Today I became a pro.

[Ditch Digger]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this a serious string? I'm working to go pro myself but taking a drastically different approach. I have to have 18 months living expenses socked away on top of a $75K bankroll. I currently make well into 6 figures, have an 18month old and a spouse that does not work. My plan is to play 60% live and 40% online..My online stats are modest but have a strong ROI since I started playing sitgos seriously and have done well in MTTs..I'm still working at my game and am not ready to make the move yet..I dont fathom how someone wakes up 1 day with no previously established back-up and GOES PRO? It doesnt matter how low your living costs are..You need to better prepare yourself and have realistic goals.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please take this obvious brag to BBV.

[mjnumb23]

Hammer,

Good comments and obviously most people would agree with you. As wickss friend, I would say that to understand wickss decision, you would have to understand wickss. Most people say that working is a grind, that they really don't enjoy having a job, etc. etc.. Wickss takes this to a different level. He will do nearly anything to avoid having a job, and as you might guess, security means little or nothing to him. Its funny how many of you think this is a joke. I have known wickss for years, and it doesn't strike me as odd at all. I cannot emphasize enough how much he loves poker, and does not want to work for somebody else.

[JMills109]

This is my new favorite thing ever.

[mjnumb23]

JMills,

Judging from all the responses, I would say you're definitely not alone.

[wickss]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this a serious string? I'm working to go pro myself but taking a drastically different approach. I have to have 18 months living expenses socked away on top of a $75K bankroll. I currently make well into 6 figures, have an 18month old and a spouse that does not work. My plan is to play 60% live and 40% online..My online stats are modest but have a strong ROI since I started playing sitgos seriously and have done well in MTTs..I'm still working at my game and am not ready to make the move yet..I dont fathom how someone wakes up 1 day with no previously established back-up and GOES PRO? It doesnt matter how low your living costs are..You need to better prepare yourself and have realistic goals.

[/ QUOTE ]Bankroll management and the decision to go pro is a matter of personal preference. How much is enough? It depends entirely on the person and their life situation. For someone with a family, it would require a bankroll big enough to withstand fluctuations. And they would need to play high enough to support other people. For someone that values security, it would require 6 months or more of living expenses. For some kid living with his parents, $10 in UB might be enough.

If you're willing to move down in stakes, you can play at higher levels with an inadequate bankroll. The conditions online are such that I will never lose my entire bankroll. I may not be able to make enough to live on sometime, but I'll still have poker money. With UB's penny tables and a willingness to play at those stakes, I can build my bankroll to a respectable amount if I need to.

See also Gambling Theory and Other Topics by Mason Malmuth. Read the topic called "How Much Do You Need?"

[luthar]

OP,

Your are doing well it seems but since your started this quest, you must not forget the consequences.

Consequences are as follow:
- Monthly Graph in the Monthly Result Thread (including profit of online and NET revenue after expenses)
- Monthly Goals in the Monthly Goals thread

- Move up limits and play less than 14 tables at a time if you do...
- Have a railbirding fan club of course!
- Post in the [censored] thread!

[JMills109]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Is this a serious string? I'm working to go pro myself but taking a drastically different approach. I have to have 18 months living expenses socked away on top of a $75K bankroll. I currently make well into 6 figures, have an 18month old and a spouse that does not work. My plan is to play 60% live and 40% online..My online stats are modest but have a strong ROI since I started playing sitgos seriously and have done well in MTTs..I'm still working at my game and am not ready to make the move yet..I dont fathom how someone wakes up 1 day with no previously established back-up and GOES PRO? It doesnt matter how low your living costs are..You need to better prepare yourself and have realistic goals.

[/ QUOTE ]Bankroll management and the decision to go pro is a matter of personal preference. How much is enough? It depends entirely on the person and their life situation. For someone with a family, it would require a bankroll big enough to withstand fluctuations. And they would need to play high enough to support other people. For someone that values security, it would require 6 months or more of living expenses. For some kid living with his parents, $10 in UB might be enough.

If you're willing to move down in stakes, you can play at higher levels with an inadequate bankroll. The conditions online are such that I will never lose my entire bankroll. I may not be able to make enough to live on sometime, but I'll still have poker money. With UB's penny tables and a willingness to play at those stakes, I can build my bankroll to a respectable amount if I need to.

See also Gambling Theory and Other Topics by Mason Malmuth. Read the topic called "How Much Do You Need?"

[/ QUOTE ]



You just completely contradicted yourself in that statement. If you made "too little to live," you would be forced to find some other means of income, thus not being a professional in that sense. If you simply eat into your roll, you will eventually go busto for obvious X>Y reasons. Also, a kid with $10 isnt a professional in any sense of the word.

Point being, if you were forced to "rebuild" on penny tables or whatever, you wouldnt make nearly enough profit to pay for things like food/water/shelter/etc. regardless of what state you reside in.

Note: If you can live off less than $500/mo TOTAL, you arent in the US, or arent figuring your expenses properly.

[Kevin8423]

Just for the record I don't at all consider someone who uses poker as their sole source of income automatically a pro. I think that title comes from successfully beating the higher levels, not from deciding you are going to quit your job and start grinding the lowest levels available on Stars.

You may have started working towards becoming a pro.. but you can't just wake up and decide to be one, doesn't really work like that.

I like to play soccer, but it would be completely rediculous if I said today I went pro, am from now on am going to devote 10 hours per day to it. I would have to work towards the goal first and actually get good enough to be a pro...

[wiggs73]

Well as long as we are arguing semantics, I believe anyone using poker as their only source of income is a "pro" by definition. Just like I'm a pro software engineer. Doesn't mean I'm the best at it, or even particularly good, but it is my profession.

Wickss' profession is now poker. So he's a professional poker player. The word "pro" doesn't necessarily imply that one's job is lucrative, just that that's what they do for a living.

[hammer33]

(in response to my earliest post being a 'brag'?) surely not the intention. the implications of devoting 30-50hrs a week to poker in my life are far reaching..I'd need a new health insurance plan, funded fully by me..Id have to set my own schedule. Sleeping schedules would change (matters when you have an 18 month old). Dollar figures are all relative. If I am breaking even relative to the current paycheck, is it worth the move? Or, how much more can I make and what does that mean? Is my quality of life that much better? Is it that important to not HAVE to work for the man? Can I survive the lifestyle? Do I have enough of a support group behind the endeavor?
My point being, I dont fathom how one wakes up one day and says, I'm going pro. Just seems too impulsive to me and that in itself is a bad trait for someone whose gonna play poker for a living...JMO