Lets talk more about poker for a living

[CrisBrown]

[OrangeHeat]

I do this (well 2x anyway) and I still have the day job for these reasons:

1. Cheap Healthcare - I have 2 kids.
2. Steady Income - My poker money stays poker money.
3. EARLY RETIREMENT - If I keep my job for five years I will literally have enough money to retire at 32 - without relying on poker.

It is great - my 401k is maxed at work, my long term high interest debts were paid off with poker money, and anything I make at poker goes into investments for retiring early.

Am I gonna last five years? I dunno. I do know that before I ditch the day job I will have a 450BB bankroll and three years of my current salary saved up (before taxes) w/ all long term debt except mortgage paid.

To each his own - but my thought is, if I am going to go pro I do not want three things:

1. To be playing with a short BR.
2. To worry about the payemnts.
3. To be psychologically tied by relying on poker for the family.

Orange

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

My wife does not mind my poker "hobby," and is even encouraging of it, as it is the first hobby I've ever had that is +EV. My last hobby was golf. Very -EV. Plus I sucked at golf.

[MicroBob]

"EARLY RETIREMENT - If I keep my job for five years I will literally have enough money to retire at 32 - without relying on poker."


this is great for you and i think makes your decision to keep your job an easy one. with good health-care and 401k and a good salary (i'm assuming) you obviously are doing the responsible thing.


i think we need to seperate those who are making less than 40k/yr at their regular job from those who are clearly making better money in a solid field.

my regular job would still pay around 30k or less if i worked there for 40/hrs a week and i'm fairly certain i can make more playing poker...thus i am attempting to gradually build my bankroll to the point where i can give full-time pro status a try.

right now, i consider myself a pro because i am playing to WIN...not merely for the enjoyment of the game (even though i enjoy the game tremendously).

at some point, it would be pretty irresponsible NOT to try full-time pro....if i lose half of my bankroll or get overly frustrated then i just go back into regular work...albeit with my tail between my legs a bit.
otherwise, i COULD stay at my current gig and make scrape by for the rest of my life....that would be silly.


there is also a big difference in trying to make it as a pro today. consequently, i don't think the problems of the previous day and age apply.
this big difference is called the INTERNET (i know you've heard of it....it's making all the papers).

i don't have to go play with any drugged-out sleeze-balls (although my B&M's seem filled with seniors and other fairly clean-cut individuals...but what do i kinow??).
i play from home or from the Hi-speed internet coffee-place up the street. watch the hoops or baseball game on tv and make a little dough....no driving, no smoking, piece of cake.

to me, this is very different then the big-money tourney winner busting out with his winnings and trying to grind it out at the smoky low-limit tables all night long.
i would NOT have wanted to try to make it as a pro in the pre-internet age....tough rakes, slow moving games, only 1 table at a time....what a pain, and i have the very most respect for anyone who was able to pull it off.

as it stands now, i don't really need to worry about whether i'm the best player in the world....i'm pretty mediocre actually....but i'm still good enough to beat up on low-limit....and because i can multi-table the money adds up as i continue to study my game and improve.


any talk of buring out on playing internet play seems to be roughly the same as the possibility of burning out on any other job.....and i truly would burn-out if i had to work in the corporate world from 8-5....and, in my case anyway, see the possibility of burning out on making my income from home to be significantly less.

[OrangeHeat]

I agree with everything. I really do not have a decision as I have a family - so security is #1.

Of ocurse I also heard of the internet - without it my early retirment would not be possible.

All my grand plans also depend on Congress not passing the prohibition Bill. That would end the plans for now.

Anyone reading this - remember to contact...no remember to badger your representatives about this infringement on personal rights.

Off my soapbox.

Orange

[Lawrence Ng]

I know a few good pros who have been playing live B&M poker for years. Bottom line is that if you can you can play well, you can make money. However, it's a true grind and only few can stand the pressure, emotions, swings of being a full time pro.

Let's face it, the pressure is even more immense when you are using your poker income to pay your rent, expenses and whatever else you use your poker income to cover.

