Just ride high up to nosebleed no limit, replenish bankroll everytime you stumble along the way.

I agree that since the poker boom happened, there are a lot of young guys who think poker is a fast road to riches. To anyone getting into poker solely to get rich, I would say think again. I turned pro before the boom, and like many ppl in those days, my reasons for getting into poker were quite different - mainly that I loved the game and the freedom that playing for a living gave me, and hated working a 9-5, getting up early, commuting to work and having a boss to answer to.

I think it's very important to know which camp you fall into. And also, while a degree is certainly good, it is not the be-all-and-end-all. I have a good degree from a good university, but while I did several interesting jobs in the years after graduation, none were very high-paying. A degree doesn't automatically equal (at least here in Europe) some fabulous $100k+ a year job.

If you are thinking about going pro, ask yourself these questions:

1) Am I a winning player?
2) Do I have several months outgoings saved up?
3) If I only earned, say, $40k in my first year, would I think "This sucks, I'm going to get a real job" or "I don't mind at all that I didn't earn that much, because I'm doing something I love for a living". If it's the latter, then go for it. You have nothing to lose but your marbles

So you'd only quit your job to play poker if you made $6,000,000+ a year? gtfo

I haven't read the replies yet but this would be a good post for psychology. Hopefully you'll get some good replies, though NVG has been pretty BBV lately.

Im 27 and been a "pro" for about a year, but before I quit my job I had been a consistent winning player for over a year, and was playing a ton already.

When I tell people what i do for a living they look at me like I have 4 heads, seriously. I'm a CPA and its something I could go back to in a second If I had to, but I have no real desire to. Even with the games getting tougher over the last year, there is still ALOT of money to be made.

my advice to you is to get alot better before you do this, when you feel you are in the top 5%, and crushing daily then quit yr job.

gl

i love it when people talk about the freedom poker gives u. the "easy" money.

did anyone ever mention u have to "win" first to have freedom?

easy money? i been a pro for over 3 years. its never been "easy". i see people winning easily but i know they cant win in the long run playing like that.

i struggled for the first few years and then broke through and was comfortable for a while and then hit a 6 month bad streak that i am still on. i have dropped down in levels through this slide and now i'm down to the embarrasing levels and almost broke.

i'm not going to quit till i reach my goals. if i have to, i'll get a job and play cards till i break through again. its an absolute friggin nightmare fellas.

if anyone wants to go pro, go for it but dont buy into this crap about it being easy. its not easy. its not even close to being easy. u have to win more than u lose, pay bills and still survive variance, tilt and people sucking out on u.

i havent met one person who says they r a loser in the long run in poker which means 95% of people r liars. only 5% make a living. i am not happy about almost being busto but i have tried my best and i'm proud that i survived for 3 years without working. its an accomplishment considering its only a 5% window of success.........but yet, almost busto.

hope this helps anyone thats thinking about going pro. goodluck and have fun yet be ready for the possible nightmare ride as well. nothing comes easy in life.

The worst part about driving bus is avoiding all the former pro poker players trying to jump in front of you.

great post paul

Keep in mind, most of the people who scoff at how easy it is either A.) grossly exaggerate their success, B.) are running really, really hot right now. But don't tell the 19 year olds who could outplay the world that.

amen brother

you must suck

LOL

well, if u can help me improve my game, i'm all ears. private message me any time.

sbrugby has lost 3 million........ i personally know for a fact that phil ivey has went bust years ago and had to borrow to restart. they must suck too i guess.

anyone who would step on someone while they are down is obviously someone who has never attempted or succeeded at a tough endeavor such as trying to make a living from poker. when you acuse someone of sucking, all yur doing is holding yourself back and giving everyone else a good "read" on your personal success which obviously is not very good. if you were, you wouldnt put someone down because you too would understand and "fear" the struggle involved in grinding for a living.

if someone has been a winner at this game for at least 2 years, then they would understand how incredibly difficult it is to make a living at it. sorry, but 6 months or a year of success is not enough in my opinion.

success stories and quick epic rises to the top such as sbrugby is very far and few between.

this thread was intented to make a decision about keeping the day job or going for it. i threw in my 2 cents to help out because i been there and doing it and i'm almost broke. this is one of the possibilities of "going for it" and its one of the possible outcomes for anyone that trys. am i going to quit? hell no. has it been worth it? hell yes. life is not worth living unless there is some sort of struggle. i will eventually come out on top and even though i wish it would come easy, coming out on top through struggle is twice as sweet.

i say GO FOR IT for anyone that wants to try. good luck and play yur best.

anyone with a link to the Dynasty thread?
ty ty

It shouldn't amaze me how little "pros" understand about being a pro, or how easily people are deluded by small sample sizes into thinking they can be a pro. Or by large sample sizes, for that matter. If millions of people have taken up poker in the past years, thousands have had luck in the top 1 percentile, and it's impossible to convince them they've just been lucky for years.

