Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

I have heard a few doozies. Recently a guy told me that he won $800 in a tourney in Atlantic City. He comes back from the trip to discover he has been "snubbed" for a promotion at work (he is some kind of a salesman making $50-55k per year). He angrily quits, citing his stellar poker results as a sign that he will easily make a living playing poker. His plan: play 2-4 and 4-8 lhe and $40-100 buyin tournaments (mostly no-limit), all live. I had this conversation with him about 3 months after the experiment had begun. He was flat broke and returning to his sales job.

Of course, he told me he would only return to regular work temporarily to build a bankroll as the previous 3 months had taught him that... he could easily make a living playing poker.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

It's really a product of who is telling the story.

You can pretty easily make 5-figures/month if you're not a retard and you've put in the time to learn and build a proper bankroll. That being said, what is the stat? It's something like 3-5% of all players being longterm winners...

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
You can pretty easily make 5-figures/month if you're not a retard and you've put in the time to learn and build a proper bankroll.

[/ QUOTE ]

level?

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

Dealer at Turning Stone was recounting how some kid won a donkament. Went on a heater during the same week. Following week quit University, and three weeks later was crying in the hallway, broke, and wondering how it all went wrong.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

some "poker pro" in bbv went busto because his friend couldnt pay him back a loan off 6.5k (which was a significant part of his bankroll).

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

lol

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

I dropped out of school to play double the hours and make half the money. 75% pay drop.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

mine. went pro 6 weeks. lost roll, rinse wash and repeat for 3 years

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

1) Win 3r a few times.
2) Drop out of school.
3) ???
4) Profit.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

any tips for 3r gobbo?

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

Cover your fold button with a piece of tape so you won't be tempted.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
1) Win 3r a few times.
2) Drop out of school.
3) ???
4) Profit.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to be a nit, but I have a feeling that most bad turning poker pro stories involve dropping out of school.

Guesses on percentage of dropouts that succeed vs. fail?

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
lol

[/ QUOTE ]

Winnar

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

I thank god/science every day that I was fortunate enough to only get 2nd in the 3R.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Dealer at Turning Stone was recounting how some kid won a donkament. Went on a heater during the same week. Following week quit University, and three weeks later was crying in the hallway, broke, and wondering how it all went wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

If he stayed in university long enough to cover probability this easily could have been avoided. Good story - love the part about crying in the hall! (sounds mean I suppose - I'm sure he's just fine now, though)

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...rue#Post6827081

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok. I get it.

going pro = dropping out of job/school/everything else play higher and higher limits always underfunded totally ignore kelly criteria wildly swinging br up/down hang out with other "pros" looting savings accounts maxing credit cards borrowing from acquaintances never pay back chase losses blowing it all no housing money move back in with parents

I thought going pro was something else. Thanks for clearing that up.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
1) Win 3r a few times.
2) Drop out of school.
3) ???
4) Profit.


[/ QUOTE ]

heheh, damn elfs

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

I think you can play poker to pay bills and not neccesarily have "turned pro". It's not that hard to make more playing 40-50 hours a week than you could waiting tables or some other menial job you can get in college. Dropping out is a big mistake though IMO, even if you make all the money playing poker, it still never hurts to finish the degree and have it as a back-up plan.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...rue#Post6827081

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok. I get it.

going pro = dropping out of job/school/everything else wildly swinging br up/down looting savings accounts maxing credit cards borrowing from acquaintances never pay back blowing it all no housing money move back in with parents

I thought going pro was something else. Thanks for clearing that up.

[/ QUOTE ]

Busted,

That's why this thread is the WORST going pro stories you have heard. Noone wants to hear those boring old "I ground my way up from .5/1 nl until my bankroll was established before I decided to quit my menial job and go pro, and still had a backup plan if poker doesn't work."

We are looking for horrible decisions compounded by perhaps a shocking ending...this is NVG, after all.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

I can 10-table $10nl for a few hours per day and make more than I would waiting tables.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

I'd rather wait tables than 10 table 10nl.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

"my friend" got fired from his job about 3 months after taking up poker in 2003. Having watched 4 WPT episodes and read Poker for Dummies was enough for him to make about $15/hr 4 tabling $25 nl on Party. Sadly, he skipped over the BR section of the book and thought $500 was enough. 3 months later, busto. Good thing he didn't drop out of school.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Busted,

That's why this thread is the WORST going pro stories you have heard. Noone wants to hear those boring old "I ground my way up from .5/1 nl until my bankroll was established before I decided to quit my menial job and go pro, and still had a backup plan if poker doesn't work."

We are looking for horrible decisions compounded by perhaps a shocking ending...this is NVG, after all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, so it's not going pro stories you want, you want degenerate gambler stories. Check it out:

This dude is early twenties. Has some crappy tech job, drives around fixing stuff. Just married with 1 year old baby. Lives with wife's mother. Starts playing at local casino, starts coming home at dawn, never sees wife and baby. Isn't paying any bills. Wife takes job as receptionist at well-known software company to pay bills. Dude finagles baby's savings account info from mother-in-law, makes withdrawals from account, denies it's him. Wife starts flirting with engineers at work. Dude starts swiping cash lying around the house. Gets in fights with wife, mother-in-law. Wife starts seeing one engineer on the side. Dude starts showing up late for work. Gets canned. Breaks into baby's piggy bank. Wife has had enough. Wife and baby move in with engineer. Dude still sleeping at mother-in-law's house, stealing what he can. Gets kicked out. Wife gets pregnant with engineer files for divorce and child custody. Wins. All in less than 3 months.

