Because play money is different than real money, duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh. When i'm bored i go to play money and just shove my chips in with anything because it's worthless and there are idiots who actually buy this money.

fact 1: you started playing poker because Athene (THE BEST PALADIN IN THE WORLD) decided to leave wow and play poker.

fact 2: you're bursting with teenage hormones like we all used to thinking you're Mr. KnowItAll and that you are able to do pretty much anything.

fact 3: poker is NOT something you can learn easily and just by reading a book. if you started reading any books already and you only have facebook poker experience there is not a single thing you are going to understand in there.

go to college, pick up poker as your hobby taking up your free time and see where you go. poker is not "a couple of mistakes that can be easily avoided", try some real money poker and let us know when your AA or KK get cracked by a fish who pushed you all-in with 48 and hit his runner runner flush OR made his trips on the river. if you still LOVE poker after that and want to make a living off it knowing that it's something you're gonna have to start to like then it might be the challenge for you.

Anything's possible! Anything!...

But I see the flame has already started...

so if you can do it everyone can do it....

bitchibee you know I respect your posting, but I'm sorry this is rlly far fetched.

FFS guys stop lying to him.
Mate , its tottaly possible to learn poker within 1-3 months and then be able to grind for living!
Many people did it ,but it would take you alot of starting capital.
So gather all the money you can , deposit them online and start grinding micro-low stakes.I will be waiting for you on the hu tables.

OP have you ever played live poker at a casino? Usually live games are much easier to beat than online. Online poker is pretty tough right now. I think it's fine that you want to give poker a shot as a career, just don't quit your job until you are 100% sure that you can support yourself playing poker. Bad luck can go on for longer than you can imagine, you need to get a lot of experience before you become comfortable with the downswings.
Good luck

IMHO, if you have to ask you can't.

Go get a job and play poker on the side. Once you get to 100-200NL consider "going pro".

The big problem is probably that if you cannot stand boredom and doing something all day long, you will have a problem with playing poker all day.

There are disadvantages to playing poker for a living. Income isn't guaranteed, you could have a losing month which requires you to have enough financial reserve in the bank to live. Getting loans or insurance is hard if you have no 'legal' source of income. You'll be sitting at home all day every day and never get to meet anyone at all.

Ideally you'd learn poker, get an education and a job. If you can play decent poker it would be possible to earn a salary from the job, play a few hours every evening and double your income with poker. That way you can live a life of luxury, don't have to play if you don't feel like it.

Or do it like me, practise hard, aim to win a big tourney... I actually never thought of going pro playin poker... it's kinda same as any job, you do have to do your part to pay bills... that's why I got a job, and I'm keeping it, until I make that shot at the stars and win big... When I do, I'll quit all this **** and for once have a real life.

Working is for tractors. It also kills your soul. At 19 you can afford to waste 1 year of your life if you get some kind of financial backup.
Go for it op. I switched from WoW to Poker and it's like ganking lowbies in STV once you get the hang off it . RNG sucks more here though.

On the more serious part go get enough playchips to get into those 500.000 playchips buyin once a day tourneys at FTP . it's about 2-3$ per 20 spots or so and usually about 30-40 ppl joining them. It's a good challenge I think at your current stage. It shows how easily you can go bust if you don't respect your BRM.

Bleh whats the rush to become a pro? First, get a real life education as if poker fails you have something to fall back on.

Dont rush to ram everything as you will mostly end up burning out

College is a good laugh, go enjoy it, enjoy meeting new people etc. You might also meet other people who have an interest in Poker, and having someone/people to talk to about it is a great asset!

i had a long ass response but the server timed out on my reply and i lost it.

go to school, get a part time job, study the game and then play in your spare time.

What's so farfetched? You have no idea how many times I busted a 2$ roll I won off a freeroll .

If the original poster pours his soul into it, I see no obstacles which will prevent him from being a solid winning player at 200nl+ within 3 months. poker is not that difficult, but of course it depends on his attitude;

Wanting to play poker because its "easy, exciting, and lets you get away from those pesky teachers" will get you nowhere. But if he wants to play because its fun and challenging and is willing to treat it like entry into a profession, then we shouldn't try to stop him.

I would suggest op read Aba's well as an example of how to be a professional poker player, and wish him the best of luck.

im late to the party!

Clazzi18, do you have a plan that is more detailed than "i want to be a poker pro"?

i suggest that if you must follow through on this DREAM then at least come up with a detailed plan.

also Theory of Poker is not a good book to start learning with. yes, its a good book but not for a beginner and certainly not a 'my first poker book' ty of text. Start with "Getting Started in Holdem" or the Harrington On Holdem series.

btw dont ignore the advice in this thread that you dont agree with or that you dont understand (feel free to ask if you dont understand and people will gladly help) .......its given for your benefit and will hopefully help you not be soulcrushed by online poker. Online poker is beatable but be realistic, from what youve said in this thread you are a noobie with no real online poker experience. Most noobies get crushed, some come back many dont.

