I need some serious advice... (LONG)

[KKbluff]

Here is my long story made short..(it could be much longer)

I started on the micros, and after a couple of months moved to small stakes.
I did well there and took a quick shot at the mid stakes.
I won on there, but I was scared that I was moving up to fast so i dropped back down to 1/2 and 2/4 with bonus whoring as a priority.

Well, the last year of college for some unknown reason i decided to become 100% independent from my parents ( tuition, insurance, rent ect..)
I think this has to do with the fact that my parents thought poker was a gambling gamble (like slots) that I could never win at and they looked down on me for playing it.
Well, after hearing enough of it from my parents i decided to PROVE it to them that for once I was right and they were wrong.
Now, almost a year later, all has been going well.
My parents FINALLY acknowledge the fact that poker is a game of skill and i have enough skill to win at it.
But to get to my main point, I have never really been able to grow my bankroll to play the limits that I know I can win the most from.
I avg about $100 about every 4 hours 3-4 tabling the 25NL quite consistanly (varience has been minimal), but (up until now) I would have to cashout all but my initial bankroll to pay for living expenses ect..
Now I have been able to move up without the need for a weekly nut. I have been now winning at the 2/4 and the 1-2NL tables for much more than $100 a night (I should get statking to give me a confidence level, but as of now I have been very solid winning at these levels).
Yet, I feel too content/comfortable at these levels to move up.
I have now graduated from college and I have one more month until I have to start looking for a job (thats when the GOOD job fair comes into town). In the meantime (for confidence I guess) I have been interviewing and have gotten 3 offers from the 4 I have interviewed with. I have turned them all down.
To make matters even worse(?) I now have a 'world class?' poker coach that has taken me on for free as his apprentice.
By world class I mean he plays (occasionally) $400/800 limit and makes money at that limit. He also has some wsop cashes and a bracelet. And to add to the confusion he says that after he gets done with me he can see me making about $75-100 an hour.
GREAT, so now what do I do??
I want to get a great job and to play poker on the side to supplement my income, but when I'm making about $100 a day now and I'm told by someone who sees me play (and knows what hes talking about) and thinks (if I want to) i could make a living out of it I become totally confused as to what to do...

I remember back almost 2 years ago when I had a friend (who was winning a solid amount) that told me that if I put my mind to it and studied enough that I could win and make money at poker. Now 2 years later I have the same sort of thing being told to me but at a much larger scale.

I need some advice...

[can_dollars]

whats stopping you from getting a job and being coached by this guy?

I think that you know having some steady income would help you poker game alot allowing you to move up in limits worry free.

Then when you have a proven winrate in mid limit games and some good cash set aside, you can decide if playing full time is for you.

[captZEEbo]

I'd stick to one the real jobs and play poker on the side for now, wait till you can make more/hr at poker before you go pro...a lot of whiners don't like playing after they become pro.

[Tilt]

Defintely get a job. The range of choices/opportunities available to you will be so much greater if you get trained in real world skills, and so constrained if you become a pro gambler now.

Poker as a hobby is much healthier and profitable. Someday you may go pro, but you would have gained alot of real world skills in the meantime.

[CanIPlay]

GET A JOB!!!!!

[in48092]

[ QUOTE ]
To make matters even worse(?) I now have a 'world class?' poker coach that has taken me on for free as his apprentice.


[/ QUOTE ] make sure you know the difference between a good touch and a bad touch

[MathEconomist]

Get job. Make 100/hr on side. If you are really making 100/hr at poker over large sample and 100/hr is more than you can make at your job even after promotions and hard work,then quit job and play poker full time. But really 100/hr isn't that much to make if you just want money, so make sure the game is worth it to you, and that a real job is not. Because if you just want to make money there are plenty of opportunities available for smart people to make more than $100/hr.

[3CardMonty]

Take the job route. Build a base of life experiences in the business world seperate from poker. If you do not do this you will soon find all your hard work and your degree will mean nothing as technology develops leaving you behind.

Find a mate and establish a family of your own. Do this before you commit to making a living solely from poker. It will be much easier to catch your mate if you don't have to face convincing them you can provide solely from gambling.

In my case I didn't really have much to say about the game to family. They already knew what I was doing and never complained as long as there was cash in the bank. This was good for me because I knew early on I would have to do this or quit the game. Now I am gettin an ocassional suggestion to run to the casino for a day as a way for me to relax and take a break away doing something I enjoy. There have been suggestions on days which go extremly well that maybe I should look into playing more. Go figure, if I had suggested that it would have raised a flag but since I didn't now it comes up from time to time.

You will be way ahead to round out your life and gain support from a future family instead of looking for and having to convince those you care about it is a risk they should take.

Monty

[vanHelsing]

Get a job! It's not even close.
I play for a living, but I am probably 20 years older than you and Poker was my Plan B - I had no real choice.
I make like 70-100/hour, but it's still no fun - it's a grind.
And if my game hasn't improved dramatically by the day the games run dry, I'll be in serious trouble.
Poker is fun as a 2nd income, as a profession it's a pain!

[schwerd2]

how about get a part time job that you enjoy?

