How To Become A Pro Poker Player

[warlockjd]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, then the next question. Is how does one go about becoming a poker pro?

[/ QUOTE ]


Okay, now that I have my standard sarcastic response, I will attempt to lay out a feasible plan.

1. Keep specific and meticulous records. Always know your winrate, standard deviation, etc.

2. Play until your winrate passes your current job income PLUS:

--Include paying taxes on all traceable (including internet) winnings. Don't forget the extra 6.5% self employment tax.

--Indepedent health insurance policy

--Have an appropriate banroll that this forum recommends plus 100BBs or 5 buyins for NL. I don't know what's appropriate if you are strictly a tournament player, but probably 10 buyins at least.

--Have 6 months of expenses saved.

3. Don't burn your bridges at your current job if possible. Try to take a 3 month leave of absence to try it out (don't tell them what you are doing). If you can't do that, leave on terms that you can come back to or with good recommendations.

4. Be a pro. If you are not 100% on your game DO NOT PLAY THAT DAY. Take a few days off as you need it.

Study and improve your game constantly. Find a poker buddy to bounce ideas off of.

5. Plan on getting at least $100k in cash separate from your bankroll ASAP. Invest this money wisely (rental props etc) and start making passive income.

In 6 months to a year, playing will have lost a lot of it's fun, and you will refer to playing as working. Plan on your bad days affecting your social life negatively. Losing $5 or 10K in a day will suck, no matter what, no matter how well you played.

Being a pro will be the hardest thing you have ever done. You can NOT overestimate the emotional fortitude that it takes to withstand being colddecked for days or weeks on end, and this can affect your confidence creating a vicious cycle.

When your confidence gets shot take at least 3 days off.

AVOID TILT AT ALL COSTS.

However, if you are damned good, and become an elite (not necessarily as good as the elites of this forum), for a lot of people, it will be more money than you could make anywhere else.

It is also very rewarding the day your hard work pays off and your making triple what any of your friends make.

Obviously, this post is based on personal experience. Results will vary, but a lot of these things will be true universally.

Hope this helps

[Mr Mojo Risin]

I'm not a poker pro, but from what I have read here on 2+2, you need to read a lot, and play a lot of hands. Posting questionable hands for review also helps. But you need to study the game inside out. I am currently in the process of doing this.

[warlockjd]

[ QUOTE ]
I am just looking for some advice to make atleast $10-15 (but hopefully more like $20-30) dollars an hour, so that way I could help pay my way through school

[/ QUOTE ]

Get PokerTracker and gametime plus. Start with %0.50/1 on Party and work your way up when you pass 3bb/100 for 30,000 hands or so for each level.

Study here daily

[michw]

Here's my 2 cents. I went 'pro' 3 months ago and am loving almost every minute of it. I wouldn't discourage anyone from giving it a shot. However, quite a bit of preparation and thought went into making this decision.

- I'm 29, have an engineering degree, and 6 years design experience.
- I have no debt. My bills, living expenses, and insurace payments come to about $1500 a month. Health insurance costs me $270 a month and is included in the $1500. So I can get by cheaply and don't need to make much money each month to pay the bills. Which is important given the limits I play at.
- I have about 1.5 years of living expenses saved.
- I had a years worth (1000 hours) of poker data and records that said I was a winning player.
- My live-in fiance is cool with me playing poker.

The main reason I went pro was because I wanted my quality of life to improve. Prior to turning pro, all I did was work and play poker. I simply didn't have time, or rather chose not to make time for all of the other hobbies and interests that I used to pursue. Now I get my daily poker fix in AND have time to work out, play ultimate, read, go to the movies, hang out with friends, travel, brew beer, etc. I wasn't doing any of these things once I started getting serious about poker. I'm much happier and sincerely believe I lead a healthier life now that I've turned pro.

I think it's also important to note that I don't have the immediate pressure to win money. It's much easier having the 'mental fortitude' that everyone says is needed without this pressure. If I didn't have money saved or didn't have a career to fall back on I probably wouldn't be enjoying myself like I am. If I fail as a pro and am broke two years from now so be it. I'm not in debt and I'll go back to engineering.

Finally, I've only been doing this for 3 months! Ask me how happy I am a year or two from now and I may give you a completely different answer.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
Fourth, when you get to be forty or so and you're losing your touch or enthusiasm, it is very hard to get a good job. What do you tell future [employers] you have been doing for all those years? Why would they give you a good job?

[/ QUOTE ]

Notwithstanding my immense respect for Dr. Alan, my gut feeling is that this old chestnut is somewhat overblown. Not entirely overblown! But I think the job market is flexible enough that, if you're determined to make it into a certain field, no "black mark on the resume" is sufficent to keep you out forever.