There is, essentially, no point in thinking in terms of running bad or running good. There's only play.

I've had no job except poker since 1987, and have never gone broke. I've stepped down a few times. And stepping down is a rite of passage for a pro. In fact, you aren't even a real pro, to me, until you've done that and bounced back up. Because if you can't, emotionally, handle stepping down, then you're just a goof who gambles for fun, and if you can't step down and rebuild and bounce back, then you don't have the skills. Also, at least half of what you'll ever learn about the game will come while "running bad."

Almost everyone who fails at playing poker for a living fails because they aren't good enough. Almost every single one of them. Yet, almost every single one of them gives something else as an excuse for failure. Outside expenses; pit games; burnout. The latter is the real BS. Burnout in this business = tired of playing and not winning.

As far as I'm concerned, poker is a fantastic second source of income but a rather horrible primary source of income. That doesn't mean it CAN'T be a source of primary income. It just means that, in terms of respecting the laws of diminishing returns, you have to overcome a HUGE spike to "make it" with your poker winnings.

One thing which I haven't seen mentioned in this thread but should be discussed is that, just as you can have poker as a secondary income to a primary job, there is nothing to stop you from having a little job on the side to help you with the poker. Something you might do when the poker games are especially tight and you wouldn't really want to play in them as much anyways.

And if you're worried about the resume gap, start your own business in something that you like. If you say you took 6 years off to play poker, you may be sunk before you start. If you say you took 6 years off work (true) and started your own business (also true) and wanted to get a day job back because you couldn't make it work (exceedingly true)... well, I wouldn't call that "telling the truth", but I'd call that "not telling a lie", which is all you need for a job interview at any rate.

And this cannot be stressed enough -- sock away a few ruples for expenses. If you have six months of living expenses saved up, not only does this reduce pressure, this will give you a chance to see if things are starting to fall apart with more notice than waking up one morning and noticing your are broke. That is, if you see your 6 month expenses dwindle to 4 months, then to two months, etc., then you know that you aren't makin' the bacon fast enough.

If nothing else, make sure that you will still find value in failure. If you can honestly see yourself saying "you know what? It was a great experience, and the worst that happened in my life is that I lost $50k in savings", then by all means, at least give it a shot.

As of now I won't even consider getting a job. I have a masters in a technical field from a good school but I could only make half of what I make now working and that is if I get a really good finance job which are not super easy to land.

I do worry that I am being shortsighted however, and money is not THAT important to me. I do really like the freedom of poker. Getting a job down the road after a few years with 6 to 7 figure savings dosen't seem that bad if I get burned out.

i cant believe this thread hasnt been derailed in this forum.

Depends on several factors
your age
your financial situation(debt/school loans/overhead/etc)
your skill level and monthly earn playing poker
and the type of job you could have in place of poker

I'm slowly getting closer and closer to my 30s and have a fulltime job that pays in th 30s...if I could be a solid 200NL or high buy-in sit n go player of course I would do it...but I doubt I'd enjoy it that much.

It would afford me the ability to not work M-F 9am to 7pm and to move out of a city I hate and quit a job that overall is really lame, but I don't feel confident in the overall online poker world's future or in my ability to regularly beat those stakes in order to wager my entire future on it...especially when you consider having kids, a mortgage, a family down the road etc.

Now if I was playing and beating NL1000 or higher, 10/20, 20/40 limit or regularly beating high buy-in sit n gos and MTTS then thats a whole nother situation.

So basically if your young and the job you would have doesn't pay that well then go for it. But if your a bit older and or the job you would have pays 50K or higher...don't quit and just play on the side to pad your bank account and buy overpriced hookers.

To overcome the resume problem simply have a 1 or 2 day a week internship at something your interested in.

Dude you have ONE POST in the strategy forums. Since 2004. Why do you think all those guys making tons of money have like 3k posts? They weren't all in BBV.

Success doesn't fall out of the sky. You have to earn it.

ok, next time before i go all in, i'll ask the villan how many posts he has on 2+2. so, is it like dungeons and dragons? the more posts.......the more health points u have?

thanks for the info.

bad streaks dont exist, only bad play, yet someone can be lucky for years............ok

You could have used the strategy forums to get better by participating. You chose not too. Now you whine about how hard poker is while also whining that the people who put a ton of effort into improving their game are just running hot or lying. Grow the [censored] up.

Also you appear not to understand basic logic.

didnt someone say on another thread for you to stop posting? i can see your well liked. i wonder why?

Try to understand this: it doesn't matter if you're running bad or good, only how well you're playing. That's not the same thing as saying bad or good runs don't exist.