Hi all, long post so sorry if I make your eyes bleed but I’m going to provide as much info as I can to get the best feedback. Be honest, brutal, critical, whatever! It all helps!
So basically I am looking to have a crack at playing poker more or less full time however my current situation limits that.
I live in Australia where online poker doesn’t exist anymore and unless I relocate to one of the two major cities i.e Sydney or Melbourne then my live poker options won’t be there either.
So myself and two others have decided to go on an adventure overseas to maximise our opportunity on this whilst doing some travel along the side.
The plan is to leave in sept/oct 2019 and head for Canada. The goal in Canada is to work a ski season with the focus on mainly playing micro MTTs($1-$10) games on sites like party and stars to try and either get a few cash’s or satellite into some major events that are held in Vancouver, Calgary Toronto etc and travel for those. The focus would be to snowboard during the day, work enough to pay rent and basic living expenses with the focus at night on grinding online.
This season would last from roughly sept/oct until April/May 2020 where we will head down to Vegas for the WSOP for 4 months and play mainly 1-2 live cash and again having a crack at some tournaments that our bankroll affords.. if things go sour we would head back to Canada for a second season and try that process again.
If things go well we would like to move to London to play 1/2 live full time and play online MTTs looking for local satellites etc.
I have run some brief numbers and understand that the COL is highest in London however the scene is very well established there and having access to Europe is also something that’s appealing to tick travel goals. The other benefit to London is that I can work in my field( health practitioner) for 3 days per week to help stay afloat with focus on playing poker from Thursday-Sunday. Perhaps it could be a matter of Vegas during summer WSOP and London for the other 8 months of the year, I am not sure what’s best ?
Finances:
Live: 10k in local currency = 50 buyins at 1/2
Online: 1k in local currency = 100buyins at $10 tourney
Living expenses: 25k in local currency or around 6-12 months of expenses
Winrate: I am currently playing on average 8-10 hours per week generally on 1 sometimes 2 nights per week at a home game ( my local casino only offers 2/5+) however I have played 2/3, 2/4 and 2/5 sometimes especially when my BR is above 7-8k I occasionally have a shot. I have tracked my data since March 2018 where I started with a $2800 BR and have built it up to roughly $10,500. My tracker is probly not 100% admittedly as I was playing various stakes but overall after 421 hours I am winning $20.51/hour, cashed 44/81 (54%). Happy to send exact sessions, cash game reports per month etc for those that are interested. Just privately message me and I’ll send them through. My winrate is not far behind what I make in my normal job anyway and I would consider myself a live below my means person (I.e hate spending $3 on an avocado but don’t mind sitting down with 200bb in a 1/2 game 😬
I am aware that a bigger sample size (1000+ hours) would be ideal however this is all I have so far. I had experience playing 2 weeks of 40 hour weeks over Christmas/ new year period in a 2/3 game in Sydney and LOVED the grind. It was an excellent taste of what it could potentially be.
I am a serious recreational player who studies every week using flopzilla, hold eq and combonator , hand reviews from alternative sources and am a member in a training site for further content/material sources. I understand the priority of the “backend” of things like studying, mental game, physical health, routine etc etc.
When this (not if but when) goes ahead I will be sure to update my progress along the way and even record on my experience and opinion on the whole lot for others in a similar situation.
I appreciate the time and effort taken to read this and would highly value any feedback on either living in those countries, logistics, finances, poker itself, things to look out for, do’s and don’ts etc.