I've thought about writing in a longer format with some of my ideas about this, but I don't know if it would be appropriate for something like 2+2 internet mag. (Especially since it's highly speculative on my part, given that I haven't actually quit work to become a poker pro then successfully gone on to pursue the career of my dreams.)

Would such an article be worth writing?

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
I am a college student and am stressed about how I will pay the bills throughout school. I am just looking for some advice to make atleast $10-15 (but hopefully more like $20-30) dollars an hour, so that way I could help pay my way through school (because tuition, books, food, rent, etc...), and when I get out I could have an extra job that I enjoy where I could make a little bit of money on the side.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, then, most of the well-intentioned admonishments one hears about "becoming a pro" don't really apply anyway. Your primary goal is to study whatever you're studying in school and build a career, and poker is a means to that end. That's much different than the archetypical "poker pro".

I'm actually considering something similar -- moving close enough to Foxwoods or AC to play 40-50 hours a week, spending the rest of my time getting technical certifications with the goal of transitioning from an unfulfilling sit-at-a-desk software career into a software training career. The poker would be nice, though, because i wouldn't feel like i was taking a financial bath. If a potential employer is open to hearing about how poker honed my analytical skills, great; if not, it's really none of their business how i could afford to take time off for training myself in software.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
Being a pro will be the hardest thing you have ever done. You can NOT overestimate the emotional fortitude that it takes to withstand being colddecked for days or weeks on end, and this can affect your confidence creating a vicious cycle.

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally off-topic, i thought "cold-decking" was a form of cheating. I'd never heard it used like in this context.

[IShark]

Besides the healthy human being feels a need to contribute socially (make the world better) and to have an outlet for creative desires. Poker pros strike out big time here. Now you can do those things on the side, but why not make it a bigger % of your life?

[Al Schoonmaker]

If you really are a "Poker Prodigy," you can easily make over $20 per hour multi-tabling online. Study Miller, Sklansky, and Malmuth's "Small Stakes Hold'em" and rigorously apply its principles.

But beware of letting poker become too important to you. My next two articles in our internet magazine are titled, "Don't take poker too seriously."

They apply particularly to people like you. You may start out to pay your way through college. But poker can be so seductive, and you may be making so much money that you slowly let poker take over your life. Ultimately, you may drop out of school and play full time, which I regard as a TERRIBLE mistake.

Good luck,

Al

[RYL]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ok, then the next question. Is how does one go about becoming a poker pro?

[/ QUOTE ]


Okay, now that I have my standard sarcastic response, I will attempt to lay out a feasible plan.

1. Keep specific and meticulous records. Always know your winrate, standard deviation, etc.

2. Play until your winrate passes your current job income PLUS:

--Include paying taxes on all traceable (including internet) winnings. Don't forget the extra 6.5% self employment tax.

--Indepedent health insurance policy

--Have an appropriate banroll that this forum recommends plus 100BBs or 5 buyins for NL. I don't know what's appropriate if you are strictly a tournament player, but probably 10 buyins at least.

--Have 6 months of expenses saved.

3. Don't burn your bridges at your current job if possible. Try to take a 3 month leave of absence to try it out (don't tell them what you are doing). If you can't do that, leave on terms that you can come back to or with good recommendations.

4. Be a pro. If you are not 100% on your game DO NOT PLAY THAT DAY. Take a few days off as you need it.

Study and improve your game constantly. Find a poker buddy to bounce ideas off of.

5. Plan on getting at least $100k in cash separate from your bankroll ASAP. Invest this money wisely (rental props etc) and start making passive income.

In 6 months to a year, playing will have lost a lot of it's fun, and you will refer to playing as working. Plan on your bad days affecting your social life negatively. Losing $5 or 10K in a day will suck, no matter what, no matter how well you played.

Being a pro will be the hardest thing you have ever done. You can NOT overestimate the emotional fortitude that it takes to withstand being colddecked for days or weeks on end, and this can affect your confidence creating a vicious cycle.

When your confidence gets shot take at least 3 days off.

AVOID TILT AT ALL COSTS.

However, if you are damned good, and become an elite (not necessarily as good as the elites of this forum), for a lot of people, it will be more money than you could make anywhere else.

It is also very rewarding the day your hard work pays off and your making triple what any of your friends make.

Obviously, this post is based on personal experience. Results will vary, but a lot of these things will be true universally.

Hope this helps

[/ QUOTE ]


Awesome post. Now I'm beggining to see that it's certain questions you ask that make you become successful. Just awesome.