I think your best shot is being a casino host, especially if you are attractive. If I recall correctly, casinos look for people with marketing degrees. I think you could earn more than $36k a year, but I am not sure.

What is the benefits situation? OP, I don't think you can be on her insurance until you are married. I am assuming your on dad's right now, but will he keep you on if you move to Vegas?

Speaking of parents, do both set of parents support this decision? You are not married yet and something like this will either break or make you as a couple. There is a lot of temptation to do stupid stuff in Vegas. How long have you two been together?

OP, without a degree, you are going to be hard pressed to find a job making $20 an hour. If you had to, you may be able to get a job at the casino working as a security guard or something. If GF can get a job at casino, she can help with connections or whatev.

I think it is doable, but $36k a year is not a lot of money. My GF (now wife) and I made that kind of money right out of college and it was tough. I supplemented my income by coaching soccer and umpiring baseball. You may have to do something like that to help build your roll. Heck, I still ref soccer to help with my roll and I have a job making about triple what I started out at.

I have more advice if you decide to move out there, but this is all for now. It got kind of long.

Haha, we're from the Upper Peninsula. It's beautiful, there's just nothing here.

I just didn't want to deal with the BS of renting. I never really even considered it, but I'm definitely going to look into it.

Thank-you. If poker goes THAT bad in the beginning I will just have to scope out a job to smooth it out. Thank-you though!

I receive no benefits at all. I pay my own health insurance, etc. She's been with me from the start with poker. She knows I love it and enjoy doing it and I would like to think she understands the downsides better than most non poker players. She's incredibly supportive and will definitely be a huge asset to me playing. She would care (as she should) if I wasn't trying. She doesn't want to see me go to work everyday doing something I don't enjoy. I'm lucky to have the chance to be with her and experience it all with her.

I have no say in this, but I know I trust your opinion more than the other guys. No offense, other guy.

I'm going to look into renting it out. We live in an incredibly small and dead area.

This paragraph really doesn't apply to us. It's not exactly our thing. Thanks though.

I think playing poker for 40+ hours a week is a lot easier than getting up and going to a job you don't enjoy for 60 hours. 50, even 60 hours a week isn't really that much. It's more about setting somewhat of a schedule and sticking to it/finding what works the best. After doing something you don't enjoy for a long period of time. Doing something you enjoy is just that much easier. Thank-you though. I seriously appreciate the insight.

I actually did track all of my results. And it's actually 22.41/hr, I just didn't have my phone near. This is also with only 50% winning sessions. I really didn't run very well over the sample. And I did take a 2 week vacation to just play poker. I loved every minute of it. Again I very much appreciate the advice though. I am listening to every ounce of it.

This would be great if I actually enjoyed the business.

It's not about "fun" it's about satisfaction and doing something I enjoy everyday. I can't do that here and I don't enjoy what I do 60 hrs every week. I'm happy here, I would be happy anywhere I went. Vegas seems like the right place. If it's not, we will move on from there. I, personally don't want to live a life that is the easiest. I want a challenge, and I want pressure. I have always had an easy life (I guess I set myself up for an "easy" life) I now realize easy =/ best for me. Thank-you though, again I really appreciate the insight.

I've actually read his hand-reading book. It's really really good. I used to love his videos on stoxpoker. I think one of his videos was the first ones I had ever seen. Thanks man! Don't you post in the Potawotomi thread too?

Boom! She's here

I was there a few times when I was younger. I guess it just feels right and has the most options. I wouldn't mind California either. My gf isn't a huge fan of Ca. though.

I honestly know NOTHING about renting. It just scares the **** out of me that people might trash the place. Maybe I could chat with you about it on Skype or something, if that's cool with you?

Haha, seems like a good guy. May not be the most reliable roommate, he could do chores and stuff for rent.

I have my own insurance. I'll keep that.

Both sets support any decision we make. We are adults, aren't we? We're a strong couple, I don't think the temptations of Vegas will do us in. 4 years.

If poker goes that ****ty in the beginning, then yes I'll have to get a job. That's a bridge I'll have to cross at the time. There's really nothing I can do about that now.

I appreciate your help. I appreciate everyone's help here. Thanks a ton!

