1/2 limit as a job

[ThE_DrOpOuT]

Just recently i made the decision to try and grind out a living playing 1/2 limit poker. I intend on playing 4 tables at a time, 40 hours/week, and am starting with a bankroll of $1000. I have rent and other expenses to pay every month at a cost of around $700/month, and i understand that this is a very risky proposition, however i feel that given my current income of just $1000/month that i dont really have that much to lose. I have been playing poker for 4 years with mixed results, but lately over the last year or so i have taken poker very seriously and have improved a lot through books, articles, etc.. My question being that is it likely <font color="black"> </font> for a decent player to be able to make 3k-4k/month with rakeback and other bonuses at online 1/2 limit poker?

[Bob T.]

Let's do some arithmatic.

40 hours X 4 weeks X 4 tables X 65 hands per hour = 41600 hands.

$4000/ 41600 hands = 9.62 cents/hand or 4.7 BB/100.

Your rakeback deal might get you 1.5 cents per hand, so you still need to be making 3 BB/100.

When you add in the grind of trying to do this for forty hours a week, and still maintaining your game, I doubt that it is possible, if you have to ask the question.

Good luck.

[KitCloudkicker]

heres some math for you.

you get dealt 70 hands per hour online per table. thus if you're 4 tabling you get dealt 280 hands per hour.

let say you play 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

280*8*5 = 11200 hands/week.

a very good player makes 1BB/100 these days online.

thus you get 11200/100 * $2 = $224 a week = $900/month. = $10,800/yr.

add in the costs of rent, food, insurance, etc.

you think you can live off that?

(edit: forgot to include rakeback, but i doubt that'll bring you over the top)

[KitCloudkicker]

just an aside: if you really wanna play poker as a job (not recommended imo) then you should look into playing live (casino) stakes above 4/8. i'm well above 10K for the year (running better than normal i must admit) and i only play a few times a month never playing higher than 10/20. the rake is worse but the players are so bad it makes up for it.

oh yeah and i was a losing player online for like 3 months before quitting right after UIGEA.

[ThE_DrOpOuT]

I just wanted to clarify something about my original post. First off, i forgot to mention that i will be playing shorthanded which makes a huge difference in my bb/hour, amd secondly, although 3k-4k/month would be nice, i could live with anything near 2k/month. I guess what im trying to say is at that limit playing that many hours, with a 30% rakeback deal, what can i expect to make per month??

[ThE_DrOpOuT]

I also wanted to clarify that i do not intend on quitting my job before i actually start seeing some good results. I thought 1/2 would be a good start and according to most rakeback calcualtors, with the amount of hands i will be playing i should be bringing in an additonal 1.5k-2k/month in rakeback. At that rate i could break even and get by with rakeback every month which seems like a decent alternative to a low paying job.

**sidenote I finished college this year and just found out that because of my vision i wouldnt be able to enter the field i chose.

[WuTank]

where you play/what rakeback deal you have?

[ThE_DrOpOuT]

I play 1/2 limit at sun poker. The way sun poker rakeback works is based on a points system. If i play as much as i intend on playing than my rakeback could be as high as 50%

[numbnuts007]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think this is a very bad idea. 1/2 is not nearly high enough as some of the math other posters have done shows. Another thing you need to consider is how many hours you will actually be able to play and what type of games you'll be playing in. Games during the day in the U.S. are not nearly as good as games in the evening. It's much easier to beat games in peak hours at 1bb/100 than it is in off peak hours. I think your rakeback estimate is pretty high. Keep your job and work up to 2/4 and 3/6. I think you'll find that even at those levels, doing it as a full time job is not feasable.

[jesse8888]

[ QUOTE ]
just an aside: if you really wanna play poker as a job (not recommended imo) then you should look into playing live (casino) stakes above 4/8. i'm well above 10K for the year (running better than normal i must admit) and i only play a few times a month never playing higher than 10/20. the rake is worse but the players are so bad it makes up for it.

oh yeah and i was a losing player online for like 3 months before quitting right after UIGEA.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do this if you have a reasonable casino nearby. I work all day facing a computer and when I get home the thought of 4 tabling online is just more than I can take. So I play live, and honestly I think 20 dollars an hour at 6/12 is attainable by a slightly trained monkey.