Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruthless11
Hi guys,
I am trying to put a plan together to possibly become a live no limit hold em cash game professional poker player(or online if my state or federal government legislates it). I am still a long way away from achieving this goal and trying to gather as much info as possible before making a final decision to implement the plan. A few questions:
As a professional live grinder who has made his living for the past 2 years with poker, let me be the first to tell you that "planning" to become a poker pro is a horrible idea. The way you should become a poker pro is to simply play poker as a hobby and a source of secondary income. Then, one day it occurs to you that you make more playing poker than your job. When that happens THEN you can entertain ideas about turning pro.
The typical fantasy is something like, "Man, if I study hard and focus hard and devote myself to poker I could become really good and turn pro..."
And I'm here to tell you that it seldom ever works out like that. That is what I call the fanboy poker fantasy and for 99.9% of the poker population it does not end well...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruthless11
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1. What level do you need to be at for nl hold em to make a decent living. I believe 2/5 is too low so I think it would have to be at least 5/10.
Depends on your expenses and your skill level. There are pros that play 1/2nl , yes 1/2nl. I know of several in the Bay Area that support themselves solely on 1/2nl. Their expenses are low and they grind out a comfortable $20/hr winrate.
Typically though, 2/5nl is considered the lowest that you can be a "pro" and this is a hotly debated topic on here between 1/2nl and 2/5nl. It really depends on your area. If you are in an area with juicy 1/2nl games where everyone buys in full and or the games allow people to buy-in for 200bb and there are 10+ tables going at any time in your area then you can absolutely support yourself with just 1/2nl poker. However, if you are in Nowheresville USA with 1 casino that has two 1/2nl tables full of short stacking Social Security Check playing nits then no, it will be impossible to support yourself playing 1/2nl so it depends.
But typically, you can support yourself with 2/5nl provided you are a winning player
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruthless11
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2. Also how many BBs an hour can you reasonably expect? I know online 4bbs/100 hands is a solid amount. But live you only get about 30 hands an hour. Also with live you focus on one table and the players are generally pretty weak.
This would be like me asking, "How long should it take me to run 2 miles? What can I expect?" Well, it depends on your talent and abilities. Same with poker. I know of many online players that crush online but can't beat the live game. Conversely, I know of several online players that crush the live game. So it depends. If you can adjust to live play and if you are a good player, then you can make anywhere from 5bb - 12bb per hour at 2/5nl. The answer is, it depends. The highest sustainable winrate I've seen at 2/5nl is probably 11bb/hr though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruthless11
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3. How many buyins do you need at the minimum if your living of your roll? I'd assume it would be 50 buy ins along with a separate amount of 6 months of living expenses.
I appreciate any comments and hopefully this is the right forum for these questions.
This is a BRM question. It varies, but I would say you want to have at a MINIMUM 3 months living expenses completely paid in advance. Notice I didn't say saved. Screw saved. You want to have all living expenses PAID out 3 months in advance and your goal should be to have them eventually paid out 6 months in advance. This completely eliminates the pressure associated with playing for a living. Car, house, insurance, utilities, phone, everything paid out in advance. Then on top of that, you want a MINIMUM of 20 buy-ins.
There are a billion threads on here about turning pro and BRM, also you can go into the LLSNL forum, there is an ongoing thread on this subject
