I was making a general response, not just to this guy in particular

Dude, based on your posts, you are in no way ready to play for a living. There are two problems (major + several smaller): 1) you don't have the roll and 2) you are not a winning player yet.

I don't say that to be mean; it's just the truth. Most of the posts you start are asking the most very basic poker strat questions that no professional would ever need to ask. I mean, did you really just ask if a professional poker player tries to find out who the sharks and fish are? Really...??

Also, ABC doesn't get it done for a living. ABC limits won't subsidize a livable income for a poker player in many cases.

Yes, grinding after work and on weekends is a pain in the ass, but I left my job when I was making far more than what my job was paying. In other words, I couldn't afford to keep my job any longer. Any other reason to ditch your job is probably foolish. Keep playing poker; keep working hard on your game, and when the moment is right, you WILL know.

Hi guys, was giving some thought of multitabling micros stakes NL10-NL25 6max cash games for a living. Can some experienced or current grinders give some insight of the average monthly income of doing so? Just so to manage expectation and whether to do it.

How much do you win playing your planned number of tables now? Care to share a graph with 100K+ hands?

BUT





IamPro

This sounds dick, but it's true: if you have to ask, you're not ready.

The best way to begin playing for a living is to be making enough from poker to already be earning enough to do it for a living even if you didn't have your job. Once you can do that for at least 6 months, then you can consider ditching your job.

I can't see you getting much above $10/hour at 25NL if you are beating it very solidly.

Always fun to **** around with and dream about what you can make as a pro

I want to make $1.000.000 with poker, how am I going to acomplish that?

Let's just say you are going to play pro for 5 years. You will need to make $200.000 a year

$200,000 / 52 weeks = $3,846 a week
$3,846 / 5 days = $769 a day
$769 / 6 hours = $128 / hour

Online Cash Game 6max:
Now we are going to asume you can play 12 tables at the same time with a winrate of 4bb/100 hands. That means you win 48 bb's per hour. You will need $2,67 in big blinds, so you have to play a mixture of 200NL and 400NL.

Live poker
It's almost impossible to get this hourly wage at live tables, even if you have 3 times the winrate compared to online, you still have to make up for the 11 other tables you aren't playing, unless you're playing really high stakes

Online 9-man SnG's:
From the STT forum I found these Attainable ROI numbers:

Stars 9 Man Turbo
$3.40s - 14%
$6s - 11%
$16s - 8%
$27s - 6%
$38s - 5%
$60s - 4%
$114s - 3%
$225s - 2%
$335s+ - 1%

SnG's are more easy to multi table, I think 24 tabling is a must. There is no "attainable ROI" were you reach the $128 / hour.

If you play 60s, you can earn $57 per hour which is still really nice.

I have no idea about HU, HUSNG's and MTT's

even with heavy table selection?

How much is your heavy table selection earning you now?

How many tables?

The math is very simple - Scroll upthread or read the FAQ.

Frankly, if you can't or haven't crunched the numbers it's already a lost cause. Having to ask these questions makes absolutely no sense. It's like, "I'm going to be an NFL quarterback. Someone please remind me how many points you get for a home run?"

Hey guys, i'm going to try and keep this as short and concise as possible. I am going to give you some background in order to form a context. I would really appreciate if an experienced player would take 2 minutes of his time and give me some sincere advice.

I've discovered poker aprox. 2 years ago, and been playing seriously for the past half a year. I've improved a lot in this time frame, but i still have some leaks that prevented me from advancing to higher stakes. I really love poker, and i'll tell you why. It gave me a sense of purpose and direction, and also some hope for making more money. I'm from Romania, in here the average salary for a college graduate with some years of experience is barely over 600$/month. With no college degree, you're looking at 300$ if you're lucky. For some reason, even doctors make 250$/month starting salary - that's why they live off the tips, you can't get non-private medical care in here if you don't tip. As you can see, in this context, grinding even 50NL for a living can actually give you a pretty comfortable living in Romania, and you get the advantage of having no boss and flexibility.

