How many of you actually want to “go pro”?

[IKnowIndigo]

Speaking for myself, I find I only seem to do well as long as I stay at a certain limit. I am comfortable playing 1/2 and 2/4, but every time I've tried playing higher stakes, I fail.

My full time job (as a computer programmer) pays me $100k/yr, and I've no pretention that I could make the same money year after year at poker.

I think it's like the food chain - the bigger fish eats the smaller fish. I plan to keep at it, having fun and trying to learn. Perhaps I'll get lucky at a big tourney, but until lightning strikes, I know my place.

My best win was around $9000, which made me happy.

So my feeling is, I'll keep my day job.

[DING-DONG YO]

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Also, a good salary straight out of college would be something like $70k I guess,

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Are they still telling sophmores they can expect 70K right out of school? ROFLMAO

[cts]

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I'm a sophomore with great grades at a very good college and could probably get a nice job after school. However I really enjoy poker and think that being a "pro" would be more fun than any math/econ/finance job or whatever. Also, a good salary straight out of college would be something like $70k I guess, whereas I believe I could make at least $1M/yr as a pro. I still want to get my degree, but after school maybe I'll move to Vegas/LA, travel the world, or move in with some fellow pros, playing poker for a living.

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Edit: Rising junior I mean.

[Black winter day]

I would like to do it someday, but currently i pretty much suck at poker.
I have another job but i don't know how much will it last (although, i am hoping - as long as possible) and i don't have college education (dropped out after a year) so the number of jobs i can perform is quite limited, since i am much "into" manual labor.

I do feel that i have the potential to become very good but don't know whether it would be enough to make real money from poker.

[Sparta45]

I want to go pro. I have a bachelor's degree in accounting and would be considered a "professional", but my salary isn't too impressive. If I could prove to myself that I could make at least 80K+ and I had a sufficient bankroll to boot, I would probably take the plunge.

I hate my job with a passion and I hate working for the man. I hate working for crap companies and going nowhere in my career. I like the idea of working for myself, making my own hours, having ownership of my life and my work. If I get paid poorly from poker it's because I'm not doing well, if I do well at poker, then I will be compensated for it. If I had a 80K or 100K a year job, I probably wouldn't even consider going pro and I don't think that even in 5 or 10 years I'll be making that much.

With all that being said, I'm not at the point yet where I would be comfortable quitting my job to be a pro....but I'm working on it.

[Gildwulf]

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Also, a good salary straight out of college would be something like $70k I guess,

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Are they still telling sophmores they can expect 70K right out of school? ROFLMAO

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yea, try 35k

[BJK]

For me, it's not a question of "going pro" as much as it is a question of "retiring early".

I consider myself a semi-pro, meaning the money I make playing poker is competitive with what I make at my job.

However, there is that feeling of being able to take a break from the game for a few weeks and not have to worry about paying the bills. My objective is to save enough money to retire early, and then to keep enough money rolling in by playing poker to have some semblance of an income.

I guess that makes me a semi-pro for life.

[Sierra]

I also work in accounting, just got told last week my position is being eliminated as of 7/31. I also hate my current profession with a passion. Since canning, I have had my best ever ITM in the Party Million Guaranteed, and have been ITM in 70%+ of SNG's.

My recordkeeping/metricing is meticulous, and I am truly working like a fiend to analyze hands better.

I am using the time between now and when my severance runs out to play like a demon and build a healthy roll. If this happens, [censored] it I am going for it for at least a year. What's the difference between poker and any other commissioned job. Either you suck or you don't.

Perhaps the time off will at least allow a recharging of batteries, or even better......birth of the greatest thing that could ever happen to me.

I could see myself playing poker for 40 years, it's the accounting and corporate [censored] that would kill me to do for 40 years.

Best wishes to all.

[jb9]

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There is absolutly NO DIFFERANCE between any big-ticket, commishion-only sales job and being a poker pro.

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You don't need a bankroll for the sales job...

[Sierra]

So, how are you eating between commissions with no scratch saved?