Here's my situation.I'm a college grad who's degree in ITT can get him a job anywhere at anytime.I won't be miserable working with computers but it's not my first choice.I have no kids, car is paid off, no wife, no house morgage so no real responsabilities.

My "dream" is to be a professional online grinder while working part-time as a bartender so i know rent will always be paid, even on a huge downswing.I'm a winning player on a Merge skin YET my last withdrawl was made 2 months ago and I still haven't gotten paid yet.I just don't trust ANY online sight now.I got burned for 6k @ Tilt.

I guess I should add that I'd rather work 40 hours a week than be a live pro.IMO online and live are two totally different games.

In your professional opinion do you honestly think online poker will be regulated by 2013/2014? Or should I start looking for a job that i'm not too excited about?

look for a job. if and when it does get regulated then you can reevaluate. i'm not sure why you're even considering not looking right now

I'm not sure what kind of profession you have to be in to respond to your post, however I know some jurisdictions have legal poker sites already, with more planned. So your question depends a lot on where you want to live in two years.

I'm a fulltime bartender and it's getting old.I work 50+ hours including set-up and take down.

Jurisdictions? do you mean states? So what states have regulated poker? I will be living in Fl.Pretty sure they will be a online poker state.

Aren't the games at the bigger live FL cardrooms big enough to support a full-time pro?

☐ Online Poker Regulated by U.S.A. by 2013/2014

☑ Online Poker Regulated by individual states by 2013/2014

☑ Honestly

Unless your making a solid yearly income like $100k or something poker can be frustrating and stressful as a primary or sole job.

However, poker is probably right up there at the top of the list for awesomest secondary income.

With a primary job covering your monthly nut, your poker bankroll effectively becomes a freeroll, or at least you have flexibility to the point that you easily can end up with big scores from time to time. If you hate live poker, you can just take a shot at major tourneys from time to time when your online roll gets large enough to warrant it.

I'll give you an honest professional opinion... Who the **** knows. Seriously.

just get a job and when poker is "legal" then decide if u wanna quit or do poker and ur job

i was gonna give you my liar professional opinion, but you said please, so..

just chill out and do whatever till like january. if no timetables are set by then **** it give up.

Nevada has already passed intrastate legislation and over a dozen companies have applied for licenses. They are currently the closest to actually running games, and my guess is that they'll have games running by the end of 2012.

New Jersey has shown interest in being the first state to offer internet poker, but they recently blew an opportunity to pass legislation and is now bogged down in budget talks. I'm hoping they also get games running by the end of 2012, but as long as the issue is still in the legislature the potential for delays due to bull**** political reasons is endless.

Those are the two states to watch for the time being IMO. Others are also considering bills but are still in earlier stages of the process. And unfortunately the federal government is extremely dysfunctional and can hardly pass ANYTHING, which is a major obstacle for poker legislation.

I believe NV will in fact have games running by the end of the year since they have actually passed legislation. I really hope NJ will be close behind. But other states are almost anyone's guess. Sadly the legislative process is very difficult to predict.

he states in the OP that he doesn't want to go live.

I would personally skew towards proceeding with one's non-poker career as if online poker won't be back for a while. Not that the expected time until online poker for all/most of the US is necessarily too long, but you don't want to get burned if it does end up taking 5+ years, or if it ends up not being profitable or with sufficient player pools, etc.

Pretty much this, IMO. Proceed as if there's no poker, work on your game in your spare time.

Most likely path, even with Federal legislation, is that you will have 5-10 states you can move to where you can play poker for a living. Better than the pre-online days but nothing like 2006, or even 2011, is coming back soon IMO.

The sad truth is, everything gets old after time. Including online poker when it's your primary source of income. At least at the bar or office you can interact with people.

get a career, not even close decision IMO (since you hate bartending)

play poker on the side, you will enjoy it a lot more and you'll still make good money if there's money to be made in poker

I've been on both sides (full-time poker and part-time side gig). The side gig > full-time

Various countries have legal sites now; have you considered a move? Also, poker businesses are regulated in all states...what you need are legalized poker sites; five states in five years is a SWAG. FL is iffy, imo.

Currently works 50+ hours tending bar,
can live anywhere and find "computer work",
will be relocating to Florida (?), but is planning ahead for 2013/2014 ....

Plan A: Move to Las Vegas instead of Florida, if you can stand the desert, you can move to the best bet for online poker by 2013.

Plan B: Move to Costa Rica for the next 12 months:
An English speaking computer geek should be able to find work, try the Tico Times,
Online poker can be played there with no issues, you might even get a job at a prop operation,
You can live pretty cheaply during downswings,
It has a tropical climate (but will soon be raining a lot).

You are single, with no kids or responsibilities, (no mention of student loans, even), wtf are you doing for the next 12 months that is time critical while you wait and see what launches in the US?

Do both, part time,and have a normal life!

seriously, this. the moment i started playing full time is the moment i started hating life.

+1

I see alot of people ITT as always sayin dont go pro and maybe rightly so, its not for everyone, but in todays world personal and financial freedom is almost unheard of....if you can pull it off, do it.

Sit on your relocation money and wait. At some point the disjointed, amateur effort at regulation will transition to serious and professional. It is still years away from having much choice about where in the US you can live and play online with much of a player pool. Who is to say the NV effort doesn't backfire, fails to make money, and discourages state efforts for two or three election cycles.

The AGA is neutral on the expansion of gaming in general, and that is the biggest obstacle to getting things rolling. Most of the industry believes the market is saturated with gaming supply, and their sunk costs drown out the unrepresented voices of online poker players. Maybe, a perfect storm presents a window for passage of something, but small player pools + live play is the near to medium term outlook without a game change.

+1

You think you can get a job anytime right now. Once you've been out of school and not using your education for a few years good luck with that plan. If you try to go pro and fail with zero work experience in your field you'll have a tough time finding a job.

Start out with a job and play poker on nights and weekends. If you're following good bankroll management and doing consistently well then you can think of quitting and going pro.

If you can't follow these steps then you might not have the discipline to be a successful pro.

I forgot to mention, if you have programming skills, propsective Nevada licensees are hiring like crazy, in case the world will not end December 21, 2012 and online poker will be launched.