Do not let this intrigue you. You will make up miserable daily.

Where at? I was born and raised in Escanaba and have some family in Munising.

Yes I post in the poto thread...heading there to play in 3, 2, 1....

OP, Don't know if the proposed move is right or wrong for you, but it seems like you're keeping an open and teachable attitude. That goes a long way in life.

Stephenson. That's awesome! I'll be playing there this Sunday I'm pretty sure.

Why? Just interested. Thanks

Thank-you, this means a lot. Again I can't stress enough how much we appreciate all of the comments.

It seems like you have a decent enough head on your shoulders and like it was said earlier you seem open to good advice. So I think at the very least you won't get into major trouble.

But my read is that you two are putting yourselves in a situation to fail.

- Y'all are moving to a new city with no jobs lined up. (Technically poker would be a job but it is far from guaranteed income.)
- Y'all are moving to a city where finding a job will be more difficult than in any other city in America. It would be naive to expect that there would be jobs available, much less good jobs.
- If she does manage to get a job, your GF will probably not be ok with taking her fancy degree and having to apply it towards a position at McDonalds.
- Y'all will have the very large burden of paying a mortgage and monthly rent.
- Y'all will be scraping by financially. This will always, always lead to stress and unhappiness.
- You have no experience playing poker for 3 months straight as a job. Therefore you don't truly know if you can sustain your $22/hr win-rate long-term of if you'll even enjoy grinding poker 40-60hrs/week.

I totally understand wanting to leave your small town. My job enables me to spend lots of time in small towns across the country. I've realized that there's very little opportunity for success in most small towns. And I totally understand wanting to do something you love. But do it in a way that will set you up for success. It's ok to take risks, but always make sure they're +EV risks. I don't see how moving to Vegas is a +EV risk for you.

Here's what I would do, but I'm just a guy on the Internet:

- Don't move until you can sell the house or get it rented out so you won't have that $800/month burden.
- Move to a town where your awesome driven GF will find a job that allows her to grow and thrive instead of being forced to work some s*** job she's overqualified for.
- Go to a place where you can get a part-time job and play poker part-time so you can evaluate how great playing poker for a living really is.
- Make sure you have enough money saved to be able to weather any storm that could potentially come your way.

with 100K+ i would risk it otherwise pretty bad idea imo.

You have some chance. The 1/2 games are still beatable for ~20/hr, in the long run. If you're really good (I have no idea how well you play, although I will pointlessly mention that maybe 1/50 of the people who move here to play for a living make it, by my anecdotal observation). None of us know how good you are (you prob don't know how good you are, tbh), so none of us can weigh in on that.

You will not win playing 60 hours a week. 30 hours a week is a lot for a real pro (though it's nothing for a degen poseur pro). You can play 60 hours a week for a week, so don't tell me you played that much one week and were fine. One week of 60 hours isn't a test, it's a vacation. In the 10th week in a row of 60 hours each, you'll be sick.

Very cool that your GF posts here. Sign that at least your relationship is good, and that's the most important thing.

IF your dad will take you back if you go back, then why not try? But bear in mind that very few people make it at 1/2, and fewer still at 2/5, and fewer still at 5/10, and that there isn't enough action higher than 5/10 to think about. 5/10 is the peak, really, unless you blow up your BR by winning a major tourney and get deluded about your ability and play superstakes until you're busto and borrowing. So really, understand that you're entering a job with a max level of growth at 5/10. That's it, there's really no future higher than that. At 5/10 you'll earn a nice living, if you're in the 1/1000 players good enough to sustain that limit.

Here's what will happen: you'll play a lot and win until you play a lot and lose, or you'll just go straight to the play a lot and lose.

After you hit the losing streak, then you'll learn, bear down, toughen up, tighten up, and learn to beat the life (beating the game is only half the battle). Or you'll quit.

About the car and no A/C: in the summer, cars get so hot it takes 10 minutes for the A/C to cool them off anyway. I live about 10 minutes from the casinos. I don't bother turning my A/C on, it's pointless. Same thing for going to the store or out to eat. I just roll down the windows and drive and sweat a bit. Maybe some cars cool off faster than that, but mine doesn't.