I will not disagree that poker is a fantastic secondary source of income, like any good investment. But making a primary source of income is just too much for me to handle pyschologically.

Before I started my full time job over 2 years ago, I was playing poker a lot and my game was as bad as it could be. I was constantly worried about losing. This seriously hindered my play and EV.

I got lucky and landed myself a very nice full time job that I truly love that provided a great income, benefits, bonuses and a health package. I am single, so I have no family, thus I do not have a lot of expenses. As a result, I was able to save a nice bankroll within a few months of working.

Basically I told myself one thing. Poker money stays in poker and goes nowhere else. If I lose it, so be it. I'll build another bankroll. But if I win, I'm not going to go around and spend it. To this day, after 2 years I have a bankroll in poker that would make easily cover my living expenses for 3 years if I lost my job. This and the fact that every month I have savings from my primary source of income.

I do not worry about losing anymore. Some nights I lose up to 50 to 60 BB in B&M rooms, but the only thing I think about it how well I played my hands.

True enough, my part time hourly rate in poker succeeds my hourly rate at work. But not once have I ever thought about quitting my day job that I love to play poker full time. As Dr. Al puts it, I just don't have the emotional bankroll for it.

Ironically enough, the best thing that helps me with my poker game is getting away from poker. Having a balanced and healthy life are just two important aspects that have helped me reach my goal in becoming a much better poker player in the long run.

Now do I ever intend on using my bankroll wisely for something. I sure do. But then again, it will cloud my judgement and game at the table and I don't want to do that. As I mentioned before, poker money will stay in poker..for now. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Hope this helps you wannabee pros out there.

[Lawrence Ng]

jwvdcw,

As I have personally experienced myself trying to be a full time pro poker player, let me say that Dr. Al is right. There are definitely a lot of positives, but sometimes it really feels like the negatives outweigh them.

The biggest of which is financial uncertainty. This uncertainty, unlike any other regular job, can have a tremendous downside on one's emotions. So I can understand why Dr. Al is so concerned about poker as a full time job.

Honestly though, how many pros do you know are happy, healthy, emotionally fit and balanced in their life? I sure don't know many.

[PokerBabe(aka)]

Noo Yawk says the best part of being a pro or semipro is the freedom it affords you. This is not entirely true, however, since by definition a pro is someone who works a schedule (typically at a given limit) for a given amount of time. If you think poker is not a type of "work", just wait till you cannot make a hand for 2 days. Or, just wait till you end the month down more than you made in the prior TWO months. It sure FEELS like work when these things happen. Any really good player is working, so don't kid yourself into thinking it's all a bed of roses (or aces).

I don't really believe that you can play poker part time and become an expert at the higher-midlimit (or high limit) games. I think it takes lots of time, dedication and study to reach the point where poker is a consistently profitable endeavor.

The reason most players cannot become pros is because they dont' want to "work" at the game as they would a "job".

LGPG,

Babe [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

[Losing all]

Excellent points. Try telling a "boss" you're gonna work 10 hours on Saturday and Sunday for the next 2 weeks then take a week off though. That's probably a lame example but there's something to be said for being your own boss.

[TheArtist]

OrangeHeat, and others

You know what. In more deeper thoughts, you guys are in a more ideal situation. Have a job and make good money at poker!

I love playing poker full time, but I just hate all the trouble that comes with it. Like it's going to be hard for me to get a mortgage. I have to lie when I cross the border( I told the guy I was a mushroom picker, and I wasn't convincing enough so I got search like I was a terrorist). People always preach to me after I tell them what i do. Like, you can't do this forever u know. It suck!

But on the bright side, I am making okay money! Maybe I get into Massage therapy, so I have a skill to pick up girls! And when people ask me what I do, I just tell them I give massages, want some! That will shut them up!!

P.S, One thing that is very bad about playing poker full time that not too many people mention is POKER MAKES YOU LAZY!!!

Good luck
TheArtist