Poker as a Job

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digmamanaa20

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Hi CardsChat,

I just want to ask any player here who treat poker as their source of income this question, "How do you make poker your job and balance your bankroll and bills?".

There are many articles on how to start and build a bankroll, what traits and characteristics you need to be a poker pro, but I want to ask is how does a poker professional really pay the bills compared to anyone who has a weekly or monthly paycheck, and that paycheck is already divided to the expenses needed to be paid for the month, knowing that all of this player's winnings will not just go to the bill, it will also be needed to cushion his/her bankroll for the downswings or to be used to move up the stakes.

For example Player A has a solid bankroll management skills and a bankroll of $4000 which is ideal of 20 buy ins for $200NL game. Let us just give 2 bills to pay which is house rent and food for Player A, lets say house rent $100/week and his food is also $100/week which means he or she needs $200 in a week.

It is easy to calculate if you are winning, of course you just need to win $200 and your expenses are covered for the week right? But what if you are in a downswing, not saying you are a bad player, it is just the downswing that every poker player good or bad, and no one is immune, hits you, do you take money from your bankroll to pay the bills?

How do budget your winnings and how much do you take out for your expenses and how much do you save for your bankroll to move up the stakes? Do you cash out daily? Weekly or Monthly? And as I have asked in the previous paragraph what if you are in a downswing, do you still cash out from your bankroll to pay the bills, because poker is your full-time job and it is your source of income. In case of this downswing, how long do you take time off for your rest and studying about your game, because obviously you do not have time as a luxury because you need to go back to work and grind to pay the bills, the more the time you are off the tables then more days without income.

We can see on television, magazines and on the internet people who made it big via tournaments and won huge cash prizes, and with that it is easy to budget things really with that amount of money, but what about the other great grinders out there who are also good players or maybe better players than the ones who won, but not just have the luck to win and bink one of those big tournaments right?

These are the questions that I have ever since I saw people playing poker as their job, how do they do it on the "Paying the bills Part" of the game especially in a downswing. Again the above example is just a simple example I can think of because I have no idea on how to play poker as a source of income, if any experienced player, poker pro, have input or has better example feel free to respond and share your thoughts.

Thank you very much in advance to those people who will contribute and answer these questions.

:)
 
rokkito

rokkito

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Hi, to start making in poker , you need to set yourself a plan for , say 500 the STT tournaments , no matter how much a day do you have to hold tournaments , you can for 1 day at least 200 to play , but the main thing that the general plan of the past month has been executed .
 
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CallmeFloppy

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If you want to make poker a job then you need to look at how much money are you going to need to take from your bankroll to be able to live as those winnings are now your source of income. You will also need to see if you are able to maintain a consistent hourly rate to sustain both your life expenses and still increase your bankroll. Finally, do you have the ability to handle a bad run or even a loss if you are now relying on that money to live. Building a bankroll is one thing, but needing that money to support yourself are very different things.
 
onondaga

onondaga

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To pay bills we need permanent income without risk of losing money. Even poker pro who can live from his winnings need to have other source of income.
 
deform fedot

deform fedot

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So in poker can become rich, but here was a treat seryono game. You need to give most of their time to try as many tournaments to increased experience and even this is not enough to significantly increase the purse ....
 
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digmamanaa20

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To pay bills we need permanent income without risk of losing money. Even poker pro who can live from his winnings need to have other source of income.

Thanks for clearing this out man, I had this wrong perception that if you start building your bankroll and doing poker full-time, it will be the only source of income you would need. But yea, I was always thinking, if that is the case, how could they survive with all the variance involve in the game.

Goodluck on the tables :)
 
Justah

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Not going to brag but for some reason, Zoom games from pokerstars been pretty good income for me so far. I can safely say i could make living with it.
 
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julianz0r

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It is difficult in fact what you're asking, but I think it's like anything in life, you have to go with the disposition of winning first, it is not easy to leave a job and a secure payment for playing poker ...

I would buy with the idea of becoming independent and starting a business, you have to first know the real capacity you have the handle on what these be done and as all have a basis for those equivalent basic costs for at least three months of expenses while achieving balance in your winnings ...
 
Doubledunk

Doubledunk

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IMO..

You should check this site and other forum sites before you make your decision.
Join study groups here in CC and learn more about the game before jumping in.


Some of my poker buds play for a living. they usually have a guideline on how much bankroll they would like to keep in their poker account.
For example.
bankroll 2000(+/- 1000)
anything more than 2k they will withdraw and tranfer it to a different account.

that account would be for their living expenses.
 
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