First post.

Let me preface this by saying I have had a slew of unbelievably devastating life events happen to me over the last year. I don't particularly feel like going into the gritty details, but suffice it say its spurred me to try out something I've always wanted to try. I know it's dick ish, but i'm going to be fairly ambiguous (out of necessity).

In mid-January, I'm leaving my old life behind. I'm moving across the country and will be starting my life over. I will have no contact with my friends and remaining family other than a good-bye note.

I intend to try to "make a living" grinding. Notice that "make a living" is in quotation marks. Where I'm moving there are two casinos with fairly large poker rooms with very soft action. Yes, I'm being purposefully ambiguous.

Let me lay out the facts:

1. I've been playing poker as a serious hobby for 13 years (I'm in my late 20's). I've never played solely for a living, though it has been a big help income-wise, especially during school. Additionally, I ran and dealt a 2/5 and 5/10 poker game out of my place for 4 years.
2. I have played 1/2, 2/5, and 5/10 seriously over the years. I've never tried building a bankroll because most of my money went to helping out family members and paying my way through college and graduate school.
3. I have a job that pays quite well in a high pace, high stress professional field. At my job, they are aware of my plans. I am very close with those in charge and I can return to my job full time any time I choose with the next year and a half should things go awry.
4. While I like who I work with, I do not like my job, my field, or where I live.
5. I have no debt. No CC debt, no student loans, no mortgage, no car payment.
6. Where I am going, there is a part time job waiting for me. It pays $800/month and requires me to work very few hours from home with very little effort.
7. With the money I have saved plus the small income from the part time job, after all bills (rent, grocery, phone, gas, etc) are paid for a year, I will begin with a bankroll of roughly $10,000.
8. I am beginning with 1/2.
9. I am not (let me repeat) not doing this to make more than I currently make. I don't care if I soar up the limits or just stick to 1/2. If I go broke, I can just return to my job. I am doing this because I want to start a different kind of life far away and just meander and keep afloat. I need time for me. I understand that for a lot of people grinding at 1/2 all the time sounds like a death sentence. I've played an incredible amount of poker in the last 13 years in casinos and I've always enjoyed it; even the suck outs, bad beats, coolers, drunks, fights, idiots, fish, donks, and variance. My goal is just to make enough money to literally live (get by), not "make a living."
10. I live a very cheap lifestyle. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I don't go out, I even get books from the library rather than buy them off amazon. I grew up in a very, very poor family and don't mind meager living.

Poker facts:
1. I'm fairly tight, but I choose my spots to get frisky.
2. I have not done a great job at monitoring my win rate, but when I have, my 1/2 win rate sits north of $30/hr.
3. I handle variance well and don't get rocked by swings.
4. I am capable of grinding a lot of long sessions for days in a row. I enjoy it.

I'm not looking for opinions on the choices I'm making. Most people would consider them silly and illogical, but I have my reasons. If my goal was to maximize my income, this would be a very unwise choice. My goal is simple - to grind well enough to merely stay afloat, maybe make a little extra. I'm looking for opinions from those who have had taken a shot at grinding for a living. Probability of success, stories about their lifestyle, how often they've gone broke, have they been able to eek it out for a good amount of time.

This is a huge red flag.


More huge red flags. Also, is this a serious post? These comments look trollish. If you are serious, several pros here think the casino environment is depressing, so spending more time in a depressing environment after devastating life events sounds like a horrible idea.


It seems like you're looking for a vacation more than attempting a serious shot.

I'm just being blunt and telling you what I really think so don't take it personally.

go read the threads in the poker goals & challenges forum

inb4 venice locks

Sent from my SGH-I747M using 2+2 Forums

I will start out by saying good luck. I hope the life suits you well.


I can't remember the exact words, but Doyle said it best.... It's a really tough way to make an easy living.


I hope this is a serious thread.


I have been playing poker on/off for income since 2009. It is filled with incredible highs, and lows.


It is humbling. You're cruising along, crushing the game. This is easy, right? Then, bam. A downswing. You shake it off at first, no big deal. Then it doesn't stop. You are running like ****. Fish look like pros now, they are hitting everything.

So what do you do? You put in the work, that's what you do. You analyze your game, see if you're leaking anywhere. We are really running bad, so we needs to figure out if it's just us.


Of course we find some things that need work. We nit up, adjust, and continue on. The downswing finally ends. We start punishing fish again, all is well. Our confidence is coming back, slow but sure.


Maybe we aren't so bad after all, we think to ourselves. We can beat this game. We can take what we learned during that swing to help us.


Rinse and repeat.



It is a good life, but incredibly difficult.


I have gone busto. It really sucks. Bankroll management is extremely important.


And yes, you can make it at $1/$2. But moving up would be better if possible.



I hope it goes well for you. Good luck.

Whatever OP, just go for it.

You have backups plans, who cares if you go busto, just rebuild after. I wouldn't take your boss's words that they will take you back after you quit, that will NOT happen unless you get laid off due to lack of work. If you quit, you are done with them because they will be done with you.

A part time job is a really good idea, in fact I too am getting a part time job in 2016 to balance my life/have some guaranteed income. I hope you have access to bigger games, grinding 1/2 forever will get old, finding the motivation to play when the hourly is so bad (around 20/h) is hard, very hard.

My local situation is quite unique and is why I suggest you have access to at least 2/5 and 5/10 games, my situation only 1/2 runs everyday and the bigger games run only once a week/once a month kind of things and I have lost all motivation to play 1/2 now. Christmas break should help

Gl

Gone broke once, when transitioning from 1/2 to 2/5. The first year is really really hard, although you appear to have a deep background. This means you may have already made and corrected some mistakes it may also mean you've engrained some mistakes that may be hard to break.

In a 8 hour session you should be profitable 5 out of 6 days. Don't let anyone fool you, once you learn to read people. don't inflate your ego, assume if you lost a hand you messed up.

Loss KK<AA , calling it a cooler? What was your opponents range was it an OMC? Sometimes it may be a cooler but assume you may have made a mess stake and figure out what you should have seen.

Good luck, it's hard.

Nope... APD


Op... Please post your goals in the goals and challenges forum or the blogs forum. If you only want your question of can I make it playing 1/2 answered then look up the IMA Pro thread or ask in the bankrolls/winrates thread.

General consensus (from past threads) is making a living at 1/2 is going to be hard. As far as that $30/hr thing goes... I hope that is over a very large sample size... Like 2000-3000 hours.