I'm going to be moving later this year and wanted to give playing poker professionally a try. It's just the right time for me to try it with the move and giving up my current job. I am debating between Vegas and South Florida at the moment and would love some opinions from anyone who's played at either recently. My pros and cons are below. Please let me know if you agree/disagree with them and what your take on it is. Am I leaving anything out? Thanks!

VEGAS:
Pros: Better game selection, better comps ($1.50 or $2 per hour), better freeroll options and perks, lower cost of living
Cons: Tougher Games

FLORIDA:
Pros: Easier games
Cons: casinos are spread out requiring driving to change rooms, low comps ($0.60 per hour), not many freerolls or perks, higher cost of living


I guess I'm trying to decide if the lower cost of living and better comps in Vegas will make up for the tougher games or if I should focus on Florida with the easier games. About my goals, I have a year's worth of expenses AND a bankroll saved. I would not be looking to play professionally long term. Just for a year or 2, maybe 3 if it works out better than expected. I'm just looking to use poker are a transitional source of income for now. Thank you for any opinions! I really appreciate it.

Are you planning to play 1/3 NL or 200/400+ mixed? That might make a pretty big difference for your decision.

I knew I forgot something. Thanks. I would be looking to play 1/2 NL, 1/3 NL, and maybe some 2/5 NL.

How important is a social life/gf? If important, that might go under con in Vegas and under pro in south Fl. You'll probably want that work/life balance so that you don't end up hating life.

How important is eventually playing 2-5 permanently? If important, that might be another plus for south Fl. Spread out casinos shouldn't be an issue because you probably won't have to go to different casinos on the same day. If 2-5 is not important, 1-2 and 1-3 will probably remain soft enough in Vegas.

Another suggestion might be: do a year in Vegas playing 1-2 and 1-3, then the next year take your talents to south beach to play 2-5.

Good point about life balance. I guess i should explain a little further. I have friends in FL and my original plan was to go to Vegas for a year or so to play poker and then to move to FL. But after researching it online it seems like it might just be better for poker in FL to begin with. At least as far as the quality of the games.

Is 2/5 NL spread a lot in FL? I had read that the games were less common and sometimes only ran on the weekends. Hopefully that's incorrect but that's the assumption I was under. Thanks again for any info.

There are a few threads about this:

1/2 or 1/3 is not a stake you can really play professionally and have any real quality life/future.

No, that's not true at all. For instance, it's Wednesday morning and Magic City in Miami just opened an hour ago (10:00am - 4:00am) and they already have two 2/5NL games running, with an interest list for a 2/5NL deepstack game. ($400 - $2,000). And Magic City isn't even one of the main poker rooms in South Florida (although it is the closest to South Beach if that is where you wanted to live).

This is true.

Good to know. Thanks for the info. I guess what I had read elsewhere was wrong.

Agreed. I'm not really looking for a future from it though. Just a present.

I’ve done month long stays in both several times and FL is by far better.
Vegas is only necessary once you get to 5/T ... SFL has maybe more 2/5 games running THAN vegas year round unless vegas I had events running

Yes, you have to drive to change rooms, but there's no real need to change rooms on any given day. Vegas has tons of rooms that are close together but because of that, they tend to be smaller.

Several of the S. Florida will have 8-12 1/2 games running and 4-8 2/5 games running. You can play different rooms on different days but there no need to change rooms on the same day.

Comps range from zero to $4.32/hr depending on the room and the stakes.

Cost of living is very high though as you said. If I were you and planning to play mostly 1/2 and 1/3 I would pick Vegas. I think those games are just as soft with much lower cost of living.

Tough call. I've lived in Vegas since April playing 1/2 NL and am thinking about giving up. Right now I'm just playing low buy in tournaments ie under $200 live and under $50 online and have had more success with that ie I'm turning a profit. I might eventually make a move back to cash, but as long as I'm having success at tournaments, I really dont have the need/desire to move back to cash. I got to the point of almost dreading having to go play 1/2. And I was usually only playing like 25-35 hours a week, which is way less than someone who is playing 1/2 for a living should be playing. I've seen one particular reg "brag" about how this is her full time job. Then she talks about how she is playing like 65-70 hours a week. What kind of life is that? So keep that in mind.

