Hi guys, all my friends would kill for my job but to be honest it was super boring (I've been there for almost 3 years). Now I am going to play live poker which is great because:

1) I LOVE PEOPLE. All kinds of table chat I find interesting.
2) Poker is fun too

During the first year at my job, I had similar sentiments and played poker semi-pro. However working for 8 hours + getting home and playing for 3 was crushing me mentally, and I stopped. In the second year, I didn't really consider leaving work ever because I was dating my bosses daughter. Unfortunately that fell through, so it's time to finally pull the trigger and get out of the cozy life and into the (hopefully!) fun life!

Anyway my living expenses are LOWWWWWWWW so I'll be very satisfied making at least $15 hourly in the near future (next few months). I'm fairly confident I have the skills, but then again I know human beings in general are well-known for overestimating themselves, so I can't be too cautious. Also, I have played quite a lot of poker in the past, but I still have a lot to learn! I sincerely hope you will join me in this thread to talk about lifestyles and poker hands. Thanks for reading! I AM FREAKING EXCITED RIGHT NOW.

Goals:
-Make at least $15 hourly (for now)
-Enjoy life!

I expect most updates from here on out to be after playing a session, and thoughts on it. Cheers.

EDIT: Crap, how do you change the thread title? It's relevant when talking to friends/family because they think I'm crazy, but I know I'm in good company here so my previous job is actually super-irrelevant and kind of too arrogant sounding for my tastes.

If a mod could do to something more descriptive about the actual poker goals I would super appreciate it (or if someone tells me I'm a moron for not being able to figure out how). Thanks!!

How many hours do you plan to play a week? What kind of starting BR and limits are you going to play? Seems like a risky move you have decided to make, which is admirable and I wish you all the best. GL

Well right now, I LOVE POKER, so I plan to play ALOT! At least 40 hours a week, unless that proves to be too much burnout on my brain.

Starting limits is 1/2, 1/3, 2/4, 2/5. I'd LOVE to move up after proving myself there, because I subscribe to the "always strive to improve your game" idea. I have a huge bankroll for this (like I said my living expenses are as low as can be and I've had a great salary for 3 years), so if I'm even remotely profitable BR shouldn't be an issue.

GL OP. you're in for a hella of a grind. Any ideas whether you're gonna go for tourneys?

Sounds great OP, like a great man once said "A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." Good luck with everything.

GoodLuck Keep us updated willb e following .

Wow.
This will be an epic journy. Please don't ever stop posting about the ride.

Assuming OP made a legit 6 figure income even if only for 3 years, If practicing a safe BR management it would take a long time to go broke... Sounds fun actually, I wish I was in that position, I cant seem to get past 5 figures..... GL OP

Seems ******ed, but gl...

Re: tournies. I don't see why not eventually, but for now my primary goal is to prove to myself that I am profitable at live low stakes NL hold'em games, so will probably be staying away from those for awhile unless there's something in my area that is just so massively +EV I would be a fool to not play it. I am quite good at playing the early levels and very good at the shove/fold game, but I get super confused around 30-40 BB stacks.

Subscribed, GL.

Where do you live? What was your job?

CBorders I may answer those questions later, but for now I bask in slight anonymity I will say my job consisted mainly of working on a computer in my own lonely office, much of which time was spent browsing inferior forums to this one and lamenting that 2+2 was blocked.

Now we know why u had a six figure job..

First session report from yesterday (Sunday)!

Like I mentioned earlier I am planning to move soon. However, right now I can drive a little over an hour to reach a poker room with 1/2 blinds and the PokerPro electronic tables, I kind of hate them for multiple reasons- the main one being it makes it super easy for fish to betsize (pretty much everyone at least knows the "hey go somewhere between 1/2 pot and pot"), the second main reason being I find it harder to pay attention to hands because the screen is monotonous compared to someone physically tossing out chips. Buy in is max of 400 but most people only buy in for like 150 which makes me rage, but ah well.

