Backstory:
After high school, I went to college, studied cognitive science, and dropped out after a few years for a ton of reasons. After that, I was on a Greyhound bus to nowhere, and ended up homeless for just over a year. I worked some grimy jobs while living in shelters, and eventually climbed my way into a respectable job at a medical school and apartment living in Los Angeles. I then risked it all away to escape an overbearing boss, moved to SF, got a new grimy job in Oakland, moved to Oakland, then moved to Berkeley. I still have the job in Oakland, making 11.25 an hour.

Goal:
Basically, I'm a complete poker n00b and I want to go from zero (actually negative right now) to more than $11.25 an hour playing online poker so that I can quit my soul-draining PT job. I want more autonomy and independence in my life -- I don't like work schedules and being told what to do and where to be everyday is depressing.

Steps that I've taken so far to achieve this goal:
I started by asking for the advice of a pro-poker player who I'm sure is registered on this forum. First he recommended that I try PLO8, then he gave me a basic gameplan:

#1 Start at the lowest stakes
#2 Figure out ABCs of the game
#3 Invest in Hold'em Manager + Omaha
#4 Invest in membership at a training site

And, from there, it's simply a matter of not being lazy and putting in the work necessary to improve. He said that a serious go at it would probably involve 20/hrs a week at the tables and 20/hrs a week studying.

5 years ago he made a thread on another forum about getting started in poker, and the basic advise was to read Getting Started in Hold'em by Miller, Theory of Poker by Sklansky, and Inside the Poker Mind by Feeney. To read a little further from there (depending on what interests you), to get involved in forums and to talk to other players, and finally to just put in the work to improve.

I decided to take a combination of those two approaches, and this is what I've done so far in my first week:

#1 Finished Getting Started in Hold'em by Ed Miller, and re-read a few parts of it.
#2 Made a 100 dollar deposit on FTP
#3 Bought HEM+Omaha
#4 Registered at Deuces Cracked
#5 Started reading Theory of Poker by Sklansky
#6 Started listening to Deuce Plays, the Deuces Cracked podcast from the beginning on my way to work and during my breaks
#7 Started downloading and watching some of the poker training videos on Deuces Cracked, along with Tournamentality, a podcast
#8 Put in about 10 hours at FTP and lost about 9 bucks through a combination of cash games and SNGs.
#9 I've obviously registered and started posting here

I've already bought a few books to read after Theory of Poker: Inside the Poker Mind by Feeney, Harrington on Hold'em I: Strategic Play, Pot Limit & No Limit Poker by Ciaffone & Some other guy, and I plan on buying Harrington on Hold'em II: The Endgame & Tournament Poker for Advanced Players by Sklansky (SNGs really interest me).

Things I've noticed/concerns:
The rift between Getting Started in Hold'em & the strategy I'm seeing in videos and hearing in podcasts is TREMENDOUS. I'm also a little worried about what I perceive to be doomspeak about NLHE, in that a lot of the pro players talk about it being generally less profitable and harder to play. Of course, I'm pretty sure this doesn't apply to me, they might just be bitching about dropping from 200/hr in 2005 to 150/hr in 2010. Why should I care?

I think I've overwhelmed myself with material in the past week. Not all of it is sinking in yet, but I should pick it up. My biggest obstacle is probably my job, as it zaps a lot of my time and energy. I also have a few financial obligations that will probably keep me from making a deposit in the next month in order to move up in stakes. I should also consider buying an external monitor for my laptop so that I have more screen real estate for the videos at Deuces Cracked (which are sometimes too big for the screen, making it hard to see details when scaled down), and for multi-tabling... and just to have a bigger monitor to watch movies with my gf... Yeah, can't forget about her.

I just now played a few hands of poker while talking to another player on Skype as he was watching me play and giving me advice. If I could have him or someone else do that consistently, then it would probably be more valuable than anything, but I can't afford private coaching.

I should be lurking here a lot in the coming weeks.

