Play poker full time??

[goblue2k6]

Hey guys, I have been a long time 2plus2 reader and now I have finally registered with a question I would like to ask everyone. I have been a winning poker player since I started playing poker about 3 years ago I started off with good success in sit and go's, then playing limit hold'em and in the past year or so I have played almost all the games with decent success. Especially this summer I was going to the casino about once a week and was winning 2 to 3 hundred a trip playing 1 2 no limit. But I stopped playing in September because of a home purchase.
So in the past 2 weeks I have came back to online poker and have won a good amount of money for the stakes I have been playing. I am unhappy with my job situation even though I make good money for my age... 50,000 a year, I am looking for a way out. Poker seems like it is an obvious choice since I have always been a winning player with very limited time and resources. i want to play PLO and start out at 10/25 25/50 muli tabling.
My question here lies what do you guys think about the stakes choice which I think are the easiest to beat and what other tips or suggestions do any of you have for me trying to pursue this choice. Also if any of you are full time players which I know some of you are tell me how you got started and at what limits it took to get started. Also I am worried about this choice affecting my relationship with a long term gf of mine that I livc with. Mostly becuase I choose to play at night 7- 2 or so and she gets out of work at 6. I need some advice and would appreciate all the posts thanks

[xx44]

Something doesnt jibe. If you think that 50k/yr is good at any age, then chances are plo25 or 50 are not good choices. My suggestion would be to fell your range. Start out small and as you do better, move up. Good Luck.

[glass_onion]

Yeah, it sounds like you are looking to play limits far higher than you can afford. I'd do a search for 'risk of ruin equation' on this site. That's pretty important. BTW, what's your bankroll???

My personal experiences as an american who took 1 month hiatus to play is that it is far harder and more boring than you would ever think. Recreationally I just coast into tables, enable PT and Hud, and go to town. My time as a professional was actually work, scouting players, choosing tables, etc.

My winrate went down, enjoyment down, etc. And as you said, the best table times are EST 9p-1am, with a bigger window on the weekends especially sunday. This is the time to spend with family, i.e. yes it will have a detrimental affect on any and all relationships. Either that, or beg for scraps with the 9-5 nutpeddlers.

The American legislation killed profitability, or at least the easiest of it. Especially the ability to choose tables at 15 sites and bonuswhore.

What are your earning expections? What are you willing to loose? Will you have to live off this income? If you can't stand to go down 15 buyins over a two week period, meaning you'd have to pay bills out of the savings account, then don't bother.

There was a time I really hated my job and wanted to go pro. Someone on here said, basically, 'i know it sucks, but you have the best of both worlds, a fixed constant income and the ability to dabble and win money as a 2nd job.'

FWIW I gave it my shot, and while I could make a living at it making approximately what I do now, the quality of life would not be the same. Any grand dreams you have about spending more time with loved ones while playing a game you love simply aren't, in my experiences, possible.

[goblue2k6]

Thanks for the replies guys, I did make a mistake in the post, 10/25 25 /50 cent pot limit is what I meant, so far my hourly rate at these limits would sustain enought income that I would need to quit my job based on an increase of hours played and more of a devotion to the game.

I only need to win 600 per week to live and while that is 20,000 under my current income actually quitting my job would save me 200 per week in expenses at least. Bankroll 5,000 at least if I need more I have it. There are nutpeddlers at the low stakes games, and high ones I suppose too that kill the game I am looking for during the day.

Basically I want to play 6-8 hours of poker a day, starting at the small limits I talked about and build up from there. How long should I wait before I rely on my statistics to see if I am capable of doing this long term. 50k hands? That is something I am def. unaware of.

Also any suggestions for playing style at 4 tables. I am usually A very LAG but very good post flop player, IMO, very controlled. Thanks

[Nsight7]

From what I have read, something more like 100K, but it seems like you might already have some statisitcs you can add to this list to guage your true profitability. But yeah, continue more on the side to continuously guage your true profit potential before you make the jump from job to pro poker player.

Also, I think for realistic income requirments, it would be .25/.50 minimum but you should strongly consider moving up higher if and when possible. $5,000 sounds about right for multi-tabling .25/.50 though.

[wazz]

LOL $5K is enough for you to 'grind' $3/6 and take shots at $5/10 if you're careful with your money. And obv if you're good enough at the game. You need to know about risk of ruin, shortstack theory, and have the experience to make sure you're never taking shots while on a downswing, but it's quite workable.

[CrushinFelt]

Do not quit your guarateed 50k/yr job to play $25 or $50 PLO. Holy [censored].

Build your bankroll up while keeping your job. Once you're a winner at $400 or above then maybe consider it.

[goblue2k6]

Thanks again everyone. The thing with my job is that right now things are really slow, and I am only making about 600 a week and not working the hours I would like. Not to mention I am 23 worked there 5 years and my Christmas bonus/present was a 25 dollar gift certificate to Chili's for crying outloud. Havent had a raise in almost 3 years now. I am a foreman for a construction company. Very disheartening that I can run a man's company for him and he wont even show gratitude with some kind of bonus. Piece od [censored] really, and not to mention it he thinks we are like best friends lmao. He is very likeable though just bad with business. Thanks again for the replies and I will start grinding it out more at night along with my job once I have enough saved up for 6 months of living expenses I suspect I will quit though

O by the way, with my job no matter what happened I oculd get it back no matter what. As long as I gave 2 weeks notice.

[gotmarc]

David Sklansky, in his book "The Theory of Poker" states: ". . . it is better to be playing poker making $20 an hour, able to come and go as you please than to be working an eight hour shift making $15 an hour."
For me, I like to look at my wages per diem. I am not a full time poker player. I sit behind a desk, “calling people that don't want to talk to me.” If I could make more money playing poker than doing that I would.
I win, but my win rate isn't as much as the sales gig. You make approximately $200 per day. If you make $300 per day playing poker, than that works out to roughly $78,000(give or take)

Obviously you'll have other considerations such as” health care, taxes, et cetera. Do you have an existing medical condition? Some states make it difficult to obtain medical insurance with a pre-existing condition. Do you have kids? Are you going to get married? With a divorce rate pushing 66% in some areas, marriage does not exactly have a positive EV. Child support? Alimony? Do you have other tax deductible gambling losses? Does your state collect an income tax? What are the tax percentages on gambling wins? Here's just some of the things to consider. I’m sure you can do the math. I like to keep track of my bankroll using spreadsheets, you just have to ad more stuff to the spreadsheet.

Some of them are more important than others, but generally speaking you should probably do what makes you happy. Maybe self respect is more important than any of these considerations.

[TheRock69]

If your an American I would advise against it, because it is more difficult then it use to be to win big (Big pots is what omaha is spouse to be about) on US allowed sites. The good old days all you had to do was get the nuts and you were assured of winning a good portion of someones stack, now (depending on the hours of play) no action unless your up against nuts or monster draw. This has a lot to do with the shortstackers discouraging preflop raises.