Cash game pros - lifestyle (and numbers) questions

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cool thread. i'm kind of gearing towards cash game semi pro-dom myself, with aspirations to make a modest living at 6max 200NL and 400NL. haven't really been able to get the ball rolling too much, though i have enough to live off of for a while from some donkament cashes. for a long time tournaments were sort of my security blanket, 'cause i always felt like any day going to go on a massive downswing in cash. i think i play cash well, though

lately school has me swamped and i've been reading 2+2 and studying the game a lot more than actually playing, since it's something i can do more sporadically than buckling down and putting in a session

anyone else make their living off of poker while still a full time student at a university? i find it hard to focus on both (although i am pretty lazy)

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Focusing on school and poker is something that I have always struggled at. I do well at school but sometimes I will just get into these poker binges and not go to classes for days at a time, sometimes weeks. Next semester I am just doing college part time because of this. I feel if you want to be successful at both you need to set very strict rules about when to play poker and when to study.

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myself and all of my friends at school that play semi pro or w/e have this same problem...its all about priorities and all of ours are poker over school

i really havnt gone to many classes at all this semester but i think if your class meets twice a week going to one of those is ok if you can really cram before finals which i think works best for me

anyway gl op and i could be wrong i would guess that moving up above 1,2 (almost definitely 2,4) is a bad idea...over a frew k hands you may think wow-no biggie, but the games really are much different, i would try and get in about 100k hands + at mostly 1,2 and some 2,4 before i played much 3,6 or 5-10 at all (*there isnt that much difference skill wise between 3,6 and 2,4 just more variance $$ bc of bigger buyin)

anyway, gl man

[MadManJ]

Little bit off topic, but I play to finance education as well.
However Im not playing 6-12 tables at the time, but rather 2 or 3.
Im never getting 100k+ hands in a month or two.
Even tho I feel comfertable playing at theese stakes I get alot advice that says you cant read anything from a sample that is 30-50k.

So what are the opinions on this?

Sqeeze my french.

[ivvaen]

I am planning on going pro in 1.5 years when I have finished my master degree. I'm moving to France in a month, and will learn French there before going back to Norway (probably) to finish up the degree. I play 2/4 headsup now, but am fairly certain I'll manage to get to 10/20 before my degree is finished. Then I'll move to Barcelona and spend a year grinding it up there, in addition to taking Spanish lessons. This way it won't look bad on my resumé and I'll get to experience a new culture and learn another language.

If this goes well, I hope to switch countries and do another year of grinding in either Italy or Germany and learn that language as well. I'll try to keep this up for a couple of years while grinding up enough money to get good capital started for investing.

I think it's important to do it this way; I don't want to rot away in some apartment in Norway and [censored] up my resumé by having "empty years in it".

As for the OP, I think you need a larger samplesize, and that you need to give it more time before you make your decision to go pro, but I wish you a lot of luck and hope you make it [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[snakekilla88]

Balancing school and poker is tough. Thing holding me back from going pro, I would probably become more alienated and lose a lot of important social interaction. It does frustrate me that dumber people are doing better then me in school. I am still doing okay, but I realize a mediocre 3.0-3.5 gpa, from a [censored] university is never going to land me anything ideal in the future.

[TheJackale]

I really believe that self-discipline in all aspects of your life is critical to success as a poker player. If people are returning to school in order to artificially force a social life, I think this is a road to eventual failure.

Be pro-active in your attempts to broaden and diversify your life. Go out with friends, go to dinners, spend some of your poker money on enjoying life (not frivolously) so that you create a real link in your mind to poker discipline/success and positive real life experiences.

Find a hobby that allows you to interract with people, be out of the house, and ideally has alot of adrenaline/seratonin release - for me that's racecar driving [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

That's my $0.02 after a number of years of being involved in the poker world.

[DevinLake]

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Balancing school and poker is tough. Thing holding me back from going pro, I would probably become more alienated and lose a lot of important social interaction. It does frustrate me that dumber people are doing better then me in school. I am still doing okay, but I realize a mediocre 3.0-3.5 gpa, from a [censored] university is never going to land me anything ideal in the future.


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Your gpa helps you get your first job and that's it. After you work for a couple years no one will ever ask you what your gpa was.

