Starting to play full time.. pointers?

So, your thinking if i need as pointers, I may not be ready to take that step into a full time live playing gig. I'm not 100% ether way. Here's a quick sum of whats up.
I'm 22 years old, started playing 5 card when I was 9 for baseball cards, by 9th grade it was quarters, and last year I was traveling 200 miles 4x a week to the most comfortable poker room I have yet to encounter. I hadn't much a bankroll, because my winnings were going to bills like college and rent and food/beer. I worked part time as a bartender, and graduated college. In January, I got tired of the slowness, and needed a change. I moved to the oilfield area and am residing in North Dakota. This wont last much longer, money's good, but the poker sucks. The closest casino (if you call it a casino) is four bears, they play games like 2-10 spread hold'em, or 5x a week host 15$ tournaments with a 10$ rebuy.. just stupid. Anywho.. I make decent money right now.. after taxes roughly 1200 a week (thats working 100 hours a week however) and I realized I hate working. I hate structured hours, and I hate not being able to do what I want when I choose to.. I mean you only live once right? so I have about 3000 saved, after bills paid and I intend on buying a fuel efficient car.. If i work until mid July ill have roughly 11k after expenses of living. And I want to give playing poker full time a try..here is my layout..

I play at running aces harness park, Linol lakes Mn. They pay 5$ an hour to all cash players.. if I play min. 50 Hours a week im guaranteed 250$ to live off of..
I play a 2-60 spread game with my biggest loss @500 a night, and my biggest win @1200
I have over 1300 hours of play logged there... with a gradual clime in profits, starting high in the red zone, and learning the game progressively how it worked.
I have more steady tournament results, out of 34 live tournaments in the last 16 months, I cashed in 23 ranging from 40$-185$
I guess I don't know what I'm writing this for.. maybe any tips, about the lifestyle from people who have tried, traveling for tournaments, or any tips/usefull information would be great.. thanks!

Let me get this straight, you make $1,200 perweek after tax and you want to quit to play poker ?

Listen man, try to cut back on your hours and play poker on the side, do not quit your job for it.

yeah..

I make decent money but the work is in the oilfield.. its certainly not a career choice just a plan for quick cash.. I'm on call 24/7 and NEVER get a chance to get away.. Every day is risky and shit work.. I mean shit. standing in 2 feet of invert (diesel fuel, water, mud chemical mix) torquing down huge high pressure valves..for 20 hours a day and feeling like shit tired after.. its good money but it pays for a reason.. I haven't had the chance to play cards in over a month.. If I don't get out now, this is not something I want to get stuck in.. my idea is worst case scenario in 4 months, I bust out.. and fall back on this job or one close, make some money again and invest in housing or something.. but I never have to wonder if I could succeed in the one thing I am actually passionate and enjoy doing. If I had a desk job making this money, I'd never leave.. but I cant do this much longer. Kinda get where I'm coming from here..?

I say give it a try.

I don't have any tips for you because I only play on the side.

Good luck.

My honest advice - don't. Given your experience, and the way you approach it, I just don't think it can work out. for example, in talking about your results for live cash games, you talk about biggest win/biggest loss, and for tournaments you talk about how many cashes you've had. you should be measuring cash games in $ per hour, and the same with tournaments (or roi).

while you might not enjoy your job, how much do you realistically think you can earn from poker? you've got 11k saved which isn't much at all - i'd want at least 6 months to a years living costs on top of a very safe bank roll with very very low risk of ruin before i even considered going pro. by the sounds of things you're playing limit which isn't hugely beatable, and are you going to be happy in those periods when you're only making $5 an hour?

i don't know anything about live cash games, limit poker or how beatable they are etc and how much you stand to earn, but by the sounds of things neither do you. there's no figures, no guess how much you might be earning (apart from $250 a week from cash game bonuses), no separation of poker from your living expenses, and nothing to really suggest that this is a well thought out idea rather than just a fantasy for getting away from a job you don't like.

just my 2 cents

I always got the notion that professional players opt-out of playing but only a few tournaments per year. Sounds like you're going to be willing to play quite more than that. Not that it couldn't be profitable, just saying.. I'm sure high variance will be a factor, if you so choose to play them more often than not.

But as stated above, I too have no experience playing full time, so my advice wouldn't have much merit ..but good luck to you.

sort of..

I have no hourly wage, but I know that if I did the math, from the hours I have put in I come out well ahead on my wage.. I have living expenses as part of my bankroll, but what your saying makes sense.. to separate them. Its a spread game, but there is a limit on the max bet.. its just Mn state law max bet is 60.. It has its pros and cons.. Hey I do appreciate all the advice and things to look into.. its something I am going to do, just to try. I figure worst case..I'm back here just 5 month later right.. then I never have to wonder i could have done alright. I also wanted to point.. I'm not going for the gold here. I don't have any fantasies about winning the wsop by the time I am 24, or killing poker after dark, I just think if I can earn some solid cash over the course of 3-4 months take a look at what I put in/get out of it and see if its worth it, taking into account the pay differential/lifestyle and what I value more. Know what I am saying?

what do you think a safe bankroll would be.. ? 50x max buy in?..

They do call it work. Blech!

I would suggest that since you are working and making fairly good money, that you AT LEAST work thru the summer and into the bad weather until the cold gets to you. Buckle down and save as much as possible, then take the winter off from work. Don't burn any bridges, you might come back in the spring.

