I'm currently a part time player...I suppose aka a "rec player." I've been wanting to play full time for a living for a long time, but was never in a position to do so previously. I feel like I'm at a place now, where I can really give it a shot. I have about $20,000 saved as a roll, with an additional 6-9 months' living expenses saved (assuming I were to move to LV, but the alternative would be even cheaper). I study daily via various books, as well as Doug Polk's site in the lab.
I currently live in Iowa, and the part of the state I plan to move to if I go that route, has 2 Harrah's (or Caesar's if you like) properties, and an Ameristar, and 3 other casinos within 2 hours' drive. I feel like there's a variety of "easy games" here.

So the question becomes, "Do I stay in Iowa, where I have a good number of soft seats? Or, move to Vegas, where there's 10 times the action or more and also have legal online play, but have to contend with a LOT of other regs/pros?"

Open to any/all serious advice/comments/suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Have you thought about Florida? I've been thinking of doing something similar. Not playing full time permanently, but for an extended period of time. I really don't have answer for you, but would also like to throw Florida into the mix and find out what people think about it being a semipermanent destination to play full time. I think I would enjoy the weather and landscape more than Vegas. I think the cost of living is less. I mainly like being close to the ocean to fish. And TST makes it sound like a pretty good place. I've never played poker there.

Hadn't considered it previously, but now that you mention it...I have an aunt and cousin there. Vegas was an obvious choice for obvious reasons and also, my brother lives there and my daughter is in L.A. (long story). Florida would probably still come in 3rd for me personally because of the added family reasons. Tho it definitely would be a place to visit and play!

Here is a recent thread that may help.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...er-us-1651635/

Good thread!

Still have the added factor of Nevada being one of only two states that have legal online play, but the live play does seem sub par from that thread. I've played in Vegas a few times in 2/5 and never noticed it being too bad, but it was always on a weekend and maybe as an everyday grinder, it would not be too great statistically.

Conversely at home, we have a lot of....."gamblers," which might sound great....But especially in the lower stakes, they just never fold, and you see a lot of players calling raises to see the flop. Especially if it's a "standard" raise (2.5-4x). A week ago, I'm in a 2-5 and get KsKd in the SB...three players try to limp....raise a little higher due to crap position? That's my thought....so I think, "25 or 30 should do it, right?" But then I think, "but we have gamblers here." So I'm like...yeah...we're going 40 for those added players to make it expensive if they wanna see the flop. Ok. So I STILL get 2 of three players calling, from early and MIDDLE....like seriously?? Flop comes J22..2 hearts...I C-bet cuz I'm not really afraid...so I make it 110 to go and get called by one and the other folds what I later found out was Q7os but he tanked quite awhile for folding such a crap hand and my question is why a player like that is even seated in this game but whatever. Turn comes Kh and I'm thinking that's my money card. I lead out for 260 and the guy raises to 530 (??...ok does he have a deuce? A Jack-deuce???). Whatever...I'm not folding a boat this deep. In fact, I hope he DOES have the flush, naturally. I ship it. He snap calls and turns over 4h-2d. I win of course. But this is only one scenario. He said he didn't "feel right" folding trips with a flush draw. I guess I can see some thin logic in his POST-FLOP play....But pre-flop??? You call 8x with 4-2 os PRE flop?? And this kind of crap happens all the time.
I know a lot of people would say, "You should be TICKLED that there are that many "fun" players around, just gambling." Sure. I am, a little bit.
But then you realize the real reason they're doing it. They have a pretty sizeable bad beat jackpot going currently and that's the norm. And these are the same guys you'll see over on the BJ tables, playing 50-75/hand on 2 hands. So, calling $40PFR they really don't bat an eye at it. Faulty logic if you ask me. And if one or two does it, that's not so much a problem to me...But the issue is that many times you see like 4-7 players all wanting to see flops and willing to pay to see...huge potential swings and even when you play tight aggressive, it's not too long before someone out-flops your premium hand with an absolutely abysmal starting hand.
So, nit pickers or gamblers?? LOL

If you do not know how to properly take advantage of players like that, you are not ready to go pro just yet. Sorry.