First off, this session was ****ING FUN. If I wasn't actually technically a poker pro now, I would have not regretted this day at all if I lost 2 buy-ins. Room was pretty laid back with the floor hanging out at the tables and lots of banter. I understand that it may not always be this exciting on weekdays and such, but fortunately I like poker. Now, on to the actual poker:

We had guys calling with midpairs and all sorts of **** that made me go "what", so I played tight. A nice thing about the PokerPro tables is they track your "Flops Seen" and "Hands Raised" (funnily enough, there's no VPIP, and flops seen is tremendously inflated from my big blind thanks to all the limping). I think I was around 14% for both. QUESTION FOR READERS (QFR) 1: I would like to ask you guys that I'm unsure of: let's say there are 3 limpers and I'm on the button with something like AQo, and IN THEORY I can raise $13 and get 2 callers with the usual stuff or I can raise $15 and everyone will fold. Is a big hand postflop more than the +$9 EV of everyone folding?

Anyway, here's a few hands:

HAND 1: I raise with KK, some old guy who had been under my radar (inactive) flats preflop and near min-raises me IP on T74 board with a PSB behind if I call. I considered folding/calling/shoving all the be possibilities, but I opted to call here because I might have the best hand, and it was cheap. Turn is an A, check, check. River 7 (T74A7), I check he shoves, easy fold here I think- old nit guy always has a boat since I doubt he double barrels. Anyway, the interesting thing about this hand IMO is it made me realize something I never did in the past- the A actually helps me rule out Tx since he'd be scared of it and I highly doubt it helps him improve, whereas me from 2 years ago would probably have been like "gross, an A when I have KK, that sucks so much". So I guess I consider this a "cool Aesah, you are thinking more about poker now!"

HAND 2: I ran into a similar situation where I raised to 7x after a few limpers in the BB, then got near min-raised (different old guy) on a 26A board with AK, except I folded the flop. I find this scenario interesting in the sense of a "look how exploitable live players are" because I can happily fold the 2nd best hand in my entire range (behind AA).

HAND 3: My biggest hand of the day although it's not super-interesting was raising KK, getting called by a short stack, getting 3 bet by QQ from the blinds by an average young reg (understands position but probably loses money), flatting the 3 bet, short stack shoves because he'll have like a 1/3 pot size bet on the flop anyway, QQ calls, I shove over for 100 BB effective (and like 30BB from shorty), QQ calls again and I hold. Some guy commented that he was SHOCKED i didn't have AA, and I responded "close enough right?" And he was like ehhhhhhhhhhhhh... but man, I really can't imagine myself folding KK preflop. I suppose it will happen one day.

I played for about 4 hours before dinner break and was up about +$400 at the time and was feeling great.

When I got back there was this guy throwing out money, he lost like 5 100BB buyins in less than an hour calling river bets with middle pair- not even trying to hero, he was genuinely surprised every time someone had a better hand. Unfortunately this guy coolered (?) me twice and lost all of it to other players =( One was obvious cooler, the questionable cooler is posted below:

HAND 4: 47Jr board. I checked my big blind and led 10$ into 12$ with QJo, and 3 out of 5 of the other players called. Turn was a 6, and I'm thinking it's more likely someone picked up a combo draw with a 56 or something than the straight with a 58, so I bet 40$ into ~50$. 2 callers, river is a Q, I shove for $110 effective more or so into $170 (I have a big stack but no one else does). The crazy fish guy has 58. Dammit. QFR 2: River shove I'm fine with once I bink 2 pair, but what about preflop, flop, and turn play? Too aggressive for only TPGK?

HAND 5: Oh, another hand I lost to fish-guy. board J85ss, I have KJ (I think I raised preflop, can't remember), he check/calls flop, leads tiny into blank turn and I near min-raise (this is horrible I know ), and he leads for 70$ into 140$ on a spade river and I fold. I earlier folded against him on the river so I think that might have influenced it, afterwards though he said he had nothing and I was a bit tilted. It's hard for me to personally judge if this is results oriented thinking but damn that should have been a call against this guy I think. So actually even just writing this post made me realize that clearly I'm not remembering hands into the later hours of play as well as I remember hands at the start of my session, so I guess I was actually tired although I honestly felt totally fine at the tables. QFR 2: Is this a call or a fold versus some guy who I've seen lose several $200 pots with middle pair, or can it not be determined thanks to my failure to get better reads on his tendencies?

