Quote:
Originally Posted by SpinMeRightRound
It's the common sense and realistic view to take. Sorry it has offended you.
I said this in my NVG thread several weeks ago - 4 things need to be in place before you go pro.
1. You need to deeply enjoy the game both when you're winning and losing.
2. You need to be making significant money. At least as much as the average middle class wage where you live. Preferably a lot more.
3. The game can't consume your life in a negative way
4. You have a good backup plan if games dry up or get too tough to beat
The vast majority don't even have 1 of these in place, let alone all 4 of them.
If it was so easy to start crushing 100 zoom or $30 spins, everyone would be doing it.
I think that all 4 things apply to me:
1. I definitely enjoy playing the big games like the $2/$5 and higher where you need to be creative with your lines, although I find the lower games like the $1/$3 are more of just a grind. I only play the lower games so that I can build up a bankroll, which is why I sometimes get very money-oriented and don't enjoy the game as much when I'm losing.
2. Compared to my minimum-wage job, I am earning significant money at poker. Having the ability to put in full-time hours or more if I desire, rather than being at the mercy of working a job only at whatever hours is convenient for my employer, increases the potential by a long shot.
3. Once I get into a good routine where I fix my sleeping pattern, eat healthily, go to the gym 3 days per week, play+study poker 6 days per week and take 1 day per week off to relax and hang out with my girlfriend and friends, then poker will fit in very nicely. It won't negatively consume me anymore than any other full-time job would negatively consume me.
4. My backup plan if the games get tougher is to study harder and improve my game. As long as my skill increases at an equal or faster rate than the rest of the pool, then this should never be an issue. If the games dry up in my local casino then I'll either move cities or look for other avenues like home games, poker apps, various online poker sites, etc. I'm also open to play more PLO if the NLHE games dry up, and if necessary, I will even learn new variants like the mixed games. I'm flexible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Petrucci
At this point you should obviously have quit the game. Its difficult to get a more slamdunk no brainer decision regarding quitting, because be a good quitter is an art on its own.
Yeah ideally I'd have quit at my peak, but at least I'm glad I quit before the stage where i lost my entire stack and rebought. Things could've ended a lot worse if I didn't quit when I did, or worse: if I played a degenerate game like roulette in order to chase my losses.