When are you arriving in Vegas? Sounds like early October. I'll be in Vegas in early October for about 10 days and then in early November for 10 more days. Looking forward to playing some 2/5 against you.

Lets be very clear about this, live 5/10 games are NOT played at the expert level anywhere. Im guessing you havent played with any legitimately good poker players.

Very very true. Although I would say fixed limit of any stakes is a trap and its best to avoid it. Limit is definitely easier for the stakes, but the structure of the game just doesnt punish people for the error of being too loose.

I saw that someone mentioned the Healthcare Marketplace as your only option for health insurance. They usually open up in November for registration - here is the link so that you can do more research https://www.healthcare.gov/

I think you are coming to Vegas at a great time with the WSOP and many other series starting. There is going to be a lot of action. I recently made the transition to full time player myself. My situation is not the same but I had a lot of the same questions that you had. The most important thing that I think will matter is that you are responsible with your money and manage it well. Feel free to PM me if you want to meet up and chat over a meal/drink or want a study buddy.

Definitely not the only option. Best option? Maybe maybe not. Also for citizen moving from a foreign country it is a qualifying event. So open enrollment period does not apply. He can not only immediately apply but the coverage also starts now not next year. Which was also previously discussed.

Hey whats up. Thanks for the advice!
Are you located in Vegas? GL with your journey!

Are you in the US yet tooney?

Not sure if it has been asked here but how are you planning to live in the USA visa wise? Are you only planning to stay 3 months?

Post 102. He’s a US Citizen.

What was your winrate at 200z?

somewhere between 6-7 bb/100

Nodding my head in total agreement with everything you said. $60K today not lost on Vegas dreams is equal to 10x-15x that amount wisely invested. But I’m just a 48yr old nit working in the finance industry and playing mid-stakes poker as a serious hobby. The lost time value of money at a young age makes this dream that much more of a risk

Your goal as a pro is not to "punish people" - it's to make money. Many limit games, especially non-holdem, offer very attractive hourly rates for a good player with limited variance.

It's not uncommon in mixed games for a good player to have an expectation of 2-3 big bets per hour, especially if the table is short handed. So at 40-80 you're looking at $160-240/hour. That's the equivalent of $320K to $480K per year if you could make a full time go of it. Which you can't, but 40-80 or bigger mix runs quite a bit.

That kind of money is not a "trap" - it's the objective of playing for a living.

While edges are large with noobs playing mix, dunno about 3 big bets an hour in most lineups…Swings are pretty large in live mix due to the limited hands per hour and natural variance…how many Badacey hands are you getting in an hour, as well as any time you have capped big bets if you lose a couple of flips…

My point is simply that a skilled player could easily put themselves in say the top 2% of US individual incomes simply by skillfully playing all the 40-80 and 80-160 mix you could get a Bellagio.

The same could be said for holdem, but the skill level required is higher.

There are much shittier things you could do with your career than play limit.

Deliver lollipops ?

Where is OP? Did he ever make it out to Vegas?

Good luck bro

busto

Best of luck! Hoping to see an update on this.

I've always found the vegas 5/10+ games to be fairly tough. But I'd assume the difficulty levels off as you move up.

Calling OP Come in OP......

Be a shame if all of that popcorn munching was for nothing.....

OP:

"Poker (Pro) Starting in Vegas
Hi, my name is Andrew and Ive been living in Japan for the last few years.
Ive decided to take a shot at poker and will be moving to Henderson next month.

Ive grinded solely pokerstars online for the past year and became struggling 25NLz reg to 100NLz winner (2.5BBs/200000 hands). I have about 600-800 hours of live poker experience in Vegas/LA/Asia.

My current liferoll is around 60K and am going to start out as a 2/5 grinder, hopefully ending up grinding 5/10 very soon, and am aspiring to go higher than that.

I have rented a house in Henderson from a well known friend of mine for 500 USD/month plus utilities..."


Suspicion....:

Don't hold your breath waiting for an update from Andrew.

Hopefully, he is somewhere that he can go back to grinding Stars.