to constantly improve my game and maybe in a while I'll hit this mark and be confident enough to go at it. But for now "F@CK IT I'M GOING TO PLAY CARDS!!....after work, in between band practice and gigs, while working on my house...Who needs sleep?!!

Thanks for everything guys.