[nldurham13]

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Ur post just motivates me even more now. I can't thank you enough. I'm very dedicated and serious about that and I think I can avoid the aforementioned pitfalls, hehe. I'll just build my live bankroll now so that I will be ready in case of a slow start when September comes.

Thanks for your comments, big boost there.

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Its not all about playing well tho, U HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS!! There was a group of 4 of us who hung aroung together, we all did well, they made 150 to 300k a year. I was very diciplined up to this point , maybe year and half ago, i never drank at the casino and had good money management. We started hanging out together and my discipline went downhill.


I blew 10k in the 80-160 game at the Borgata, lost maybe 2k each trip to foxwoods playin NL drunk. That was ok and I was stupid at the time but I corrected that, but my friends would go out 600$ dinners and $200 lunches everyday and they thought they were invinceable i guess. So basically 2 of them blew their whole rolls and are in debt/broke, and struggling and the third has problems also and just got a job after making 500k+ in a year and a half.

Another thing they did was play 200-400 because it was the highest game in the place with Stoxtrader and 7 other 2+2ERS, while im in the best 100-200 game in the country with 4-5 people seeing the flop, but they wont play because 2-4 is bigger, eventho u can earn moe in the 1-2. Controlling ur ego is a big part also. Last year and a half I would never play as low as 40-80 but I hit a big downswing and was still very comfortable but went back to grinding 20-40 at foxwoods just to get some wins under my belt. My friends played 150-300 on a 30k bankroll, lost most of it and played a well known 2+2er ( good game selection for ur last dollar) his last 10k heads up 75-150 omaha and went BUSTO. There is nothing wrong with stepping down and grinding it back out, but my friends are embarrassed to play 20-40 , but i think its better than working.

There is a lot more to being a pro than just being good player, taking losses , game selection , money management and i can say if u master these skills mentally u will have a much easier time playing for a living.

My one broke friend is a 2+2er, hes a really nice kid, maybe he will chime in if he sees the thread but he prolly sold his laptop. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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I agree with all of this, I saw the same exact things happen to many people. Guys that were much better than me refusing to move down because they cared what people would say. BUSTO! If poker is your only income you can't worry about what anyone thinks. It is your job, therefore you must treat it the same as any other job. A friend of mine had a tourney score of 400k about 3 years ago. He was playin 2-4 nl when it happened. A year leter he was playing 5-10nl and someone asked him " why u still playing so small?" He said "I play the level I know I can beat and will move up when I am ready." That is correct line of thinking to be successful.