Here's a lil about myself: I've been playing poker since I was young like most of us did, I got really into it when i dropped out of Engineering school 4 years ago and had no job. I started playing for living then and I was going good for couple of years till i moved to vegas about 2 years ago with 10k (net worth).

I know that since i didnt make it with 10k last time, and am only moving back this time with 1-2k, my chances are slim.. but at the same time "When u have nothing, u have nothing to lose" and I have a translator job waiting for me if i dont make it and i will keep my return ticket money safe in the bank..

I will be getting my paycheck at the end of the month (I already handed over my resignation from my current job), after that I will book my ticket. I wanted to make this thread to get some advice and tips from you guys and also I want to post about how my life was (poker-wise) in the last 4 years, maybe it will help me more identify what i did wrong and make it right this time..


>> I know i will be getting alot of don't move to vegas unless u have 10k+ 6 months expenses saved and all that.. I am aware that my chances of making it are very slim, but if I don't make it, I will have a job to go back to and I will be staying with a friend till I get my salary..

This is how it all started:

I started playing on zynga poker just to pass time and in couple of weeks i had about
450M chips then out of no where a guy asked me in the chat if i am interested in selling
them, I was like what are they worth so he said 100$/100M. I liked that and I sold him
100M and after few days 200M and I kept selling him chips but keeping enough so I can
regrind.. I was really happy and excited that I made money without risking anything.

After few months I wasn't satisfied with the small poker home games anymore or zynga
poker, I wanted to be better, so I started watching alot of vids on utube, reading books and made a subscription on CRs . Then Ideposited couple of hundred bucks on FTP and after few weeks I got 2nd place in a 42k guaranteed tourney for 6k+, that was an amazing feeling, I felt so good and I knew that I am getting better.. I took a week off poker and took a one week vacation with my gf to enjoy myself. I will post a pic of my ex later cuz i don't want the pics of gf or if didnt happen part

After the vacation I was more interested in live poker and played in some underground games with a close friend of mine, by time I started to get better as live cash player and made good money (I was never good at saving money tho, I always ended up sending more on me and my girl whenever I can afford it, thats the reason I couldn't move up and play bigger games).. Few months later, I busted my bankroll and was back to square one, then later on I broke up with my girl cuz she wanted to be married and all this crap. I was just destroyed emotionally and financially, I had nothing AGAIN.

I started looking for jobs and got one as a Translator/Consequential Interpreter which I was really good at and for about 6 months I was making good money, I was playing some live cash on the side but never had much time for it especially cuz translating is very tiring and after working hours am usually very exhausted to think/evaluate while in a game. So I decided I have few thousands to my name, I will quite again and just play poker for a living, I played online on PS/FTP while still playing some live cash whenever i find a good game.. To be continued...

This is my first time writing my story, never even had a blog or a journal, so am sorry If my thoughts and events arent organized or put in an interesting way.. I will try harder when i write my next post Any advice will be appreciated!

Good luck, you better run good or get a part time job somewhere, or both.

I would be very interested to hear about your experiences during your previous attempt.

Where in NC are you? I live in the Triangle area.

yea good luck. I mean 1-2k is like not enough to even cover a couple days of running bad.

Well i would play my best, I ran on heater in previous 1/2 sessions where i made 1-1.6k in 12 hours or so.. I need to run good as well, I think if i run good in the first couple of days, i will be fine.. I think now I have much more discipline and i play better but i got less money.

In Raleigh..

>> Imo I will be safe once I cross the 6k mark, and I dont mind taking my time before moving to 2/5, I learned my lesson

Living situation?

I am moving out there for only 3 months, with 4k in cash, 40k in investments, a full time job, and free rent for three months and I question whether or not I am making the right decision. Good luck to you Sir!

Well i am living in a flat just by myself now, rent of course (was living with my gf last month), I am quitting my job by the end of the month, it doesnt pay well but its alright. Currently i have less than 1000$ to my name but am leaving my flat at the end of the month so no more rent. I will travel with about 1-2k as mentioned b4.. may i add that I've been feeling super depressed lately, did i answer ur Q??

well am sure you are more mature and less of a risk-taker than me. I am also sure your decisions in life are better than mine, but I have another job waiting for me in case i go busto.. gl to u 2 sir

So you are saying you have been practicing on Zynga?