PLO8 = good
starting at low stakes = good
splurging lots of cash = not good (yet, anyway) but it's done now by the sound of it

good luck

im hoping you used the "get it free" for hold em manager or got rakeback instead. obviously rakeback is better if youre serious about this

I'm not gonna mess around with PLO8... for now. I'll stick with learning NLHE cash games & SNGs.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention getting 27% rakeback @ FTP from raketherake.com

UPDATE:

After reading a couple poker books and watching some (50NL) strategy videos online, I was sorta dismayed by how I was steadily losing money in 2NL at a clip of -23bb/100 over roughly 6k hands. I talked to a dude about it, and he basically pointed out to me that I'm a dumb-ass, and that no kind of nuanced strategy will work at 2NL. He then recommended an uber-nit, set-mining, ABC approach.

Since then, I've played another 3.5k hands or so, and have won at a rate of 12bb/100 over that time, with an EV bb/100 of 16, despite routinely deviating from the plan and value-betting relative to position (mostly on the button), semi-bluffing with 4-flushes (mostly if I also have a pair), and limping in with Axs and suited-connectors if no one has raised. The one thing that I'm definitely not doing is over-valuing hands like KJo.

I'm a little anxious to hurry up and leave 2NL, since I understand that 5NL isn't too much different, and I should be able to win 2.5x faster to hurry up and bankroll for 10NL or higher. Maybe then my reading and strategy vids will be more useful. It's annoying how the vast majority of the vids assume that nearly everyone is playing at 50NL.

I've also cleared my first $10 dollar bonus, and have more than cleared the negative rakeback (bonus).

the best thing you can do at the nanos (2nl/5nl) is play a weak tight abc game. Identify the fish (with your HEM hud), and simply value bet relentlessly when you have a good hand, like top pair good kicker+

There is no reason to get fancy at those stakes, because the plays you see on TV simply wont work because the people don't have a clue. Don't even try to make sense of the random plays...because generally there is no strategy at those stakes. Most people are bad and just playing for fun. Just Nit ABC it up and you will crush those stakes.

If you multi table like 10-12 tables and can solidly beat nl25 (like 3-5bb/100), you can make 15/hr pretty easily.

The single best piece of advice I can give you is to learn the concept of hand ranges. Think about how your hand fares against the SET of possible holdings your opponent can have, and play accordingly. GL.

Don't quit your job yet. play at least 500k hands and show a profit before you consider doing this for the real deal, because the hardest thing by far is emotional control when dealing with variance.

You don't need to really start playing level 2 poker until you get to nl25. That's where the regs become somewhat decent...and you can do things like double barrel trash knowing that the villains range is weak and he'll fold enough of the time to make it a profitable play, ect. ect.

Hey man, I just read your post, and it's sort of encouraging knowing that there's someone else who is in a similar life situation as me. I also moved to a relatively unknown place pretty recently; living with my friend and trying to make it in poker. I made a $50 deposit on stars 10 days ago, and have since ran that up to $120 playing cash and HUSNGs.

Let me give you some advice: I've been playing for a little over a year now (starting to take it more seriously as of late), and it is a LOT of hard work. If you put in the time and energy, you should be able to do it, but it's really easy to get discouraged when you don't get results for extended periods of time. I'll admit, I didn't double my bankroll following strict bankroll management, I took a few shots at higher stakes (which is very wrong...) and just got lucky. Work hard, study long, learn to control your emotions, and know when it's profitable to play, and when to Leave the table when it's no longer profitable.

Good luck man, keep in touch.

Hey Gruphsky, what stakes do you play? Do you play uNL?

I've made over 2k at nl25 with a WR of about 5bb/100 this month with 100k or so hands. I'm currently getting owned by nl50 as I shot take =(

I've also had major tilt problems in the past I'm pretty sure I could have been a nl100 reg by now if I played within my limits and did it right.

oh well. one day at a time i guess.

Is 10 to 15 dollars an hour possible in Rush, long term?

what stake?