I'm well on my way to making a major lifestyle change in the next month or so and I wanted to run my decision by the bright and analytical people here and see if there are any points I'm not considering. I haven't posted much on these forums but I'm a long time lurker and 2plus2 was definitely instrumental in the early days of my poker education. I decided recently to essentially take a year long sabbatical to travel the southwestern US in an RV and play poker.

I'll give a little background on my poker experience to this point so you can understand my situation. I started playing single table SnGs shortly after the poker boom, then switched to online and live cash games. I was a student at the time and couldn't put in too many hours but I was always a winning player and managed to cover some of my tuition costs with poker. I didn't track winnings closely enough to have stats to share since poker was just supplemental income but I can state confidently that I've been a winner at all the stakes I've played up to 3/6 NL online. Then when I started working after school I more or less gave up the game because the money was trivial at that point and my social activities became a more important way to utilize my free time.

Fast forward to last year when I was laid off from the startup I worked for. At that point I decided to become self employed rather than be thrown back into the corporate world that I'd grown very tired of. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy that either and decided to give it up a couple months ago. I applied for a few jobs but I just couldn't seem to get motivated to go back into a corporate environment and chase the carrot again. It just seemed like a monotonous and soul crushing lifestyle. At about that time I started playing live 1/3 NL somewhat consistently again and I really enjoyed it. I was rusty at first but I'm regaining my feel for the game now and I'm much more confident in my decision making. I just started tracking stats (only 50 hrs so this means nothing really) and due to a pretty nice heater my win rate is ~18bb/hr. I'm certain that isn't even close to sustainable but I do believe that I'm a winning player at these stakes right now and will be able to consistently beat the game for 5-10bb/hr. I also enjoy studying the game again and I feel motivated to continue developing my skills to move up in stakes, which I've never really done before since I'm a complete and utter bankroll nit.

I think I'll be able to support myself from poker winnings alone fairly easily at the stakes I'm playing now though, especially considering how modestly I plan to live. I'm single with no kids or mortgage and I'm in my early 30s. I don't drink and I've gotten extremely bored with night life so I don't have too many entertainment expenses. Most of my fun these days comes from hanging out with a few close friends, reading, and playing cards. Finances shouldn't be a problem even if I don't sustain the win rate I expect though. I've already paid cash for a truck and trailer and I'll still have several years worth of modest living expenses saved outside of my 30 BI poker bankroll. By living in an RV, I'll also be able to avoid paying rent which is my heaviest financial burden now. A lot of smaller Indian Casinos in the southwest offer free RV dry camping as long as you're gaming and I plan to utilize them frequently. I'll also spend some time at state parks, parking on the property of friends and family, or boondocking on BLM land when I want to get away for a while. If I find somewhere I like, maybe I'll stay for a month or more in an RV park, but that expense will still be far less than my rent now. Once summer comes next year I'll plan to head north again and reassess what I want to do with my life. Maybe my regained passion for the game and enough free time to put in serious hours will allow me to build a bigger roll and finally move up in stakes or maybe the nomadic lifestyle will make me yearn for a home that's always in the same place and a daily commute to the office again. I honestly don't know what the future holds but I do know that this idea is one of the only options available to me right now that I'm genuinely excited about. I'm not claiming to be "going pro" or "rolling up a stake and heading to Vegas" or anything like that. In fact, I honestly don't even think I could stay motivated to play fulltime for multiple years. I'm sure I'd tire of the game and want to do something else. I really just want to see how far I can take my poker game if I take it seriously and the opportunity to travel cheaply and see more of my country right now sounds incredibly exciting!

So, any advice for me as I make preparations? Am I completely insane to do something like this? Perhaps someone has advice for places to visit or avoid as I make my journey?

Good luck, sounds like this will be a great read

I hope you will keep posting after you hit the road. Gl!

could be start of something epic.

Or something horribly disastreous, but I guess you'll handle this

GL!

Ha! I figure my experience will land anywhere on the spectrum from utterly epic to completely disastrous! My fear is that it's right in the middle. "How was your yearlong poker journey?" "Meh." At least disastrous would be a story!

I don't see how any major disaster could occur though, outside of a car accident or robbery or something else random that could always happen. From a poker standpoint, as long as I use good bankroll management I'll be fine. If I lose all of a 30 BI roll at 1/3 it definitely wouldn't be ideal, but at least I'll be able to say for sure that my game is horrible and know I should quit. The main blow would be to my ego since I consider myself a winning player, but like I said, I'll still have living expenses for several years and I can always take odd jobs on the road if I'm losing or just not enjoying poker. If I do end up with a bit less in the bank after a year though, it won't be too big of a deal.

Any other disasters in mind that I'm not considering? That's one of the reasons I posted here. I'm hoping you guys can alerts me if there's a huge concern that I don't realize could happen.

Thanks for the well-wishes, vladislavius and alexrjl! I'm definitely planning to write some kind of travel blog. I always considered stuff like that to be a bit self aggrandizing but a few friends have asked for something similar and I'm happy to oblige if it'll entertain them. I can definitely post it here too if people are interested.

Sounds like a interesting idea. You seem to have a good grasp on what you are getting into. 5-10bb/hr is a pretty good estimate for a reasonably skilled nl player.

Talking Stick Resort is a great hidden gem in Scottsdale. The scenery is beautiful all over the S/W, Zion and Sedona are great parks.

Glad to hear someone say they think I have a grasp on things. I sure hope I know what I'm getting myself into!

Thanks much for the Talking Stick recommendation. That's exactly the type of information I'm looking for. Says online they offer 3-day free RV parking so I'll check it out for sure!