Should I quit my Wall Street job and go pro?

[BigNutSack]

I just opened an Empire account 3 days ago and have increased my $500 initial deposit up to a $650 stake by playing only 1-2 hours a night. If you add in the $100 sign up bonus that I have almost cleared (I need 500 raked hands - I'm up to 350 so far), I'll have $750 in my account. So $250 in profits in about 5 hours is $50 an hour which is a lot less than my multiple 6 figure income on Wall Street. I play mostly 25NL, 50NL, 100NL, but went up to 10/20 one night after a couple of bad beats at 100NL in order to make my money back quickly. I could probably make more if I increase my game (I hear the 30/60 games are real fishy!). Furthermore, I've only been playing 1 or 2 tables at a time so I could probably increase my win rate by going to 15 or 20 tables at a time. I'll probably need to install 4 21" monitors on my computer so there's the initial investment of $5,000 bucks. Plus I won't have free health care that I get at my job. Since I work on Wall Street, I am used to big PnL swings, so the ups and downs in my stake would just be an odd-lot to me. The other thing to consider is all the perks I get at my job - like the steak dinners at Del Friscos with $500 bottles of Bordeaux, followed by a few hours of lap dances at the VIP club. Not to mention the front row tickets to Yankee games.

So by my calculations, I can increase my $50 an hour rate to about $300 an hour by increasing the number of tables and playing higher stakes. If I play 10 hours a day, that's $3,000 a day times 200 days a year (I'll take a lot of vacations), I can expect to make $600,000. I was also thinking of teaching my wife to play - she could probably pull in about $300,000 a year working part-time. My kids also like playing hold 'em, but they are 9, 6 and 4, so they can only play in the play money games. But they should easily be able to pay for their college educations when they turn 18. Plus, with all the money I'd pull in, I could make even more by investing the profits in day trading and real estate. Or better yet, I can just buy Google and double my money in a few weeks! You also have to factor in the money I'd be saving by not having to pay $10 for a salad and soda at the overpriced New York delis. I'd save $225 a month on my train pass. And I wouldn't have to spend money getting my shirts dry cleaned since I could just sit around my house and wear the same clothes every day and change my underwear every 3 or 4 days.

What do you think?

[Baulucky]

I did this a year ago and I'm doing fine. I only change my underwear once a month, though.

[jakethebake]

Why only 10 hrs/day? Why only 15-20 tables? You're leaving money on the table.

[BlueBear]

So, you're considering giving up your respectable and high paying job to slog it out in the Internet poker rooms.

[ QUOTE ]
I just opened an Empire account 3 days ago and have increased my $500 initial deposit up to a $650 stake by playing only 1-2 hours a night.

[/ QUOTE ]

Welcome to Internet poker. Sorry to burst your bubble but a good first few days doesn't mean you'll keep winning the same amount every day of the year. In fact, some of these swings can be brutal.

[ QUOTE ]
I play mostly 25NL, 50NL, 100NL, but went up to 10/20 one night after a couple of bad beats at 100NL in order to make my money back quickly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dear dear dear. You get frustated easily and jump to a potentially crippling 10/20! As any poster will tell you, not exactly wise money management. One of the keys to winning Internet poker is to maintain complete discpline and to stop jumping to bigger games unnecessarily before building an adequate poker bankroll and getting enough experience at the lower limits.


[ QUOTE ]
So by my calculations, I can increase my $50 an hour rate to about $300 an hour by increasing the number of tables and playing higher stakes

[/ QUOTE ]

I can assure you your $50/hour rate is largely illusionary to do the very few hours you've played. And making $600 is not as easy as increasing the number of tables you play and increase in limits... After all, the quality of the players become much tougher in higher limits. Economists would say "a diminishing rate of return" for the higher limits.

I think if you're still interested in playing, stop thinking on terms of making enough money to quit your job, read LOTS of good poker books, lurk the twoplustwo boards, play disciplined poker and build up a reasonable and sustainable bankroll from small.

[pudley4]

Yes.

[sprmario]

[ QUOTE ]
What do you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like a great plan! Don't listen to the doubters man. Go for it!

[BigNutSack]

I did read a few good books. Positivley Fifth Street - I regard this as one of the best books I've ever read. I especially like the chapters on the strip clubs since that reminds me of what I do every time I'm in Vegas. What do you think the connection is between poker and lap dances?

Slanksy's HE for AP is also very good, however I made the mistake of using his limit strategy for NL originally.

I bought Cloutier's book on NL, and now I am a NL master.

My ultimate goal is to win the PP Million Satellite and make it to the cruise in March. I'd love to make it to the final table and win $1mm+. Then I'd divorce my wife and run away with Shana Hiatt! I'd only have to win one tournament a year to make a decent living.

[BlueBear]

[ QUOTE ]
I bought Cloutier's book on NL, and now I am a NL master.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good, it's time to making the switch to professional poker playing NOW. The poker world is your oyster.

[La Brujita]

I think Mr. Nutsack is joking and if he is it is a very funny joke!

[pshreck]

The original post was funny, but even funnier was seeing Blue Bear give honest feedback to a post that was clearly a joke.