That’s so much bullshit in so few lines. Sure vast majority of people making minimum wage are tonna make their parents prouder and be so interesting at dates.
Anyway not thinking about what people think and do what makes you happy is the way to go


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I guess it comes down to whether you're in the category of making decisions which you feel are best for you vs making decisions because you are concerned how people will view you?

If the latter: it's going to be a tough gig to keep up as you can't please everyone.

GL hope find success in this industry. It's very clear you already check a very important box for being successful in poker: motivation. Anybody who leaves a very stable job to play poker full time must enjoy it substantially. My only advice would be look into cash games vs mtt. The variance involved in playing tournaments for a living is insane and although the games are very soft, the variance requires you to get in a ton of volume. Plus each mtt is extremely time consuming which will definitely make a significant impact on your hourly $$

well at least with a min wage job people can understand it, if you tell regular people you "play poker professionally" they will not think of it as a skill game that you beat for a consistent income, instead they'd think "gambler" and that you blow your life savings at the casino and are someone with no ambition in life.

but if you dont care about what people think then go ahead and do what you want.

Yeah that’s what everyone should do imo.
How do yo do when one neighbour doesn’t understand poker and think you are just a gambler, but the other one love poker and wouldn’t understand you to work minimum wage when you can have more money and freedom playing cards ?
**** that, just do what you think is good for you.

And better find people that think positive stuff about you being yourself and doing what you want than try to be someone you are not to please other people

I think you bring up a lot of good points and those are all things I've thought. I would be lying if I tell myself that I give zero ****s what people think. Being raised in an asian household, these stereotypes are definitely taken seriously.

I think to your point and many others, these are all things I've thought about for a very long time. I didn't just get drunk one day, quit my job and start doing this full time. I love this game and it's something I want to pursue full time to be the best until I can't. I believe there is potential here and I want to go for it before it's too late.

I appreciate everything you have brought up though and I think it's very fair.

Really appreciate the wisdom. I think nowadays, people care so much about status & all the other superficial stuff. I think this prevents people from fully pursuing their passion and goals. My goal here is to just be an expert in this craft and whatever happens, happens. If I can't do it anymore, I will move on and find something else to do. But at least I know I tried.

Really cool hearing about your experience and thanks for the positivity. Means a lot

Appreciate the good luck and the advice. Seems like many are encouraging cash and this is something I've thought about a ton. I just have much more fun with tourneys and also appreciate the variance involved. Maybe I'll make the pivot if I decide it becomes too much.

Definitely. I'm not doing this to please other people. If I was, I'd pick a different profession. Luckily, people close to me have been pretty supportive of this so far, so it makes it easier for me.

Subbed and here for the ride where ever it may take you. Worse case it doesn't work out and you have to back out and get a day job. Which by the sounds of things wouldn't be much of a problem for you. You're right or whoever said it "may as well take your shot while you're young" that way if doesn't work you still have time to switch to something else or go get a day job again. Which I doubt would be much trouble for you to find. Good luck at tables.

Kinda makes me wish I had taken and got more serious way back when. But then I think how much hard work and what I grind it is. I think there's much easier ways to make money lol. Maybe not quite as much. Also agree if you're gonna do something may as well set lofty and high goals. Never saw the point in making goals to low/easy to reach.



Cheers!!!

Sounds like you got a good head over your shoulders. As long as you specialize in your format and get really good at it before branching out, high chance you'll find success. If you enjoy tournaments more than cash game, stick to tournaments since you will work harder at the format that you like.

GL OP, thread is a very interesting read thus far. I'll be following on your journey.

I'm going to give you some different advice than others in the thread:

Go find a part time job serving/bartending two nights a week at a high ticket establishment.

This does a couple things:
1) gives you a little bit of extra cash each week/a floor of earning potential

but more importantly

2) Gives you time to socialize.

Grinding 24/7 will grind down most people much quicker than they think. Having a routine where you're forced to socialize is good for you and will help you want to grind even more. You can work it around your schedule, where either you serve during the day and play at night, or study during the day and serve at night.

Secondly, immediately move out of your high COL area when the lease is up. If you're going to grind all the time anyways, play somewhere in the midwest where you can live off of $1500 a month.

