My contribution to all the "turning pro" posts. LONG

[livinitup0]

Im under my wifes work insurance.... for now anyways. Plus if we get our own plan pretty soon while we're relatively young, we'll have a much better chance of not being denied coverage.
The only real worry I hav right now is what Im going to do about uncle sam for those 4 years. I have a feeling that the taxes are going to be pretty harsh. Im not sure about Illinois law but gambling anywhere besides a riverboat is illegal here (hasnt been anything said about internet gambling yet) So I dont even know what Im supposed to put on my tax forms. Guess I'll just have to hire an accountant.

[MicroBob]

I would recommend more than a $6k bankroll for this.


Yes...you have to pay taxes.
You can just put 'professional gambler' on the tax-form. It is most likely that it doesn't matter what your interpretation of Illinois law is. They are not supposed to be able to use your occupation against you.

You are forced to pay taxes....you also have a 'right' against self-incrimination ("I invoke my 5th amendment rights")...therefore, they can't use your tax-info against you for such a purpose or else it would be contradictory to your 5th amendment rights.


1 - You may want to get Gamblers Guide to Taxes by Walter L. Lewis. It doesn't cover internet-gambling (it's a little dated) but it does cover the differences in professional gambling vs. recreational gambling.

2 - There have been about a zillion threads about casual players AND pros paying their taxes. One of the best threads was in the internet-forum in Feb or Mar I think. A poster named 'CPA' answered many questions about it very intelligently. My Q's are all over that thread naturally.
I'm sure you (or someone) will be able to find it in the archives.
Definitely read that thread because it sounds like you have virtually zero idea what you are doing regarding the taxes (which is okay....so did I).

3 - Make sure you keep accurate daily records of your wins/losses as well as your 'professional' expenses (such as internet-connection, poker-books, etc) and you will be better prepared to deal with the IRS if they come knocking on your door wondering what the hell you're doing for income.

4 - Read the series of articles by Ed Miller in the 2+2 internet-magazine regarding 'going pro' (in the upper-left corner fo the green-bar).
He has written about it over the last 3 months
Hurry up too...because the first of those articles will be deleted forever soon (the 2+2 articles 'expire' after 3 months).
Also read the articles in the magazine by Al Schoonmaker on the same topic.


5 - I'm going to go back and say it.
I don't know how much you've been winning or what limit you are playing. But $50k in rakeback while only thinking you need to save up for a $6k-$7k bankroll sounds "possible" but still a little weird to me.


6 - While you're under your wife's health-care...you shouldn't 'rely' on her income for anything else...otherwise she could resent the situation and you could have problems.
There is a difference between: a. being a pro-poker player, and b. being a losing poker-player who relies on his wife's/GF's income.

In other words...it is my opinion that if it doesn't go well for you then YOU have to suck it up and get a job BEFORE
considering the idea of "honey, I've just had some bad luck and need a little money to keep me going. I know it's going to turn-around. I promise."

It's situations like this that you want to avoid obviously.

Thus, I believe you HAVE to prepared to get a real job again if it goes badly.....and thus you want to have a much larger bankroll then you initially think might be necessary in order to avoid such a situation.


Obviously this differs from person to person and couple to couple. Just my suggestions on how to best approach the situation.