[schwerd2]

[ QUOTE ]
Get a job! It's not even close.
I play for a living, but I am probably 20 years older than you and Poker was my Plan B - I had no real choice.
I make like 70-100/hour, but it's still no fun - it's a grind.
And if my game hasn't improved dramatically by the day the games run dry, I'll be in serious trouble.
Poker is fun as a 2nd income, as a profession it's a pain!

[/ QUOTE ]

Why do you feel that the games will run dry if youve been playing professionally before the poker boom??

[vanHelsing]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Get a job! It's not even close.
I play for a living, but I am probably 20 years older than you and Poker was my Plan B - I had no real choice.
I make like 70-100/hour, but it's still no fun - it's a grind.
And if my game hasn't improved dramatically by the day the games run dry, I'll be in serious trouble.
Poker is fun as a 2nd income, as a profession it's a pain!

[/ QUOTE ]

Why do you feel that the games will run dry if youve been playing professionally before the poker boom??

[/ QUOTE ]
Who said I've been playing before the boom?

[BaltimoreFlush]

It's safer to get a real job, no doubt. But I make 100K+ at my real job and genuinely hate getting up in the morning every day, and dread going to work. People on this board underestimate how debilatating the 50-70 hour a week grind is for some people.

[schwerd2]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Get a job! It's not even close.
I play for a living, but I am probably 20 years older than you and Poker was my Plan B - I had no real choice.
I make like 70-100/hour, but it's still no fun - it's a grind.
And if my game hasn't improved dramatically by the day the games run dry, I'll be in serious trouble.
Poker is fun as a 2nd income, as a profession it's a pain!

[/ QUOTE ]

Why do you feel that the games will run dry if youve been playing professionally before the poker boom??

[/ QUOTE ]
Who said I've been playing before the boom?

[/ QUOTE ]

sorry i misread

[jba]

[ QUOTE ]
It's safer to get a real job, no doubt. But I make 100K+ at my real job and genuinely hate getting up in the morning every day, and dread going to work. People on this board underestimate how debilatating the 50-70 hour a week grind is for some people.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah I'm in the same boat as you, and it cracks me up to hear the college kids moan about what a drag it is to four table for five hours a day... try sitting through conference calls and [censored] for ten hours a day

[KKbluff]

Thanks for the replies everyone.
Im pretty sure I knew that I should get a real job while I was posting this, but reading everyones relpies confirmed that I was correct in my thinking.
I will be working part time for the next month or so until I select a job offer.
I talked to my coach about all of this and he agreed with you all.
I will still be able to play part time even with a full-time job, and like BaltimoreFlush said, it IS safer to take a real job despite the fact that I may not enjoy it 100% of the time.
If and or when I ever get to a winrate that greatly exceeds my income at my future job then I suppose I can re-evaluate my situation and make a decision based upon the conditions I am in.

Once again, thank you to everyone who contributed to my post.
-Jon

(Special thanks to Monty who took to time to fully elaborate)

[BluffTHIS!]

Hi KK,

I am older than you by a couple decades and play fulltime online at big stakes nl and plo tables. So although I am not going to say that the "get a job" crowd here is wrong (an in fact are likely right since most people won't make it as a pro long term for many reasons), the main things I see in your story are a desire of building your bankroll to move up to be able make a better earn, but at the same time being scared to do so, and also not clearing enough past your monthly nut to add significantly to your bankroll.

So if you are going to get a job then fine, but until you do, why not get a another part-time job playing poker. By this I mean if you are playing 6 hours a day now 6 days a week, then play 8 hours a day 7 days a week for a month to try to build your roll. You don't specify the size of your roll, but if you are playing on 1/2 nl tables or 2/4 limit, then I presume your roll is at least $2K, although for playing nl, I think a 20-30 buyin roll is the minimum. Just because you haven't experienced much variance, doesn't mean you won't. And when you do, that will be a prime test of whether you are cut out to play full-time in what actions you then take (you should move down limits before your roll is damaged badly and re-evaulate your game).

And in addition to playing more hours in the meantime, though not to the point of playing tired, you could also experiment by adding one higher limit/stake table to your mix of 4 or whatever you play. Or that additional 2 hours a day could be just playing 1 table at a higher level so that you can concentrate to your fullest and not be too anxious about being there while also playing other tables. So you designate so many buyins at the new level as a "shot", and are prepared to give it up if it isn't working rather than chase that money and damage your roll.

As you move up, the players, even the LAGs, will be better and trickier players who are more aggressive and put you to more tough decisions, especially in no-limit. But in addition to reading and studying about poker in books and in these forums (don't forget the goldmine that is the archives), you simply have to get some experience at the next level in order to both feel comfortable, and to see what adjustments you need to make.

But if you don't find some way, either through getting a job that covers your nut thus allowing you to grow your roll at current stakes, or by playing more hours, to steadily grow your roll, then you will be trapped at a lower earn. And if you move up and find you can't cut it, then for that reason as well the time won't be wasted.

So again, I'm not saying not to get a job, but to also have a plan to grow your roll and increase your earn.