But I'm becoming worried about the possibility of investing time in acquiring a skill that will soon(5 - 10 years) be obsolete. The economy is contracting, there's less fish everywhere, rake is huge at uNL, and there are regs everywhere. Games are getting tougher, and i'm questioning whether investing all this time into perfecting my game is a good investment.

Any input is appreciated, even if it is a link to a thread where this has been discussed before, i did search but couldn't find much.

As long as you are ALWAYS looking to improve your game and are a winning player then I see it as a good investment.

The day you stop learning is the day you start losing.

There will always be the 18-20 year olds who have played a few games and think they are a great poker player and there will always be the casual players who like to have a bit of a gamble at the larger stakes.

Just work on your game selection and keep finding that thin value edge. Consider a poker coach from these forums (make sure you research the coach and ask for references to ensure they are good at teaching. A graph showing them as a good player does not mean they are a good coach! Playing the game and teaching the game are two different things).

better to invest your time on perfecting your lovemaking, the learning process itself is more fulfilling, the player pool will never dry up (though you may), and if you're willing to put in the work no one else is willing to you'll always be able to make a living from it

That's funny, i'll give you an 8/10, it got me a little mad, especially the 'dry up' part because it makes no sense but still feels like an insult, when i was just asking for advice. Go be an ******* somewhere else. I bet you view yourself as a bigshot.

OP it'll definitely help not having to make $,000s per month just to survive, but the same advice goes for you as every other 'I wanna go pro' thread.

Make sure you're a proven winner consistently making the amount you want each month.

Have a large enough roll to handle the inevitable downswing

Have a large enough life roll behind you to cope for all eventualities

Make yourself some sensible rules on how you're gonna pay yourself, ie will u only ever play 50nl or will you look to move up?

What will you do if it doesn't work out? Have u got family/friends that can support you if u can't play?

There's nothing stopping you, just be sensible about it, treat it like any business and have a business plan, and go from there

Good luck

and now on a serious note, tilt control might be the biggest hurdle between you and your dream of making a living as a professional not the future of the game

the game as a profession offers nearly perpetual frustrations if those are the aspects you choose to focus on especially if youre trying to pay bills and save for your future and variance isnt cooperating, sometimes for painfully long stretches

You're asking us to predict the future 5 or 10 years out. Nobody can do that.

If you think poker is a waste of time, don't play. If you think the skills you learn at poker are not transferable or there are no other opportunities that flow from it, move on.

Nobody can tell you where the game will be in 10 years. Maybe there will be a global shift to puritanism and/or austerity and gambling will hold a huge stigma. Maybe the US market will open up and HBO will start an amazing TV series about poker and we'll be in the middle of a huge boom. More likely something in between. Who can say?

Thanks for the tips, especially the comparison with having a business, i think it's a good analogy

Thanks, i am aware of how hard it is to control tilt, just recently i've lost a big chunk of my roll spewing after a losing session, i'm reading The Mental Game of Poker, i think it's gonna help

Thank you for your input

Hi every1! What do u guys think? Its $10k enough to pursue a Poker career? To do that i would have to abandon important things in my life, such as my family trust and their confidence, and do this on my own.. In other words, im risking all to do What i am passionate about.. Is it worth it? Pls advise!! I appreciate your kind words and comments..

Thanks so much!

Since you have to ask, no.

Just trying to help.

Welcome to the Forums.

Not nearly enough information to answer the question, which generally means this is a terrible idea. People who are ready to go pro don't need to ask this question, and those who do are generally asking if there's anything they've overlooked and confirmation they're on the right track. And they know how to ask those questions.

What is your current hourly earn rate?
Over what sample size?
What are your expenses?
What are you giving up, exactly (income, future income and everything else)?

Such a blank question. Depens on a lot of factors. Costs of living in for instance Germany or Thailand are very different.

Basicly what DD said, when you ask how much you need you're not yet capable of being succesfull in poker. I'm not here to discourage you; you should def follow your dream and give it a shot.

You'll find out yourself when you're ready to go pro.

Don't even begin considering it unless you're comfortably beating 200NL online or borderline crushing 2/5 live unless you're willing to put in insane volume.