Can I do this as a part time job?

Ok so I just started university this year and I've been playing MTT poker since the start of the month, started with $100 and right now i'm sitting on $665. Now, I don't have a job and I'm wondering if I could actually do this as a part time job. I mean, with uni, I don't have enough time to play tournaments longer than 3-4 hours unless it's on the weekend. But I've played just over 200 tournaments and my ROI is about 77%, now I know that my win of $400 was a great boost, but I feel like I win more than what I lose. My net profit is currently just under $600. Now can you guys give me any advice on the subject, or if I chose this option(which i really would love to) as a part time thing, what things should I be aware of and how do I make sure I keep becoming a better player and also stay winning?

Well, anything is possible. That is with very hard work, persistence, and more hard work! You could do this as a "part time" gig, but you must

understand there will be times where you go without showing profit, for maybe for days even months at a time. A 77% ROI is all fine and dandy, but

a lot of people will say that 200 games isn't a large sample size, or a large enough sample size to get a true reading at what you are capable of, long

term. And they are absolutely correct. Your net profit of $600 is good, but without that $400 score, where would you be? That is my point and the

key thing to understand, if you really want to attempt to play poker, as a real source of income, be it part time or full time. You also have to

factor in downswings, which are inevitable, sorry to break it to you. I wish you the best of luck in your quest. What you do have going for you, is

your ability to seek help in accomplishing your goal, and in turn, I'd assume you are willing to work hard to improve your game to accomplish that

said goal. That and the fact that you have access to sites with juicy prizepools, since you aren't in the U.S. (Based on your profile saying you

play at FTP.)

How's your BRM?? It won't be an income you can count on, but it could add some extra money to your pocket. It sounds like you need to focus on cash games or SNGs. Those yield more consistent earning anyways in addition to the time factor.

hey, seems we are colleagues i study and play poker too, and yes, poker really helps me to pay my studies belive me or not...dude your ROI sounds sick, 77% is hard to beat, even me playing DON sit&goes during whole week...Anyway, keep doing whatever you do right now and have no fear just pay attention on BRM and that would be my advice cheers bud

You can do anything you put your mind to

imo if your thinking about playing as a psrt time job you need to either move over to hyper turbos or to cash games mtt is long and tedious and wont yield enough cash unless your playing the 20 bi or 30 bi and even then the stakes arent as juicy as the once were (i wouldent know but thats wht ive heard)

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I think you should try and keep playing. You don't have a large sample size to say you are solid player, but you have almost nothing to lose if you try to do this as a part time thing.

when at was at the uni i liked to bet on football and remember sometimes i made more money there than working for a chain food, so the last 2 semesters i did it that way and it was OK to me, so if you feel it works just let it flow!

If you're going to look at poker as a job, whether part- or full-time, it seems vital to consider win rate per hour and the likelihood that you can attain and sustain an hourly rate that you consider acceptable in the context of working, not for playing as a hobby.

ok so i don't require to live from it yet as I get youth allowance from the government and still am with my parents. So I don't really need to money to live off, I kinda just want to save up as much as I can, same thing I would do if I had a part time job. I'm not actually sure if i made that clear enough but yeah, is it possible to do that?

Totally possible, actually im about to do the same thing. Im in the same conditions as you are and i already asked my dad to finance me, so soon i'll be making extra cash from poker. My strategy is simple, i understand the game but that's when im not involved in it, so i will only play when im focused. There is no problem in following that strategy since university requires a lot of time for study, so i believe its a very good choice.

A lot of variance in multi-table tournaments, as has been stated above.

If you're in school, you probably don't have a ton of expenses, and you can probably use poker as a way to pay expenses (which i assume isn't composed of much else than food, cab rides, and booze)

FYI, I'm a college student also. A withdraw every couple of weeks seems to pay for my small expenses.

However, I play cash games and sit and go's. Although you are obviously more likely to hit a big winner in a MTT, the income seems to be more steady from cash games and SnGs.

Also, as Arjonius said, the rate per hour seems to be important as well. Best of luck

It really depends on the type of game you're playing - MTT is probably the hardest game to get a "steady profit on". You can go many games without a win and then bink huge. Obviously, if you're playing small field MTTs which you think you have an edge on the story's a wee bit different

Double or nothing SnGs for example are really easy to grind as a part time player, I've done that before

My approach would be to give yourself a time frame to work in - say 6 months to a year. After that period evaluate your performance honestly and then make a decision to set out on another time challenge, preferably double what you started at. The key is being honest. Can your poker profits make you as much as a part time job considering expenses and time out in? Can you move up in stakes enough to do this full time? Only honest sound experimentation can tell you that. Also, see how well you get through your first big DOWN period. If it hasn't come yet, it will. Good luck.