Then take the cold months to play poker in nice heated casino's, living small till you reach some outrageous point that you can actually afford to live large.

BUT DO NOT BURN THOSE BRIDGES just yet.

don't quit your job for real

if you really want to find another job, look for "desk job" work and then once you have a new job, continue to play poker more on the side

Quitting a $1,200 job for poker is insane unless you are clearing at least that in your spare time over a decent sample.

Playing the pokerz & winning money vs. Playing the pokerz & 'needing' to win money is a bit different.
Sounds like you don't like your job. I'd consider playing poker full-time & picking up part-time job (ie. bartender).

Dude, I don't think that quitting that job would be your smartest move right now. Like others have said, you have a well paying job. You don't have any time off, which sucks, but it sounds like more than what you have made playing poker.

Whatever you decide, though, I wish you luck and hope for the best.

I think that you should put together a realistic budget so you know what you can expect your monthly living expenses to be - rent, food, entertainment, etc. Then consider what game(s) and stakes you'll play as well as the number of hours you're willing to put in, and what kind of win rate you can reasonably expect to maintain. Then consider all of this to assess how likely you are to survive and also to make a living given the money you'll have to start.

If you feel you have a decent shot and are willing to accept the possibility you'll lose all your cash if you've been too optimistic in your assessment, then I don't see anything wrong with taking your shot while you (apparently) don't have responsibilities such as family to factor in. But make sure you're serious enough to think it through to a fair level of detail, and not just taking a blind leap to escape your job.

Let's see you're 22 and hate working ......ummmm okay so go for it and when you crash and burn because you will (unless ofc if you are one of those one of a kind superstars in the making) comeback and tell us how it felt.
No really, EVERYBODY hates to work when someone else is in controll, and most of us don't make nearly as much as you do, I say save a hell of a lot more money first like 10x what you think you can live off then rethink where you are in life. Remember medical bills are a bitch and shit happens.
Right now you're thinking hey everything is just right for me to go all in with my pocket aces life has given me but but life has a funny way to call your allin with pocket twos and show you quads.
but whatever road you take GL.

Andy

My name is Eric and I play full time. Take my advice, I think it will do you well.

Playing poker full time is a dream for so many people. What most of them don't understand is how much work you have to put into the game to become a very solid player. It takes years of dedication to reach a level where u know u can beat the games month in and month out. Most people think they have reached this level wayyyy before they actually have. Now I don't know u, but I would bet that u probably aren't that skilled yet to make it playing full time. Everyone hates working. What I think u should do is find a job that udont hate and that pays decent enough. Play poker online with a small starting roll either on merge or bovada for a few hours each night. Build up ur roll and work on ur game. But leaving jobs to play full time when u aren't there skill wise yet is 100% a losing proposition. I have lots of friends who went down this road and it hurt them very badly in their careers.

go for it! you might regret it but you will definitely regret not taking the risk now while your young.
it's a huge mental shift going from guaranteed income to playing cards for a living. i just recently quit my job to play full-time and while i feel i still have more to learn (we should never stop learning), i think my skills are strong enough to succeed.

i've tried to make a living at this game since the late 90's. it takes more than just solid play at the table to succeed long-term. solid bankroll management, tilt control and the ability to play solid through downswings, just to name a few skills. how you live your life outside of the game will have a huge effect on whether or not you will succeed. do you have any crutches? personally i have had to work through my own crutches to give myself a chance to succeed.
you can never have a big enough bankroll. keep your expense's low and save as much as possible before you take the plunge.

good luck and don't burn any bridges along your journey. you never know when you may need to fall back on a job to get through the tough times.

Poker Orifice said:

Playing the pokerz & winning money vs. Playing the pokerz & 'needing' to win money is a bit different.
Sounds like you don't like your job. I'd consider playing poker full-time & picking up part-time job (ie. bartender).

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And also in small sample if you are making x$ per hour, don't expect that if you put in 40 or 50 more hours a week playing you're going to have anywhere near that same hourly. Grinding is tough work that WILL get you mentally fatigued (and most of the time you won't know it).

As far as whether you should play for a living. I never answer these questions. If you have to ask... the answer is usually already present.

eazy489 said:

Andy

My name is Eric and I play full time. Take my advice, I think it will do you well.

Playing poker full time is a dream for so many people. What most of them don't understand is how much work you have to put into the game to become a very solid player. It takes years of dedication to reach a level where u know u can beat the games month in and month out. Most people think they have reached this level wayyyy before they actually have. Now I don't know u, but I would bet that u probably aren't that skilled yet to make it playing full time. Everyone hates working. What I think u should do is find a job that udont hate and that pays decent enough. Play poker online with a small starting roll either on merge or bovada for a few hours each night. Build up ur roll and work on ur game. But leaving jobs to play full time when u aren't there skill wise yet is 100% a losing proposition. I have lots of friends who went down this road and it hurt them very badly in their careers.

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This sounds pretty sound to me.

John A said:

And also in small sample if you are making x$ per hour, don't expect that if you put in 40 or 50 more hours a week playing you're going to have anywhere near that same hourly. Grinding is tough work that WILL get you mentally fatigued (and most of the time you won't know it).

As far as whether you should play for a living. I never answer these questions. If you have to ask... the answer is usually already present.

Click to expand...

Bam!

Some info on going pro...
https://www.cardschat.com/forum/lea...start-a-poker-career-209687/post-1896240.html