Just my 2c! Good luck!!

Here's some actual serious advice if you want to make $200k+/year playing poker, which imo is the bare minimum for someone in an actual good life spot to justify playing this game.

You have a few options:

1. Live cash public games - minimum stakes would be 5/10 but really you want to be playing 10/20+. Assuming you want to do this in public games, you should look at moving to Vegas or LA. You also want to play non-holdem games e.g. Omaha and/or mix games like ASAP.

2. Live cash non-public games - this is all about networking. You live in NYC so you should be able to do it, but nobody's gonna give you the blueprint. Go to casinos and try and befriend whales. I'm not joking this is serious advice and honestly probably the best / easiest way to make it.

3. Online poker non-public games - see #2 above, but networking involves less all-night benders.

4. Online poker public games. 3 real options from easiest to hardest: #1 cash non-holdem games start with omaha and especially on soft sites. #2 tournaments, but honestly only worth it if you are a total masochist and have a really large bankroll... look at Bencb who was former #1 goat made only 200k in all of 2022 - playing literally every 5k+ event on ggpoker.. very thin edges man.. #3 cash holdem - this is all about getting a really good RTA software, sad but true.

I’ve played professionally for four years and just crossed into my 30s; I can’t recall a single negative social interaction. I worked in consulting and finance before turning pro and i would get more crap back then. My parents work in accounting and finance, girlfriend is a doctor, social circle is mostly professional class; it’s never been a problem. Ultimately people react to the way you carry yourself. If you’re a serious person who treats poker like a real job and is capable of holding intelligent conversations about other people’s professions then people will take you seriously.

Bro ty I'm inspired. To me pkr plyr is like been an artist. At least thats how I approach this game. Just work hard obsess, follow trends and you'll be fine. It beats the 9to5 grind.
go all in!

gl gl subbed!

I do applaud 20 somethings to follow their dreams as everyone plays life too safe when they're young, but looking at your results you just have about 8k in profit? Assuming that's correct this seems super reckless especially given the upside for a poker player these days isn't much.

vVv bad ass , nothing like the traditions of Korea, do you have a sister? Poker life is Kool grinding is totally enjoyable and one you notch up some pay the freedom is esquisite ; heady way of life. Read it is as hard as brain surgery, good for you. pay some mtt also...

tl;dr:
Quits six-figure job
Day 1: loses $169.59
Day 2: loses $206.97
Day 3: there is no day 3

That pretty much all those posts ends
Frustrating after 2 days already, what he gonna do after a loosing year ?

Its extremely hard to make a living playing poker. I quitted my software job where I used to make about 120k/year to play poker professionally about 3 years ago. Ive had really serious downswings and very good runs that let me live from it. I dont play tournmanets, I only play cash. I really recommend you try studying cash instead of MTT play because as others say before, variance is extremely tough. Good luck on your journey

ahahahahaha we should treat these posts like people saying they're quitting their job to day trade, or play roulette

hope they hire him back

I would suggest dont listen to the people saying "PLAY CASH", if you enjoy Mtts play mtts and try to be the best player you can.... Even if you like playing big big fields mtts with huge variance, you have the time energy and money to take a shot.

I understand cash is a lot less variance, income is steady and so on, but if you dont enjoy it, could be ev-, also mtts could have some ev+ vs cash games in my thinking and way to see things:


-mtts are much softer
-you could bink big early in your carrer, and therefore play and study alot more relaxed and positive, + motivation and confidence
-I see alot of "pro" mtts grinders graphics on low stakes and the winnings are surprising linear, you could think the graph is from cash, this means you could play high volume low field mtts and start constructing improving and seeing how it goes from there
-you could play a mix between small field low buy in mtts and some big field mtts mid stakes.
-cash is boring for some people (me XD) very linear progresions allways the same spots situations etc

I enjoy playing mtts only and i would never play cash even if i would make more money, the feeling beating big fields of players, the change of situations and dinamic of mtts is unpaired for me.

I started playing this year only free mtts and already making more money than the avg salary here in ARGENTINA (yes i know salarys here are very low), of course i keep my job i dont have enough bankroll to do that, but if some day i have a decent br i would give a shot. Now i would keep studying grinding and trying to play my best.