True story. Pre-empting the jokes: no, not me.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
"my friend" got fired from his job about 3 months after taking up poker in 2003. Having watched 4 WPT episodes and read Poker for Dummies was enough for him to make about $15/hr 4 tabling $25 nl on Party. Sadly, he skipped over the BR section of the book and thought $500 was enough. 3 months later, busto. Good thing he didn't drop out of school.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol at $500 not being enough to play party $25 nl

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

If there is more than 50% truth to that story he is the hands down winner.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"my friend" got fired from his job about 3 months after taking up poker in 2003. Having watched 4 WPT episodes and read Poker for Dummies was enough for him to make about $15/hr 4 tabling $25 nl on Party. Sadly, he skipped over the BR section of the book and thought $500 was enough. 3 months later, busto. Good thing he didn't drop out of school.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol at $500 not being enough to play party $25 nl

[/ QUOTE ]

And he didn't learn from the experience [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

if you go busto with 500 at 25nl you have some serious leaks

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"my friend" got fired from his job about 3 months after taking up poker in 2003. Having watched 4 WPT episodes and read Poker for Dummies was enough for him to make about $15/hr 4 tabling $25 nl on Party. Sadly, he skipped over the BR section of the book and thought $500 was enough. 3 months later, busto. Good thing he didn't drop out of school.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol at $500 not being enough to play party $25 nl

[/ QUOTE ]

I got quite a chuckle out of this also.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

guy has no job and a kid and gf. gf gets cancer and cant afford bills. guy gets idiots on the net to ship him thousands which he squanders at 50-100.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'd rather wait tables than 10 table 10nl.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
if you go busto with 500 at 25nl you have some serious leaks

[/ QUOTE ]

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ly-ostrich.jpg

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

A friend from school,

bonuswhored in the past to pay small bills through school with assistance of government loans
graduates from school with no job plan
gets hit by regular bills + student loan bills that he cant afford
bonuswhores some more *blank* no profit
i loan him 1k for rent
it takes 6 months and counting to pay back
last cheque due bounces
no response in email
i write off losses and go eat some ice cream to make myself feel better

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
A friend from school,

bonuswhored in the past to pay small bills through school with assistance of government loans
graduates from school with no job plan
gets hit by regular bills + student loan bills that he cant afford
bonuswhores some more *blank* no profit
i loan him 1k for rent
it takes 6 months and counting to pay back
last cheque due bounces
no response in email
i write off losses and go eat some ice cream to make myself feel better

[/ QUOTE ]

for some reason the last part of this made me laugh

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Busted,

That's why this thread is the WORST going pro stories you have heard. Noone wants to hear those boring old "I ground my way up from .5/1 nl until my bankroll was established before I decided to quit my menial job and go pro, and still had a backup plan if poker doesn't work."

We are looking for horrible decisions compounded by perhaps a shocking ending...this is NVG, after all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, so it's not going pro stories you want, you want degenerate gambler stories. Check it out:

This dude is early twenties. Has some crappy tech job, drives around fixing stuff. Just married with 1 year old baby. Lives with wife's mother. Starts playing at local casino, starts coming home at dawn, never sees wife and baby. Isn't paying any bills. Wife takes job as receptionist at well-known software company to pay bills. Dude finagles baby's savings account info from mother-in-law, makes withdrawals from account, denies it's him. Wife starts flirting with engineers at work. Dude starts swiping cash lying around the house. Gets in fights with wife, mother-in-law. Wife starts seeing one engineer on the side. Dude starts showing up late for work. Gets canned. Breaks into baby's piggy bank. Wife has had enough. Wife and baby move in with engineer. Dude still sleeping at mother-in-law's house, stealing what he can. Gets kicked out. Wife gets pregnant with engineer files for divorce and child custody. Wins. All in less than 3 months.

True story. Pre-empting the jokes: no, not me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not sure if your protagonist considered himself going 'pro', but that is an absolute horrible story - well done.

Was the man in your story playing only poker or was he playing other table games? Did the person in this story really consider himself a good player or was he just hooked on gambling? Might not quite fit the perception of someone thinking they are going pro - maybe just someone who developed a bad gambling problem?

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
i write off losses and go eat some ice cream to make myself feel better

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you go to Coldstone Creamery?

Yum [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
guy has no job and a kid and gf. gf gets cancer and cant afford bills. guy gets idiots on the net to ship him thousands which he squanders at 50-100.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ouch - I guess you weren't one of the generous folks giving a donation. BTW, what was this guy's handle? I forget.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
i write off losses and go eat some ice cream to make myself feel better

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you go to Coldstone Creamery?

Yum [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

If not Ben and Jerry's then this should be posted in BBV as a beat.

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

It seems as if many have not heard ridiculous stories of people becoming pro poker players prematurely? I am surprised, every time I go to the casino I hear a story that makes me [censored] his head. Recently a guy told me he quit his teaching job because it was too stressful. Now a year after quitting he told me he built his bankroll to almost $2000 and just learned about bankroll management. For some reason he had problems making his mortgage payments over the last year.

Noone else hears stories like this (with the exception of HIV, which is quite obvious, yet intriguing nonetheless)?

Re: Tell the worst TURNING PRO STORY you have heard.
 

crazy