Poker for living...How hard or easy is it really?

When I loss my job years ago I began playing poker and made good money doing it. It was said to me in a joke many times that I should just play poker for living. The people who said those comments didn't know that at the time that was my only source of income. So my question is How do you really make this a committed job? The answers I guess Im looking for is, how would it be for family time, How often should I play? What is a good starting bank roll? and Im sure people will add many other information needed. Thanks in advance!

search the forum. Its been covered many times.

If you don't have 60k+ saved and are not grinding mid stakes already then it will be very tough...

If you have been doing it since you lost your job I'm guessing you might of had a pritty good idea more than anyone else who holds down a full time job? If it is your main source of income at the minute, what are you pulling in?

Not my main source anymore, since I have started working but it seems I made more just playing poker than working and playing poker on my off time.

Thats good then. Why did you/would you go back to work? Boring or? Which stakes was you playing? I admire players who can play for a living or make a significant amount of profit per month.

I am not sure where you are from but there are a few things you have to consider like taxes, what health and pension benifits a job may bring you etc. On the poker side you want to be sure that if you go on a large downswing you will have enough BR to cover it and still pay your bills.

Ask Me Anything (Dusty Schmidt aka Leatherass in the well)

Ask this guy and get his book.

This would be excessive for me.


Alot depends on where you live and the cost of living there.




MOST IMPORTANT:
Be prepared.
Make sure you completely understand the game.
And ..after understanding make sure you can competently beat a level or two higher than you can sustain a living on.


Only Leatherass doesnt have losing months.

Play the 180manīs on PokerStars and you can make good money without big variance. These turbos are 1) great bankrollbuilders and 2) a good income source, provide reliable profits and lower variance (than mttīs). And you havenīt a big time commitment. I know a player (carpediem22) who made $3000 per month playing just the $2.20 180manīs. Okay, he played 3000 games per month, but itīs possible.

Really? That's very impressive. I'd love to be at some point like that.. lol. Is he mass tabling like 10 at once or more/less and is he just playing very TAG poker? Shove/fold or?

Edit: I see he made that amount one month. Usually between 100-300dollars permonth he makes. Still this isn't to bad I guess.

Not a living wage where I live.

Indeed same for me, more like a days a living here. However it's still not a bad bit of extra cash to have.

Family time is a very great question. Obviously it all depends on how much yor earning and how many hours your earning it in. If can earn the amount you need for bills etc and little extra to save within normal job working hours then family time is just the same. But if you dont then family time may be sacrificed to put more hours in, also different times to be online playing. I e night time tend to be better for donks and weekends. Theres a very fine balance between work and family. Obviously a 9 to 5 job is perfect but when need put more in and different hours it will affect it. But another way to look at it is if you are earning as much then put few more hours a week into it you could earn yourself enough money to take week off and go on nice family holiday now and again. Now thatd be kool When coming up to xmas put few extra hours in for xmas pressys lol.

This is very dangerous. You can win alot or you can lose your shirt. Be prepared for huge swings in your BR. You almost need to be financially independant to play poker for a living. I have a friend who plays exclusively for a living. He lives with his parents and his only "cost of living" is his computer and vehicle. He spent almost 2 solid years grinding it out before he made a "score". Over this time he probably lost about $9000. You need to be able to withstand a run like that to play as a pro.

my bet is it is exhausting and is just like any other job but the bad days are worse-- you can't just go through the motions and run out the clock, and pretty much everything in your life is affecting your state of mind. if you can do it more power to you but i don't envy you.

If u have a family its going to be harder because to make poker your main income u have to put the hours in order to see the results and the money worth while. Im a young kid with no family and a few bills to pay so i can put in 10- 15 hours a day playing online grinding out.

Obviously depends what you play and how good you are.

Personally, I think it's VERY risky to do. It's not that it can't be done (I know many people who have put themselves through school, bought cars etc), it's just that it requires an incredible amount of discipline and self control, and even then there can be large swings.

I personally think if it's something one was going to do, it would be better to take a lower-paying part time job (so that there is a guaranteed amount of $ coming in) and then play poker for the rest of the "work week".

I agree that its extremely risky if you're putting your livelyhood on the table. I wouldn't want to even attempt playing this game for a living unless I had someone staking/sponsoring me. Even if you have to split the winnings, the fact that if you don't cash you're going to get paid anyway would make it easier to actually pull a profit long term. When you're not worried about putting food in your kids' mouths it would be easier to play a TAG/LAG combo successfully.

I think it really depends how good you are and your bankroll. Then you can start to consider the others. Ask Ivey or Dwan if it's rough, then the other 95% of players who thought they could do it for a living that probably have filed bankruptcy?

You should be playing 1/2 at the very least with about 40-50 buy-ins, about 10k. You should be grinding at least 5 tables for AT THE VERY LEAST 8 hrs a day and if your lucky you can retain a win rate of 2.5ptbb/100. Not to mention the 2-4hrs of study a day that it takes to beat these games at that modest win rate. Then take into account that this won't be consistant and you'll go through some sick swings, you'll have to find away to cope with that and with a family depending on you that'll be tough. Oh and don't forget taxes, save 25% for uncle Sam. Unless your ready to make poker your life and are really 100% commited, get a job.

I don't think anyone would tell you its easy. But there is something to be said for making your own schedule and playing a game you love all the time.