Are you taking about council bluffs? They've only got one poker room between those three casinos yeah? And as a former Omaha resident...I doubt your ability to find consistently profitable games there

Oh, I'm fully aware of how to....abuse them...And do so regularly. I just don't like the added odds/variance of enough players starting with absolute crap hands...I mean against one player...or two, you're the spot on favorite, right? But even with AA, against 3-5 others who refuse to fold until they've at least seen a flop? Odds go way down.
It's considerably lower EV.

And "ready" or not? Maybe not. But some things you don't learn by simply studying. You need field application. I'm betting it's different to play in random games a few times per week than it is to play every day for your rent, groceries, etc. Am I wrong in this?
Don't know how strong you are until you walk thru fire. I reckon if I find out is harder than I thought it'd be, I'll have to work harder, make adjustments and study my craft a little more. But that doesn't bother me any. It's only an investment of time. And it beats the Hell out of the 70 hrs/week I normally work, so if I'm not ready now, I'll have to get that way quick. Cuz ****'s about to get real. One way or another.

Yeah, I was thinking that initially, but after you said that, I vaguely remembered that there's just the one - tho it's pretty good sized. If you add in the tourneys they run almost daily, I think it's a decent amount of action...But you're right in that it's much more limited than other spots.
I would probably hit up my home town casino regularly as well, tho...Prairie Meadows has quite a lot of regular games...but also a number of regs...a lot more than most would think.
Florida is looking better and better haha!
But there's so damn many people there it's disgusting. SoCal would be an option, number of people be damned, because my youngest is there...But it's SO bleeping expensive there!! A crappy 2 br apt is like ~$1500/month in a very sub par neighborhood...1 br for 9-12....that's insane for doing what might be considered an "experiment!" LOL 😆

One thing I always use when traveling for an extended amount of time is Airbnb. You can usually get a very decent place for pretty cheap if you make a deal with the owner outside of airbnb. Stay there a night or two, and if you like it then ask for a monthly rate. I've had a lot of success doing that. One time I had the upstairs half of a 4br house to myself for around year in Houston, in a very nice neighborhood for only $500/month, utilities and all. A lot of those guys would love to have their place rented out long term to someone they already somewhat know. Haven't used it in Florida but I imagine there are a ton of places. And if you stay permanently and want your own place, you have more time to get to know the area and find a place you like.

I would say choose another venue besides the two, Council Bluffs action is ok, but rake is insanely high, and a pretty good reg 2/5 crew, which is basically a 5-10 game and the 1/3 is generally a short stack fest with even higher rake than the 2/5 because of the bonus jackpot. In Vegas the saturation of pros is already in full affect, imagine the same for California too.

This isn't a strategy forum, but above post pretty clearly indicates you're not "ready".
You didn't ask if we thought you were, but I would suggest reading some of the other threads on this topic to give you some idea of how to judge this.
But if you're committed to playing fulltime, I think you should stay in Iowa until you build up a much bigger bankroll and base of experience.

Awesome idea! I've never used Airbnb...guess i always thought they were more for like a night-two week vacation sorta thing. Had never considered before. Thanks!

Is seeming more that way the more I hear...Vegas is like hardcore work against a lot of regs and California is as bad or worse from what I've seen personally.
And you're probably right that Iowa might not have enough good action. Prob the same in Chi town. Gonna need to test thoroughly. Which might require travel and more expense...which is where that Airbnb idea might come in really handy lol!

You might be exactly right on the readiness front. I honestly don't even know myself. But this is what I figure: continuing to do as I have been might lead me down a variety of paths, but my guess is that none of those are going to tell me whether I'm actually ready or not. I could continue as a weekend/few days a week PT player but that's not really the same as going all in, is it?

I could wait and, as you say, build up a much bigger roll....not a bad plan either...I mean is relatively more "safe" at least. But I'm not looking for safety at this point. I'm looking for ways to identify the cracks in my game and how to remedy them in an expedient fashion.
I've never worried about losing before because I always knew I could fall back on either what I have left in my roll, or in the few cases I actually went bust, just go back to work.
When playing full time for a living, you don't really have that option. I would imagine it changes your outlook on things. Your perception of your corner of the world.
That'll never come if I continue on, status quo.

