To Turn Pro or Not To Turn Pro?

[GrannyMae]

yes. i was referring to the PPT but there is likely to be several other forms of the PPT, as this is owned by the WPT.

there will be other pro tours where the sponsors put up the entire prize pool (with free entry), and then there will be player funded tourneys where a sponsor will add large cheese to the prize pool.

lots of good things coming, but not limited to PPT

[teddyFBI]

you got it: red line is winnings plus rakeback -- as you can see, rakeback is a pretty big chunk of my take-home $...I feel pretty foolish for ever having played without it.

Yes, $2,000 / week turned out to be a little optimistic...I'm averaging about $1,500 / week so far though, so it's going alright.

[TheMetetron]

Well, I am going to be making the jump in approximately a month or so too. Starting out 8-tabling $5/10 (same as I do part-time now), though I do plan to extend that to 12 tables and $15/30 sometime within the next year [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I do intend to blog it, but more on that later [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[slickpoppa]

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though I do plan to extend that to 12 tables and $15/30 sometime within the next year [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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lol

[6471849653]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you lose if you can't make it? A few months, a year?

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Ten years.

[MicroBob]

Yeah....I saw Sexton's column on the PPT in Cardplayer and thought pretty much the same thing.

Previously, making it via big-money MTT's was pretty tough.
But now it looks like the 'name' players will get to play in their fair-share of $500k free-rolls each year.
This alone adds a lot of EV to trying to win your way into the invited field somehow.
Basically, it helps the type of tourney-pro who is overextending his bankroll, taking too many stakes in himself, and is constantly at risk of busting out.



To the original question: I don't know if it's just blind 'your in college so you should stay there.' Certainly SOME have this opinion....but so many of the posts also contain other info that seems relevent.

"I'm 20 and can't even pick a major...and I don't want to work a boring old 9-to-5 anyway...and I'm REALLY good and have been winning 9BB/100 in my last 5k hands so, unless pokertracker is lying to me, I KNOW I am REALLY good. And I have a really big bankroll of 300BB's because that's how much you're supposed to have."
etc etc etc.

Anyone that doesn't understand any of the fundamentals should NOT be going pro....and there are many that don't understand.

If you really need to ask how much you can make multi-tabling 3/6 then you certainly aren't ready to try the pro-route yet.
Honestly, it's not that hard to figure out that on 3/6, 4-tables at 1BB/hr on each table (about 1.7BB/100 or so) is about $25/hr....and that 40 hours of that per week is $1k/wk (which is $50k/yr btw).

you WILL have fluctuations. you DO need to be sufficiently bankrolled...and you should ALREADY have a good idea of what the variance is, how many hands you should have to know you are a winning player and what your bankroll should be.
Hell, some people respond "Gee...figure out my monthly expenses ahead of time? I guess that really IS a good idea."


Obviously, not all of the posts have this many misconceptions about it...some of them are rather insightful and seem to be coming from decent players.


Before I 'took the plunge' I just treated it like a second job. I could sign-out early from 'work' and get going on my 2nd job. I was at 25 hours a week at work and 30 hours a week of online-poker and I was making more clicking away at home then I was at work.
when i left work I looked at it as a 1-2 month 'poker vacation' or something like that. I was completely prepared to come crawling back to my job if I needed to.

Why more aspiring 'pros' don't simply play hard every weekend to build their roll or take a 7-14 day online-poker sabbaticle to see how they do is really beyond me.


I also didn't need to ask for 'permission' to do it on these forums.
I was going to try it out and see how I liked it. I knew how much I was making per hour online and how much I was making at work so I took a shot.


There are a LOT of people who post that they are thinking about trying it who clearly have NOT thought it all out.


The previous issues brought up that the games may not continue to be great (although I still think they'll continue to be good) and that the U.S. govt can make things kinda tough for everyone are extremely valid.

But, if worse comes to worse then I'm back to my old job...or perhaps trying a new one (not sure if I would really want to be a B&M pro). Possibilities aplenty.


Other issues include:
- health insurance (and other work benefits)
- pretty much working alone (lack of social interaction)
- feelings of not doing something that is truly 'worthwhile'
- gaps in one's resume
- disapproval from peers (family, friends, dates)
- total burn-out from playing 10k hands a week (thus dreading a 'hobby' you used to enjoy),
- trying to motivate yourself to 'work'
- for some....it can be very stressful
- i'm sure a few other i can't remember right now


I'm not trying to be overly negative. I really am enjoying this life (8 months and going strong) and am not interested in trading it currently. But these ARE issues that can get in the way for many.

Obviously, some of the benefits include:
- setting one's own hours (and days and weeks)
- taking vacation whenever one feels like it
- taking your job with you on vacation (or family visits...which don't necessarily qualify as 'vacation' a lot of the time??)
- watch the ball-game on TV and listen to whatever music you like while 'working'
- for someone like me, better income (I was making $500/wk at my previous job)
- not having to deal with annoying/mean/condescending bosses/supervisors
- for some, it can be extremely NON-stressful (this is the case for me) compared with much of the regular work universe.


Those are some of my thoughts.
Carry on.

[Sephus]

just wanna say great post bob, thanks.