[DevinLake]

From reading this thread I a few thoughts, not of which will probably run together in any sensible order:

- You live in Canada, and because you are talking about snowboarding in November there is a good chance it is western Canada. This is ideal for someone that wants to maintain resemblance of a normal life. Why? Party Poker. Peak hours at party poker are like noon-6pm MST. Since I've moved to Calgary, I love that I can play the majority of my hours during the afternoon and then do a later night session if I feel like it. Many of you Americans could do this as well, playing some of the euro sites.

-social life: Having just moved to a new city, this is one thing that is a struggle. I've joined a couple hockey teams, but all that's going to do is maybe meet me a couple drinking buddies or so. But most the guys are married.

You certainly don't have an easy social network like you would with a real job or when you are in school. So, you have to actively search out new things to do. I'm constantly looking for interesting activities that are going on (festivals, shows, etc). I went to a professional bull riding competition a couple weeks ago lol. Unfortunately, I don't have a broad range of interests so I haven't done much. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

But, I am going to be taking an avalanche course in the new year and will be looking for other like minded activities to find people that have similar interests.

-age: I think there are pros and cons to be a young internet player (I am not one, 29). Being young means you have lots of flexibility, and I high tolerance for risk. If you screw up you can easily explain away your year or two of a poker pro as an experience builder. You can also go back to school and still be young when you graduate.

However, all your friends are young too. At this point in their lives, they are not settle in their careers. Many work service industry jobs, and have strange work schedule themselves. So, sitting in Mon-Friday playing poker every night is more anti-social because often there is mid week stuff going on.

I, on the other hand, am old. People that I know are mostly settled in their careers and most have mon-fri 9-5 jobs. So, not doing anything social mon-fri is completely normal. I just make sure I don't miss out on anything on the weekends because of poker. I actually rarely play poker on the weekends.

-volume: I don't play a lot. I should play more, but it's tough to motivate myself when I'm currently making more than I ever have, more than any of my friends, and more than both my parents combined.

But, I don't let it bother me. I'm very happy with my lifestyle. Money isn't a concern. If I want to fly home for a week, I can any time I want. If I want to go to vegas for the weekend, I could. If I want to take off mid week and go skiing for a few days, I can. And I don't feel guilty. That's why I'm playing poker. If I had of just concentrated on my career, finished my masters, etc. I'd probably be making similar money but with none of the flexibility. For this I am happy. Of course, I want to make more to compensate for the risk that goes along with play poker for a living, but that'll come with time.

[DonButtons]

I want to play 50 hrs/week 12 tabling 6max, its usually about half of that. Though its progressing. Hopefully this can be the month I break the slacking habit (though most won't call 100k/hands a month slacking). Play business hours/business days, take weekend off. But if I go near 50, its prob. only 1 day off.

One thing that helps with the balance, is working during the day instead of night. For me its harder since I 12 table, but if you have the proper set ups, its not hard.

Something I think thats going help, is setting up a office in like a office building to work at. Playing at home is nice, but down the road I think it will help with a lot of balancing with your life. Its ideal if its nearby/walking distance. Ive done it before where its like 20-30 minutes away and the commute sucks. Especially if theirs traffic (really sucked in a lambo). And it didnt last long. I just got a bigger apt. and had a seperate office. But with a GF living with me past year its prob. better to seperate it completely when I go to work.

I used to play nights mostly, but prob. about 25 hours/week. And in miami, socially, if your going out to the club, its usually around midnight so it didnt hurt if I wanted to work at night usually then go out after. Sleeping schedule was a lot worse though, and was little hard to balance the things to do during the day.

I also work out 2-3x a week for about a hour. Play golf and basketball somewhat.

[seminole0884]

I really think the sample size issue that always comes up is somewhat trivial. 30-50K hands is enough of a sample to evaluate your style of play and it's pros/cons=> which is what you always try to improve upon

That 100k<<< benchmark is more useful in determining staying power (i.e. playing professionally/primary source of income).

Playing 6-12 tables is great if you can do it, but it will inevitably hurt your ability to improve/develop whereas 2-3 tabling and concentrating may improve LT skill development.

OP if you analyze your play routinely, and avoid chasing losses, read 2+2 posts (worthy ones), adjust your stakes as your BR as it +/- , you'll be fine (not groundbreaking advice obv, but easier said than done).

Sure I have like 10 posts, lol, but take it FWIW.