[Matt Flynn]

No at the Bellagio; yes elsewhere.

The critical problem at the Bellagio is that with a $200 cap and few larger stacks in a 10-handed game, you have to nit. You just do not get enough hands to make it worthwhile, although a leatherass with 60 hours a week to blow could easily make $1000/week or more. In the absence of the "pros" who make money off the game, you can develop room to move and make more.

In the $2-5 at the Wynn, the story is very different. A good pro can easily make a living off of those games. $20/hour is plenty to live off, and $50/hour is a reasonable winrate for a good player who buys to cover and works his (or her) schedule around the shorthanded games. By good I mean a typical successful high-stakes player who does not tilt heavily and can induce action and get away from hands quickly. But you cannot cork off your stack. Simple as that. In many cases one can simply hardbet preflop, flop and turn for hours, only needing to recognize the occasional big hand (which typically is not difficult), and will win a fair amount of money even if he does not hit a couple big hands. And when you do and they have AK on a K board, they never believe you. This is the superprofitable LAG style. It works well only against bad opponents.

It is generally foolish for anyone who has trouble beating the Wynn $2-5 game to "take a shot" at the Bellagio $10-20. Stop doing it. You will, most likely, hold it together ofr an hour or two then give your stack away. I have done it and seen it again and again. Player plays really tight for an hour or two, then loosens up, then a couple experienced players bully him a bit and he runs into a big hand or two, then it all goes in the middle and he's left trying to explain why the play was reasonable. Experienced players feed off of that. I'm telling you it's like a neon sign. Instead, take your "shot" at the $5-10 when the lineup is soft. Soft may well mean a lot of players are throwing chips around and doing a lot of calling. Fine. Play pairs and AK and take your due.

Also, the OP's question begs the question: why are you depending on live play to pay your expenses? In the modern age, live play is a luxury for a professional, something to be enjoyed after the nut is in hand. The online money is sickly easy once you learn enough of the game. Study the first two hours of each morning, then play for four and make the 10K a month. After that you can go play live to scratch the itch.