We've had many people like you come to these forums with dreams....great to have dreams but the harsh reality is that many disappear within the month and all other things being roughly equal you know what the key thing is that we see in the people that make it? .... its ATTITUDE.

Being humble, genuinely open to criticism and not taking everything personally and be able to admit when one is wrong is vital. Arrogant, smartarse wannabes with supersized egos who think they are gods gift usually shoot themselves in the foot and crash and burn. And not just here on 2+2 but at poker in general.

Also dont put all your eggs in once basket and throw everything at online poker at the expense of everything else. diversivy and get a life and play poker on the side, i can tell you thats a pretty damn good way to go about it.

sorry but you're wrong... doing anything partly doesn't get you anywhere... you'll have 'a life', great, you might just as well have it for the rest of it.

Wanna be pro? Got a dream? Well, you better go nuts about it. You must go crazy 'bout something to achieve it. Many people are good at poker, but they're not great, because good is what they're comfortable with. You may win all the tourneys you play, but don't get comfortable with that.

You have to develop yourself. Clear mind and ability to see from your heart. Confidence and concentration. You need nothing else. Pick a topic and work at it.... and never quit.

I agree with everything you said except this. I log on average 6-8hrs per day, with a full time education, and a part time job, and trolling this forum.

One day, I shall be a baller

Clazzi,

because you do not have enough posts I can't send you a PM, so here is the link to the french forum;

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/86/francais/

Bonne Chance

how the **** do u play 6-8 hrs a day with a full time education and a part time job.. do u not sleep or study?

This is the only post I've read in this thread but I suggest you pick up a book called "Rich Dad Poor Dad" OP.

sure great. so when he throws himself at poker 100% and fails or on the off chance that he succeeds but the burns out because he realises being a full time grinder he then has pretty much nothing to fall back on to get a job in the real world. the world wont exactly be falling over themselves to hire a 22 year old with no education and no work experience.

theres nothing wrong with pursuing a dream and pursuing it hard but he's young and you can go hard at poker and still do things like go to college, get a girlfriends and get party. Then if he actually is good at poker and has actually made some real money he can think about going fulltime for real.

OP: Grind CEGEP sti!

It's not hard to get cote R 30+ in CEGEP with minimal effort. I think laval gives you $2000+ for 30+ cote R as an entrance bursary which will pretty much pay for tuition and the cost of living isn't terrible in QC. Concordia is also decently generous while Mcgill is more stingy unless you have better grades but it has a decent rep. Not to mention you can get some technique degrees that lead to jobs in about a year.

Uni is debatable afterward if you really hate education but you should at least get CEGEP (I would recommend UNI though).

FWIW GVT hires CEGEP degrees and it might be a good fit for you based on the posts.

GL

and to others: Why so much grammar hate? Do you feel superior? He's obviously French so cut him some slack. Calice de mongols.

School is roughly 5-8hrs each day (I study in class and on weekends), 6-8 hrs poker (grind, poker study, and 2+2)

I'm playing 4 tables right now....you just make it work

oh, and I'm Dancing to Daddy Yankee ..LOLz

Lo que paso paso, entre tu y yo

Thanks for the several answers and well explained

quote from autofloor
1: I was playing online poker (with no real money) before athene even start the athene series but seeing someone you "know" success where you would
like to success yourself is a good motivation to start playing and even trying to get to his level (or even more, who knows) could help improving my gameplay, witch would lead to a more winning rate and more income.

2: Yes that's true, actually it WAS true. I was like this a few years ago but
learned that it could probably be some "teenage hormones" and I readed alot of books about personnality and self development while I was at this stage of my life. It helped me alot to learn what my limits are and also to fix myself some goal in life.

3: Im am aware that poker is something pretty easy to learn and very hard to master but I really think it could be a good self challenge to learn.
Yes there is still some tearm that I dont understand but when It happen, I simply type google.com on my browser and find out the meaning of it

Doesn't asking question could help to understand what it is truely
to play poker and see if it fit for myself? Even later, if I do mistake
and ask what should i've done insted mean that I can't?
I think asking questions is trying to learn and make a step further.

What I can't stand is to ear at someone talking all day long.
I've done 16+hours a day infront of my computer pretty often
and think I could stand playing poker 8+hours a day.

Thanks for the hint, i'll soon try myself in this tourneys

Thanks you guys for all the answers, I know that attitude is a key to success
and am willing to learn from my mistake and also admit when im wrong :P
I guess one of the best way to help improve my self is learning from the
experience of orthers and two+two look like a forum full of experience'd players I've noted the book title you told me and am gonna read them aswell.

oh, I almost forgot, merci a Ryan et Wired Differently pour le support des français, je vais aller visiter le site francais.

"Calice de mongols" -> lol

why didnt i instantly think of this ^

People w/ dedication and determination don't fail.
Anyway I agree he's young. Well OP, get your education, get a job... it still sucks once you have one, hustlin' every day. But it's less failure than to have none or lesser opportunity to get it.
OziBattler is right so take his advice, not mine. I'm bit further in a way of life than you, so I base my opinions on what I know and would do If I knew when I was your age. ;-)