Playing Poker Professionally

Knew a guy who played professionally, he is good, WSOP table or two. He quit because he said to play enough to make a living, you absolutely hate poker + he only made about 60k without consistent reliable pay

Played semi professionally (if you can call it thAt). Unless you have logged millions of hands ans have stayed current with the games, you'd struggle to beat 25nl online. Live or online?

I used to play online but it was always low stakes and I never used it as income, just to mess around with 50 bucks here and there. I have had good nights at Harrah's on the 1/2 and 2/5 usually making around 300-600 a night playing. I also am pretty good at controlling my losses. I haven't lost more than 300 a night in the last 5 years. I figure I could easily clear 6-8k a month playing around 40 hours a week. With my expenses being around 2k a month right now I could start to make some good money.

No worries, I know you're not trying to shatter my dreams lol. I know at this point I'm still probably a recreational player. But I also know from the times I'm at the table that my game is strong, and I haven't had the time to commit to anything more than recreational. I've cleaned up at all the home games and do really well when I am at Harrahs. The reason I posted was to get opinions. I have a great work ethic, and I know that if I put my energy towards something I can achieve what I want.

ETA: Plus Harrahs has a lot of soft players.

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Right now I'm making around 55k a year but with bills and the cost of living I'm barely making it by.

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Sounds like you are living beyond your means. You must have to keep up with the Jones'.

I suggest have a 50 buy-in bankroll. If you're buying in for 300 at 1/3 NL then you'd need 15k. If your buy in is 500 then 25K BR. In addition to that, I'd say 6 months of expenses as a reserve.

Other considerations:
1. Do you have large enough sample size to justify a good win rate? I suggest 2,000 hours is a good sample size.

2. BR money is for BR. You have to be discipline if you want to grow the BR. You can't have a nice score one night and go out and buy a nice TV. Every now you can splurge, but try to be smart with your money.


3. Focus on improving your game. The game is constantly changing and you need to be ahead of your opponents to be a consistent winner. There a good channels on youtube for learning. 2+2 forum is also a nice place.

4. Whatever you win, pay your monthly expense with it. The rest goes to you BR. This is to keep you in the game and opens up opportunities to take shots either 2/5 or 5/10.

5. Learn another game besides holdem. You want to be flexible. I suggest Pot Limit Omaha (PLO). A juicy PLO game beats a good holdem game 9 out of 10 times. It is more volatile but that doesn't mean there's no skills involved.

6. Surround yourself with few winning players to discuss strategies, hand history. You'll learn more by seeing things from a different point of view.

7. If you play live, don't overtip the dealer. $1/pot. $2 for a big pot.

8. Try to get rid of your debt. It can affect your play. You can't think that you have to win in order to pay your car note. Nothing worst in poker than desperate money and scared money.

9. Be indifferent with the results. You are there to make correct decisions at the table.

10. Be nice to players on the table. Even if they beat you, don't berate them as you want them to hang around. If you have AA and you get it in pre flop vs your opponent's 88. They will win it 20% of the time. That's the reality of it. It stings when it happens but poker is one big long session.

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don't think I am, take home on 55k is only around 33k. That's about 2500 a month before bills...

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What the hell is your contribution rate?

Even at 10-12% 401k contributions, you're clearing more than 2500/mo.

Wow thanks PeteRose that's a lot of great info. I definitely have some thinking to do. I've always loved playing poker, and I want to do something I love. Tired of this job that's not going anywhere. I have played PLO a few times, just never got into it.

My contribution is 10%. But my checks also vary cause I'm Base salary and Commision.

A couple of more things. Stay away from pit games. And don't buy in the idea that poker is glamous like it is on TV. Half of those tournament players are broke. Most are backed and some are sponsored. Very, very hard to be profitable as a tournament player. You can take a shot every now and then but don't rely on tournament as steady income.

Poker can be a grind and a hard climb to be profitable to earn a living. But once you are there, you can have something that people lack.

You also need a plan at and away from the table.