Quitting my crap job to grind 2/5+ live??

[DarkForceRising]

bernie,

I hear ya and I know your thoughts are well-intentioned. However, the subject here is 23 years old, evidently unmarried and without children. He has an education and some money in the bank. Why not take a shot?

Every day of my miserable 38 year old life, I regret not packing up and leaving when I was the OP's age. He will most assuredly take his lumps but that's how we learn. Providing he is being honest here, and is not prone to getting into the drug scene or turning losing nights into even bigger ones playing pit games, I would hate to see him approach his dreams too conservatively.

Let's say he decides to prove himself by grinding micro stakes for a certain period of time. Let's further suppose he plays like a champ and eats [censored] for 100,000 hands. He could wind up so discouraged he may wind up saying "f poker and moving to Vegas"- ultimately settling for a hum-drum ordinary life- always wondering about "what could have been".

He's young and in a rut. Why not get out in the world and have some fun?

[McStinky]

Go for it, you only live once. I am grinding it out at the casino for a living and loving it. You may want to consider going beyond 2/5 though. I know for a fact that 5/10 and 10/20 games are very often filled with complete fools. You are missing out big time by not playing in those games. Obviously you have to deal with some big swings, but I look at that as a small price to pay for access to a goldmine.

[carlo]

Why not increase your play at Foxwoods? A move can be expensive and perhaps you can decrease your job time in order to allay expenses.

[Ultra Violet]

And maybe jump up to $4/8 or a similar level where you'd have a better shot at keeping ahead the rake?

Good luck if you go for it, and keep us all posted. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[rjohson]

i was just wondering how long have you been playing poker? what stakes do you normally play? and how many books have you read? the reason i ask is that i want to start playing poker in the casinos, ive read about 15 to 20 poker books, im always reading poker arcticles on the internet, i watch it on tv all the time, and for the past year and a half i have been playing for fake money online at the 5/10 stakes, ive gotten as high as 1.7 million but lost it all from august34 of this year ive accumulated 645,000 in play money in the 5/10 blinds. i plugeed up some leaks in my game and i find that i can beat the 5/10 and even the 100/200 fake games. i firgure if i use the same strdegy in a real game i can beat those games too whats your take???? oh yeah what blinds would you say id have to play at to clear $150,000 a year?

[frommagio]

[ QUOTE ]
i was just wondering how long have you been playing poker? what stakes do you normally play? and how many books have you read? the reason i ask is that i want to start playing poker in the casinos, ive read about 15 to 20 poker books, im always reading poker arcticles on the internet, i watch it on tv all the time, and for the past year and a half i have been playing for fake money online at the 5/10 stakes, ive gotten as high as 1.7 million but lost it all from august34 of this year ive accumulated 645,000 in play money in the 5/10 blinds. i plugeed up some leaks in my game and i find that i can beat the 5/10 and even the 100/200 fake games. i firgure if i use the same strdegy in a real game i can beat those games too whats your take???? oh yeah what blinds would you say id have to play at to clear $150,000 a year?

[/ QUOTE ]
Real money or play money?

[DarkForceRising]

[ QUOTE ]
And maybe jump up to $4/8 or a similar level where you'd have a better shot at keeping ahead the rake?

Good luck if you go for it, and keep us all posted. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty sure OP is referring to Unlimited Bet Hold Them, in which case the rake shouldn't be a major issue (providing he is not playing in Australia).

[Percula]

Risky... You only have between 15 and 30 buyins and unless you are one hell of a bar tender you will be dependent on your poker income to live.

Trust me, playing for fun and profit, no matter how serious you take your game, is a lot different than playing for your rent, food, insurance/medical bills, etc, etc. It changes your game, in the very best case, it changes your game in the short run before you can get your head straight.

Remember there are going to be weeks where you don't make, you will lose or break even, and you will have to dip into that roll to pay the bills.

You can live modestly/risky and get by in those down streaks.

Now saying all the bad things that haven't been mentioned yet... Let me say if you have twice the BR and are someplace where you can practice some game selection like LA or LV, mix in some 5/10 when the games are great, and keep finding the good/great 2/5 games, you will have a blast, and could move up in stakes and make some real scratch.

As for playing online, if you can be a winning player, and want to earn, that is the place be for sure. Consider that you have even a slight edge in a game(s) where you can see 200-300 hands an hour compared to 25-35 hands an hour live where hopefully you have a significant edge, do the math, online wins hands down.

Which ever way you end up jumping, I wish you the best of luck, you are in a great place, enjoy it, don't sweat it bro!

[bernie]

[ QUOTE ]
bernie,

I hear ya and I know your thoughts are well-intentioned. However, the subject here is 23 years old, evidently unmarried and without children. He has an education and some money in the bank. Why not take a shot?

Every day of my miserable 38 year old life, I regret not packing up and leaving when I was the OP's age. He will most assuredly take his lumps but that's how we learn. Providing he is being honest here, and is not prone to getting into the drug scene or turning losing nights into even bigger ones playing pit games, I would hate to see him approach his dreams too conservatively.

Let's say he decides to prove himself by grinding micro stakes for a certain period of time. Let's further suppose he plays like a champ and eats [censored] for 100,000 hands. He could wind up so discouraged he may wind up saying "f poker and moving to Vegas"- ultimately settling for a hum-drum ordinary life- always wondering about "what could have been".

He's young and in a rut. Why not get out in the world and have some fun?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hear ya.

However, he makes no mention of any roll for living expenses. $15k is ok(not super) if you have 6mos to a year behind you in additional LE. Given the timeframe he gave, he's not a proven winner. It's a big leap from playing 4-6 times a month to playing full time.

[ QUOTE ]
I would hate to see him approach his dreams too conservatively.


[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. I also think poker, especially live poker as he seems to want to play, can be very brutal. Many underestimate it. From outside, it looks more glamorous than it is. Imo, conservative has its place when it comes to the world of gambling. You also tend to be surrounded by miserable and petty people all day long. The swings can be much longer than online. I agree with the others to grind the roll up online. If he's really that good, it won't take that long. If he eats 100,000 hands he has an answer depending on how he handles that bad run of cards.

But it is a good point that he is only 23. But that's about the only thing in the OP that I'd say works in his favor that I read.

I caution anyone from going into it full time unless they've(among other things):

Gone through a major swing and came out.
Understand a reasonable winrate that they can expect.
Understand the budget of living expenses with an endeavor like this.

From what I've seen in cardrooms, I can't just tell someone, yeah, go for it! I've seen it change alot of people for the worse. Imo, there's more for a 23 year old to do to get out of a rut than spend 30+ hours a week in a cardroom.

If he does choose to do it, I wish him the best and more power to him, but I think a word of caution and reality should be said.

b

[postoakpoker]

As someone who has also considered making this move, albeit not nearly as seriously, it seems to me that you should try "living the life-style" by playing at Foxwoods 5-7 days of the week for a few months. Altough this probably isn't a long enough period to show decisively if you're a winning player, it should certainly provide some amount of clarification. If you do well financially and can mentally handle the grind of doing nothing but playing live poker, then perhaps you should make your move. My point is, if you have the opportunity to test out the conditions that you're talking about throwing yourself into, then by all means, take it. If you like what little you see of the life, then go for it.