Absolutely, you are doing great so just keep learning and improving, manage you bankroll correctly and sounds like you will have a great chance on having a great part time gig

torosanti012 said:

ok so i don't require to live from it yet as I get youth allowance from the government and still am with my parents. So I don't really need to money to live off, I kinda just want to save up as much as I can, same thing I would do if I had a part time job. I'm not actually sure if i made that clear enough but yeah, is it possible to do that?

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It's possible, but if you're going to compare poker to a part-time job, it seems you should look at how much per hour a job would pay vs how much per hour you're likely to make playing poker. If poker is likely to pay less, you can still decide it's worth the difference because it's more fun, etc. But at least your decision will be made with your eyes more open

ok so i'm currently sitting on $720 and decided to referee soccer/football games on sunday mornings as way to keep the pressure off my back when playing poker. I thought this would help me in learning more about the game and also improving without feeling it's a need. But i'm hoping when my bankroll is big enough and I have more stats about my game, I will hopefully be able to decide weather I want to do this as a source of income. Thank you guys. Any other posts/replies will be appreciated.

You could definitely do this as a part time gig or perhaps even more! I have had a few friends who spent a few monthes building up bankrolls and performing very well in some of those 100k and 250k games and have basically never had to get a job! It is possible and it does happen but you must use very strong bankroll management.. that is the key!

since you play MTTs it is really hard to be sure you truly are a winning player. but even so MTTs mean that you get paid once and then have to wait for weeks until your next pay day. you also need a huge bankroll in comparison to the one needed for cash games. if you want to work as a poker semi-pro that means you are using some of the money you win on a regular basis. so you have to be winning:

1) more than the rake
2) more than losing (obviously i know but you get to understand that after a long long time)
3) more than you spend by also applying basic bankroll management rules

all that and also being able to emotiobally cope with big downswings AND cope with university.. but nevertheless your bankroll is very small to have hopes for making even a fraction of a salary. if you follow bankroll management (and you have to to be a long term winner) you will be taking part in 3-5$ tournaments. the average profit from those isnt big enough to be taken as "job". in those stakes and with that bankroll your time is really more valuable than your poker winnings. your motivation to play should be to entertain yourself. if you somehow manage to build a much bigger roll you can hope for financial support by poker... till then though..

Is it possible to make poker a profitable part-time job? Yes. Is it realistic? Depends. You will need to put in a lot more time both on and off the table to strengthen your skills. As others noted above, you will need to work out your win-rate per hour and see if it comes anywhere close to a decent rate. Also, you will need to figure out bankroll management...a key to success or lack thereof. Personally, I have found that it is much more difficult to make money playing online poker than it was 10 years ago, but definitely not impossible. Many players out there are crushing the game for huge profits. Gl!

it is possible , but the most imp thing is it will take loads of time of your study schedule. are you preapared to do that ? study should come 1st always. so dont let poker hamper your studies. so just do what you doing. study hard and play poker sometimes . dont even think it as part time money. for part time do some real job , dont rely on poker . whatever you earn in ur passtime from poker will be just added benefits. gl in ur life

Well, in my opinion, it's possible, poker can actually be a very lucrative profession, if you play right.

You in 200 games won $400, but if you has only 3-4hours to play, maybe u can think about playing the SNG, because a many MTTs require you to play a 6-9 hours, maybe more.

In SNGs 9p 18p you can play a lot of games at once and spend less time.

Yes you can make it a good source of side income with proper bankroll management, I played mtts for a living from 07-11 till black friday happened . You might be running a bit on the good side of variance at 77% , as mtts tend to be very swingy . This is why proper bankroll management is very important to avoid going broke while giving yourself the best ROI possible. 100 buyin min is usually the normal for smaller field mtts. Good luck and remember to put in the volume !

turbo MTT is ok as far as you time is concerned or you can go for SNG's as they to require less time comparable to MTT's.

Seeing as how the original question was posted in 2014, I am sure the original poster has moved on to whatever worked best for them.

If there are other college students out there looking at this my first piece of advice would be to put your college game first. I'm not saying stay away from poker but what I am saying is it will always be there so there isn't a mad rush to make a profession out of it while you are supposed to be focused on your degree. You don't need the stresses of bad runs when you have shit to learn at school. Poker is mentally draining and I'll give you an example.

I played in a tournament recently at foxwoods and it was down to the last 4. There were just over 1 million chips in play and I held over 500k. It was 1am and we were 7.5 hours into play. I was so mentally drained that I offered an even 4 way chop even to 2 people with less than 100k each. (side note I was and still am going through chemotherapy which was mostly my mental drain issue and I shouldn't have even benn at the table for many reasons). I should have at least offered 2nd place pay and they chop the rest looking back but I was too drained to think about that at that time. My point is you may face similar mental strain with school.

Final advice is enjoy it recreationally until you finish school and can establish your career. Card rooms aren't going anywhere and online poker may be making a big comeback in the next few years in my opinion. Good luck in whatever you choose!