HAND 6: I left the table right after this hand ended. Bunch of limpers to me, I raise in the BB with AKo, two callers. Flop is 235, I make my standard ~75% cbet, 1 caller to the turn (some 30-ish guy that sat down fairly recently) with almost exactly a PSB behind. Turn is a J, I think about shoving really hard but end up checking because I think he'll call with like 88 and also, I don't know what else really. I think I was just playing bad. Anyway river was an 4, I'm like cool, except this guy has A6 and I lose my stack. QFR 4: Although I should have bet very slightly more on flop in retrospect, should I shove turn now?

QFR 5: Anything standing out about my poker play that needs major work? I feel like writing this made me realize I need to pay more attention to tendencies- for example I'm unsure if crazy fish guy was betting out with middle pair or if he was check/calling.

I ended up +$102 in about 10 hours of play (6 hours and -$300 after dinner break), which I am slightly unhappy about but not bad at all! Still have high spirits and actually really appreciate the encouraging words posted here, they really do help! By the way I am 23 years old. Also if there's anything that was boring/should not be written about, or anything that I should write more about ALL FEEDBACK is appreciated, thanks for reading!

hahaha =)

Actually I met her after I started work and dated her for 1 year (the 2nd out of the 3 years of my job), HOWEVER I am not ashamed to admit that I got my job through my mother's connections. I'm kind of surprised I haven't had to say "no" to any "pics" posts yet. This is a nicer place to hang out than BBV4L apparently.

Wow...usually I am all about being passionate and going after your dream ie. quitting your job to play poker if the circumstances are right but jeez man....you are 23 and had a 6 figure job since you were 20 and you left to try and grind for maybe 30k a year. (that's if you sustain 15 / hr over 40 per week....sorry to say...but bad life decision there my man....anyway GL

I'm going to quit SOMETIME unless I want to spend like the majority of my waking hours doing something I don't like for the rest of my life, why not now.

That , wish i could (and probebly many more people) do that but u nailed it, if you can try it and afford it , go for it or u'll regret it behind the desk in your office for the rest of your life , that u didn't even try..
Goodluck

What were your results here? On and off in this thread you seem like your unsure if you can beat LLSNL.

Wish you the best, this can be a great thread.

This sounds like the worst idea ever and thats coming from someone that has had to frequent casinos a lot due to BF. Regardless hope all the best for you.

"I can happily fold the 2nd best hand in my entire range (behind AA)"....i can't comprehend this...not saying i'm right - just chatting.

Prelop: we raise to 14 with AK and get called
Flop ($35ish?): 2 6 A. Bet (25ish)....min-raised to 50?

you folded and stated "look how exploitable live players are".....does this mean you put him on a set?

i just think it's way too early to fold. i have to call and then check the turn to him. inexperinced players raise to "see where they're at" - can't he have AX,Second Pair (i.e. JJ), middle pair (67s) etc?

Clearly he intends to work on his game, move up in stakes, and get out of poker when the opportunity or necessity arises. He's 23, it's not like he'll never be able to get a good job again.

I'm 23 and earlier this year quit a job that paid about half of what you make. I certainly miss the nearly guaranteed paycheck every two weeks, not paying for insurance, and having a lot of different social interactions during the day but there were a lot of downsides, and the money wasn't worth dreading every morning, trudging into the office and counting down the hours. I'm not sure if your idea of playing low sakes live poker is a good idea, but leaving behind your old, safe/normal life can be a great catalyst for change if that's what you're after.

U cant say its a bad decission mate if it makes him happy to play poker and get his 15$ hourly then he is sucssesfull and is doing what most of the people in our world dont do work a job wich makes him happy.

I think he was referring to himself