I have no idea how soft the games are in S Florida, but from everything I've heard is that Vegas has some of if not the toughest 1/2 and 1/3 games in the country. So you can always go to S Florida first in an environment from what everyone is saying is easier to profit, get your feet wet playing all the time, and then if you want a change move to Vegas.

I think you having friends in S Florida is the decision maker. Being a poker player can be a very solitary existence, so having friends around would definitely help with that.

Vegas is a great location though. If you like doing stuff outdoors ie hiking, golfing (i know FL has tons of golf courses as well), backpacking, skiing, snowboarding, climbing, mountain biking, etc. it is hard to beat Vegas for a location.

Tough call. I've lived in Vegas since April playing 1/2 NL and am thinking about giving up. Right now I'm just playing low buy in tournaments ie under $200 live and under $50 online and have had more success with that ie I'm turning a profit. I might eventually make a move back to cash, but as long as I'm having success at tournaments, I really dont have the need/desire to move back to cash. I got to the point of almost dreading having to go play 1/2. And I was usually only playing like 25-35 hours a week, which is way less than someone who is playing 1/2 for a living should be playing. I've seen one particular reg "brag" about how this is her full time job. Then she talks about how she is playing like 65-70 hours a week. What kind of life is that? So keep that in mind.

I have no idea how soft the games are in S Florida, but from everything I've heard is that Vegas has some of if not the toughest 1/2 and 1/3 games in the country. So you can always go to S Florida first in an environment from what everyone is saying is easier to profit, get your feet wet playing all the time, and then if you want a change move to Vegas.

I think you having friends in S Florida is the decision maker. Being a poker player can be a very solitary existence, so having friends around would definitely help with that.

Vegas is a great location though. If you like doing stuff outdoors ie hiking, golfing (i know FL has tons of golf courses as well), backpacking, skiing, snowboarding, climbing, mountain biking, etc. it is hard to beat Vegas for a location.

It wasn’t long ago when you could play 1-2 NL in Vegas with a $4 max rake with no jackpot drop. Now all the 1-2 NL places have rake at $5+$2.

While bragging about being a poker pro especially a 1/2 pro is hilarious,she's actually being pretty smart playing so many hours if she has a decent hourly.Yes that sounds like torture,but at least playing that many hours lets you save money on top of paying your bills so you can move up faster to make better money and consequently play less hours in the future

If anyone told me they were trying to go pro this is exactly what I would tell them to do.and yes it really sucks.but do does playing dirt 1/2 nl for years on end eeking out a living but not getting ahead in life at all

There's a reason these people grinding out 40 hours a week @15 bucks an hour are miserable.it migjt seem fun at 21, but do that for a few years and it's a miserable existence.

When I hear some guys talk about bankrolls which play 2/5 and 5/10 nl it's comical
They're so underolled,always stressed,with no savings and unravel when the inevitable bad ran comes


Poker can be a great side hobby to make money,but starting out at the bottom in 2019 full time is brutal.

BTW...the rumors of S. Florida poker being ultra soft are greatly exaggerated. Im sure the games were buttery soft for several years when they opened the flood gates of NL poker when they took off the cap of $100 max buy in at all stakes, but the past few years theyve gotten tougher and IMO are about the same now as most places.

I know 3 pros who in the last 18 months moved from Florida to Maryland to play what everyone said was softer games up there. They say the games at MGM have more action than they were used to in S. Florida but that MGM is slowly getting tougher just like they experienced here.

The point is that when a new poker market opens up, the games are like Party Poker circa 2004, but over the next several years the games even out and end up about the same as everywhere else but people still have the image in their head of chips being spewed everywhere.

I’m am pretty sure it’s $5+0 at Bellagio, Aria, Wynn & Caesar’s on the main strip.

How tough is Aria 2/5 generally compared to these Florida games?

She probably is grinding the freerollls (which still sucks IMO).

Yeah, seems like many players don't know much about variance. What are the bankroll amounts that you've heard those 2/5 and 5/10 NL players mention that they have?

Play online until you are good enough to beat 2/5 live. When you can beat 100NL online, you're good to go. Get in as much study as you can in the meantime.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm leaning more towards FL.

Really? So the 1/2, 1/3 games are the same. That kind of makes sense to me because I've played a few sessions in Vegas over the last few years at that stake and the games were always soft but I see a lot of people on here saying that Vegas games have gotten tougher. My sessions were a very small sample size though.

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.