1/2 limit as a job

[ThE_DrOpOuT]

Just recently i made the decision to try and grind out a living playing 1/2 limit poker. I intend on playing 4 tables at a time, 40 hours/week, and am starting with a bankroll of $1000. I have rent and other expenses to pay every month at a cost of around $700/month, and i understand that this is a very risky proposition, however i feel that given my current income of just $1000/month that i dont really have that much to lose. I have been playing poker for 4 years with mixed results, but lately over the last year or so i have taken poker very seriously and have improved a lot through books, articles, etc.. My question being that is it likely <font color="black"> </font> for a decent player to be able to make 3k-4k/month with rakeback and other bonuses at online 1/2 limit poker?

[Bob T.]

Let's do some arithmatic.

40 hours X 4 weeks X 4 tables X 65 hands per hour = 41600 hands.

$4000/ 41600 hands = 9.62 cents/hand or 4.7 BB/100.

Your rakeback deal might get you 1.5 cents per hand, so you still need to be making 3 BB/100.

When you add in the grind of trying to do this for forty hours a week, and still maintaining your game, I doubt that it is possible, if you have to ask the question.

Good luck.

[ThE_DrOpOuT]

I just wanted to clarify something about my original post. First off, i forgot to mention that i will be playing shorthanded which makes a huge difference in my bb/hour, amd secondly, although 3k-4k/month would be nice, i could live with anything near 2k/month. I guess what im trying to say is at that limit playing that many hours, with a 30% rakeback deal, what can i expect to make per month??

[Erik W]

[ QUOTE ]
$4000/ 41600 hands = 9.62 cents/hand or 4.7 BB/100.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where did that 4000$ come from?
He said 1000$ for a starter a month.

Build up living expenses for at least 3 months before you quit your job. Don't think you can get in 160 hours a month month after month. It is not doable. 100 hours is a good amount. You need to study(poker) at least 50 hours a month too to progress. I do at least and it is working well.

[l0gician]

How the hell could one not live off of 4 tabling 3/6? If all one needs is 1000 or so a month? All I spend a month is $500. Anyway it just seems like most of you need $2000 + a month to live or something? I live in a closet in a house with 8 people and just go down to the campus and play on my laptop for free. I just sold a lot of stuff and am going to start doing just this (2/4 or 3/6 FR that is).

[ZOMG_RIGGED!]

because you cant live like that forever?

[l0gician]

Depends where your priorities are obviously. I could.

[KitCloudkicker]

heres some math for you.

you get dealt 70 hands per hour online per table. thus if you're 4 tabling you get dealt 280 hands per hour.

let say you play 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

280*8*5 = 11200 hands/week.

a very good player makes 1BB/100 these days online.

thus you get 11200/100 * $2 = $224 a week = $900/month. = $10,800/yr.

add in the costs of rent, food, insurance, etc.

you think you can live off that?

(edit: forgot to include rakeback, but i doubt that'll bring you over the top)

[KitCloudkicker]

just an aside: if you really wanna play poker as a job (not recommended imo) then you should look into playing live (casino) stakes above 4/8. i'm well above 10K for the year (running better than normal i must admit) and i only play a few times a month never playing higher than 10/20. the rake is worse but the players are so bad it makes up for it.

oh yeah and i was a losing player online for like 3 months before quitting right after UIGEA.

[jesse8888]

[ QUOTE ]
just an aside: if you really wanna play poker as a job (not recommended imo) then you should look into playing live (casino) stakes above 4/8. i'm well above 10K for the year (running better than normal i must admit) and i only play a few times a month never playing higher than 10/20. the rake is worse but the players are so bad it makes up for it.

oh yeah and i was a losing player online for like 3 months before quitting right after UIGEA.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do this if you have a reasonable casino nearby. I work all day facing a computer and when I get home the thought of 4 tabling online is just more than I can take. So I play live, and honestly I think 20 dollars an hour at 6/12 is attainable by a slightly trained monkey.