Going Pro??

I play A lot of poker!! Sometimes over 60 hours a week and that is not a joke. My question is if I had a big enough bankroll, could I really make a run at being a pro poker player on the net? I currently play $1/$2 and do pretty well. Lets say you want to try and average $1000 a week playing. Would you be able to figure a set limit to play to try and average this with the swings and all. I know I am far away from actually doing this, but I was trying to get some opinions on what you guys think.

I would just keep track of your win/loss over a period of 6mos-1year see what your average income is per week/month and see if that can sustain you. If so, then yeah I'm sure it can be done. Though I would be careful not to change the way I play.. as playing poker as your sole-income puts a lot of pressure on you. So, if you can just roll with the swings of the game, and play your normal style.. i'm sure it could work. Though nothing beats playing live games. If you can beat the 10/20, 15/30 games in vegas, you can make a good living

don't quit your dayjob!
i have to say that i think that using poker as a second income is a much better idea.
My personal goal is to have a normal job - but only part time. I'd play roughly 20 hrs of poker weekly on top of that and hopefully make a nice little wad of bills every week.

In order to go fully pro, i think that you'd have to have alot more time under your belt to see how much you'd be making on average (as spore said)
i know you could do it though, sammy - you hit money in MTTs so often
i wish ya luck!

well, you would want to figure out how much you are making per hour over time. if you can play 10/20 or 15/30 games and make one big blind per hour, thats somewhere between 45k-70k per year which is liveable for sure. . .
let us know when you make the leap!

This is a good question. I agree with Chuck, I would think about going semi pro and make poker your 2nd job. I have considered what it would take to go pro at playing poker. Lets just say i've tracked my progress, and I haven't hit anywhere near the 40K a year that I make in my regular job. My goal this year is to pull my salary up to 55K through playing poker.

Personally, I think making Internet poker your primary source of income (assuming you want to live somewhere above the poverty line) should only be considered after you are able to stock away 6 months of living expenses just from your poker winnings...separate from your poker bankroll. This would show that you are a winning player, you have the discipline to manage your money well, and you have something to fall back on if things don't work out so well. Take is slowwww......:turtle:

I, like ChuckT, find that poker is a great moneymaking hobby or second income. I might not buy a new car with my winnings, but it will keep gas in the old one.

Here's an article I found for an online poker buddy who was thinking of going pro. It seemed interesting to me but I didn't take it seriously since I have no intentions of giving up my day job


[old link~tb]


Hope it's of some use to anyone thinking about going pro.

i currently work part time.. roughly 30 hours a week and just look at poker as a hobby, not a job... but i do try to cash out every two weeks, just like a paycheck.. so if you can make it by playing online and making a living i give you major props.. but for now, for me i just look at it as extra income.

Excellent Article!

medeiros13 said:

Here's an article I found for an online poker buddy who was thinking of going pro. It seemed interesting to me but I didn't take it seriously since I have no intentions of giving up my day job


[old link~tb]


Hope it's of some use to anyone thinking about going pro.

Click to expand...

Thanks for recommending this article. It is excellent. The author makes several great points about going pro.

i think threesixes (a poster here on CC) is a perfect example of how most should play poker...he plays recreationally like the rest of us, is an excellent player and places in MTTs often. I recall him saying that he buys car parts (he owns his own sports car) with his winnings.
This is the way i think poker should be used...having your whole income decided by your poker success is a little too risky for me, but if you can make a weekly second income good enough to go and buy yourself something nice once in a while...why not???

Haha! Thanks for the compliments Chuck As a matter of fact I'm contemplating taking $250 out of the bankroll right now for some suspension parts! Drag racing is freaking expensive

I remember ready somewhere that over time a person could expect to make 1 BB an hour on average. Now if was true you would need to play 15-30 to really make a go of it but here area few other things that you would need to think about (This is from the book Internet Texas Holdem by Matthew Hilger p287-288)
- Self-employed Americans residents must pay full FICA and Medicare payments, which are 15.3% of your salary, rather than 7.65% if you work for a company
- You would also have to pay your own medical and dental insurance
-gambling income is taxable in the USA
- If you are American and move overseas, you are able to deduct over $80000 which would eliminate most income tax, so move to a Nice Island somewhere

In my opinion you would also need very good bankroll management and keep very clear records of your win lose so you can track or winnings. Maybe try to set it up so your getting a paycheck every 2 weeks or month by starting with maybe 6000-10000 grand in an account that your paychecks would come from and you would deposit your winnings in. This way you do have a couple month cushion when things are not working out