See, I'm looking to at some point, get away from working the enormously stressful job I currently work. It's not a safe job, nor healthy, and is a lot more hrs than I'd like. But it pays.
I'm aware that what I'm considering might very well be paying less...to far less. I might go broke even. I don't know if that's the case or not right now tho. Currently, I win around 60% of the time. But my play time isn't a good sample size. Rec play isn't a good litmus test for pro play.

So, probably this is...as stated before, an experiment. But I gotta take a shot at it.
"If you want something you've never had, you'll need to do something you've never done." -Jefferson

If $1500 is SO bleeping expensive you better not consider South Florida!!!

It's not that it's THAT expensive in the grand scheme...it's about when you consider what you're GETTING for $1500...crappy neighborhood and run down 2 bed, 1 bath in a "gated" community....no, not what you typically think when you think of gated...gated, as in, if you didn't HAVE the gate/fence around your place to park, you'd wake up to find your car is either missing completely or else just missing most of its parts. And then you consider that some of the alternatives would be 500-600/month cheaper, and in much better neighborhoods with far less traffic/population density...well...it starts to come into play when you're considering where you might want to start a...career at best, extended vacation maybe? "Occupational experiment" at worst?
And as for South Florida, I would probably think more like...Central Florida with random trips to Hollywood/Miami Beach, etc...living in that part...even if cost weren't a factor...just wouldn't interest me in the least.

You think the cost of living is lower in Florida than Vegas? Better do some more research, Sir.

http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/

There and everywhere else I look FL does have a lower COL than NV. There are some places in FL where housing is more but most everything else is less.

Well...a few things...
#1 I was specifically referring to Cali being cheaper than Vegas and Iowa being cheaper than both of them in general.
#2 Certain places around Northeastern Florida are actually fairly cheap in a relative sense. DECENT neighborhoods around Daytona and Jacksonville are pretty close to the COL in West Des Moines or even cheaper in some cases (one of the more expensive areas in Iowa, due to Wells Fargo being the largest employer in the state and a crazy amount of other professionals - a lot of insurance and financial investment areas...if you thought it was all corn fields and pigs, that's pretty hilarious).
Tho, I don't know what the casino scene/poker scene is like in that area to be fair. Now, South Florida is definitely very expensive, but again, even if costs weren't an issue - I'd never wanna live there...North Florida is completely different.

Yeah I was talking about S. Florida which is where the largest selection of poker rooms is.

Of course. And that's completely logical - largest population is normally gonna mean the most action, which is probably why L.A. is as big or bigger than Vegas for poker in general, and possibly every bit as hard.
But there's other factors involved. It's not a vacuum.

Add COL into your EV equation and you get a lower number.
Not to mention traffic. I used to work in L.A., which is how I have a daughter there. I only had to be there a few days at a time, but it was more than enough for my tastes. South Florida isn't much better.
Granted, Iowa in particular...may have less games, but lower COL, far less traffic, and softer seats...plus, I'm thinking I might even be able to VPN-play online. Not sure on that as to how easy it is (not the VPN part - the banking part...transferring to offshore and back - usually it seems like it's always been easy to get them to take your money, but significantly more difficult to get it back due to being across the pond or the globe).

Not sure why you would VPN, at least not on Stars. There are options for U.S. players and imagine most are softer than the VPN options. In Iowa I doubt there is enough games for you 1/3 isn't enough to sustain a decent income and 7 dollar rake to at least at Horseshoe, I doubt many are beating that. 2/5 is definitely beatable, but it's a 5-10 game with some very good players. No idea about Des Moines, or other areas in Iowa, but imagine less games.

Not sure what "options" you're referring to, but as far as I'm aware, you need to physically BE in the states of either NJ, Nevada or Delaware to play. If there's some way around that that I'm obviously not aware of, please feel free to share! LOL

Well, after a bit of research, VPN is out basically anyway. 888 for sure has a VPN detection and not sure about the others but it seems like they might, they just don't come out and say it.
Not that I was planning on making that a huge part of my game - I wasn't. Just seemed like a filler option possibly.

I've also been wondering if East Coast....might be an doable...dunno how much action is really in AC, but if one lived reasonably close...And then Parx, MGM Natl Harbor and several others would be not terribly far to visit, plus NJ DOES have legal online play.

Just adding to the roll till I get it figured I reckon.