Quote:
Originally Posted by StandardDeviate
1. How many hours did you put in and track BEFORE you went pro, and what was your win-rate for that time? ~1,200, 7BB/hr
2. What was your ratio of hours of playing/training? I didn't track this specifically but the general trend was that I increased my time working away from the table as time went on. By the time I went broke, I'd become a decent player
3. What stakes did you play before, and after going pro? 85% 2/5 and 5/10NL with occasional 2/5 PLO/PLO8 and 40/80 Stud8 thrown in.
4. What was your starting bankroll? $30K. I understood I was going in under rolled.
5. What was your starting overhead? Monthly nut is $6K with wife's salary covering 1/3 of that, but I spent more during the first six months when I was running good.
6. Most important imo, did you have ANY debt at the point of turning pro?
Yes, I'm 40 with a wife and two kids in private school. Debt comes with that package.
I realize I could still be playing if I'd managed my roll better when I was running good or done a few other things, but one of the things I learned is I don't want to be a professional poker player, so it's ok my mistakes led to this outcome. Regardless of whatever technical progress I made or could continue to make, I don't have the psychological toughness to deal with the massive swings without it affecting me away from the table, and I don't want my kids' lives to be affected by how Dad is running - not just b/c I was too low emotionally when losing but also b/c I was too high emotionally when winning.
Something else was a problem for me, too. There are two kinds of whales: 1. The kind I hated being around because they suck as humans. 2. The kind I enjoyed being around and, therefore, felt kind of gross about being so predatory towards. I tried to work on that, to tell myself to enjoy taking money from the *******s and not feel bad taking money from the nice guys because no one was forcing them to play, but I could never really generate that mindset. In the end, I still hated being around the *******s and still felt gross about taking money from the nice guys.
Last edited by Tier1Capital; 06-15-2015 at 08:35 AM.