How much $ per day for you to turn pro?

I gave a fairly glib answer before, so a little more detail. Ed Miller's thoughts on the matter are pretty definitive though.

For me, to go pro, I'd want to play no more than 20 hrs a week. I make close to $100k as an engineer, counting health/disability insurance, holidays/vacation pay, etc. So, we're talking I'd need to make about $2k a week at poker, in 20 hours. So, $100/hour.

If I could 2-table 15/30 6-max at 2BB/100, that'd be about $120/hour. I'm nowhere near being that good. I found that personally, running 4 tables is too frantic. Add to that I'm married with kids and the best play time is at night when they're around, I *MUST* be able to handle side distractions while I play, which means fewer tables.

Now, what do I give up?

I have a stable job, good insurance, and paid vacation time. I've completed my Masters recently in software engineering and picked up enough skills to really work myself into an lead/architect position in the next few years. I can pretty safely assume pay raises, while in poker there is no yearly raise. It's also a job that requires you stay current. If I went pro as a poker player, my ability to go back to being an engineer when the poker boom is over in 5 years is limited. I'd have a really tough time convincing employers I was worth the kind of money I'd need.

Instead, my goal is to play part time, wait until the kids get through college, and maybe build up a big enough bankroll and enough skill that I could think about retiring faily young (late 40's) and play poker for a living. This also lets me see if I even care to play in 10 years.