I am always the guy who say "go for it, wtf" on these things. THis time, you have a bit of a different situation. You have a job, and games to play in. I have played in underground games for years...I know how profitable they are. If you can consistently beat these games, then do the following:

1. Keep your job or start a new one when this ends.
2. Play the home games as a second job. If you are truly beating the game, you will have $10k in the bank by Halloween...Thanksgiving at worst.
3. Live3 like a pauper. Live with your parents. Ride the bus. Whatever...it's only for a few months. Why? So you can save up $5k over this time apart from your roll.
4. When your roll is 10k and your savings is 5k, _then_ quit your job and go to Vegas.

You already tried with 10k and didn't make it. You know what it's like. This isn't just a nutty, fun life experience for you...you've done part that already. Now it's time to do it with some sort of chance of success. Going to Vegas with 2k isn't an attempt at being a live pro, it's a (budget) weekend vacation.

Plus, if you find it's Christmas and you still aren't at $15k, then you are doing something wrong, and would have failed anyway. I swear to you I'm not trying to be a dick...I want to read an awesome story about how you came, you saw, and you kicked some ass.

All I'm suggesting is to try to take a linger view, so as to give yourself a real chance at success. My suggestion is that if youu don't have the patience and discipline to take the approach I've outlined above, you have a near-0 chance of making it work anyway, so why light your money on fire?

I know that part of this is that you just want to get away, go back to Vegas, and _do_ something. I get that. All I'm saying is that this is a chance for you, right now, to show yourself your strength of character and your will to succeed. Give it another try for sure. Hell, give it 5 more tries...just make them count...and $2k, no job, and moving to Vegas is not making it count.

/lecture

Regardless of what you do, good luck.

Oh, and you do know that an ability to beat the games on Zynga will not directly translate to the 2/5 at the V right?

Let me clear few things up and explain my current situation more, So here it is:

First of all, about Zynga, it was just a few months thing and that was more than 4 years ago.. I know that beating Zynga means nothing, its just full of ppl who cant play poker at all, I played thousands of hands online and loads of hours of live poker in vegas and AC and underground games. I was just telling the story of how i started making money from poker..


but.. I had an interview for translator job at a newspaper few days ago and I got accepted, but I explained to the editor that am seriously depressed and feeling horrible lately and that I will take the job starting August 1st and he said okay but if i want the job earlier to just let him know, so am am not losing this opportunity if i go to vegas n decide to go bk..

I got engaged last month to a girl that I really loved and we've been living together for nearly a year, but my parents totally hated her especially my mum and when they knew that I proposed they went nuts and crossed all the lines.. They kept trying to split us apart, they didnt agree cuz she comes from a poor family, she's older than me and didnt graduate high school (imo these are stupid reasons, but there is always 2 sides of a story) but imo regardless all my parents justifications, they can't call her and tell her to leave me, they can't call her dad and talk **** about her.. They seriously went over ALL THE LINES imaginable.. anywayz Things are over between me and her, am still heart-broken (I know time heals everything, and i will feel better later)
All i want to say is, The last 3 weeks (since the break-up), I only go to work then I go straight home.. I didn't go out to do anything else the last 3 weeks, I don't feel like talking to my friends, just almost everything makes me feel horrible.. I don't talk to my parents anymore, but they are trying to make things okay again...

Am sorry my thoughts are all over the place right now, I guess what i wana say is I am very depressed lately. I don't wana do anything, but the only thing that cheers me up in these times is poker. I want to risk it all and go to vegas cuz I wud have a job anywayz if i go busto and also cuz i want to feel better, i want to move on.. I want my dream to come true, I can't work these days, I am feeling bad, Can't think properly, can't enjoy anything.. I think I need a change of scenery, poker and vegas are enough distractions for a while and am sure they will help me get over this and feel better..





also, Thanks dietDrThunder for the great advice, i hope u reply after u see this post
I did beat the 1/2 and 2/5 (Actually 90% of the time I played at the V), ask ppl about Mack.. maybe some regs still remember me
Things went ugly when i moved up to 5/10 uncapped game at the V, which I am not good enough to play and was not rolled even close to be playing it

anybody wanna bet over/under on busto?

1-1.6k @ 1/2 is fairly unrealistic expectation on an ongoing basis... but if you are hell bent on leather, good luck to you.

you should immediately attempt to get a job when you get here to help smooth out variance.

I am sorry that you're having a hard time...I don't know how old you are, but you sound pretty young. It will get better, I promise. Nothing in what you wrote changes anything about what I wrote, but I understand that your desire to get out of town is stronger than your desire to succeed in Vegas.

Save this thread, and when you're ready to take a _real_ shot, come back to my post.

I think you need to set some goals, and be realistic with yourself. A question you need to think about and honestly answer, at least to yourself, is whats does "making it" mean to you? We all have different values, just sayin-

Best wishes to you sir.............