Thinking about going pro (serious post)

[Beavis68]

[iceman5]

[Triple B]

[black_knight6]

[Beavis68]

[iceman5]

[Beavis68]

[black_knight6]

[bdon22]

Just had a talk with my dad. He's ok with me not taking the job as long as I keep looking for something else.

I'm gonna give my boss another shot at a better price, otherwise that's it, I'm done with the hand.

Then it's POKERRRR!!!

I think a lot of people here have a big misconception of what I meant by going "pro". Obviously I cannot even hope to sustain myself with what I'm making (or losing) right now ESPECIALLY at $50NL. Pro, in my sense, is putting myself in a position to become successful later on. I'm going to be putting my full effort into poker over the next few months to see if I have what it takes make it to the stakes necessary in order to play full time as my main source of income. I'll have money, food, and shelter to fall back on during this period of time, and if it doesn't work out then I get a "normal" job.

If you look back to some of the most successful players, many of them did the same thing. Lots of kids these days are dropping out of school to see if they can make it big, but in my case I think it's less of a risk because at least I have a backup plan.

Beavis, there are a lot of jobs out there right now. But you know what, I'm picky as hell because I feel I have the right to be. I haven't applied to many things yet because I'm not that desperate. I'm also confident that if I at least get an interview for a job then I have a high probability of landing it. There are a couple things on my list that I wanted to try first before getting desperate. My original plan was to get into AMD for 65k and play poker on the side. I liked the job I did there, but now they're shafting me.

Iceman, I think you are mistaking me for the type of player that goes on absolute monkey tilt after taking a beat and then losing stacks and stacks afterwards. That is simply not true and I think DH can attest to that. Yes I do go on tilt at times and a fraction of the money I lost during the downswing WAS due to tilt. But it's nowhere near the amount you are making it seem. Coolers aren't represented very well on EV graphs, and obviously if you continue to get set over setted, boat over boated, and flush over flushed you WILL be getting the money in bad. Variance is NOT going through a huge downswing at least once or twice over 2 million hands imo.

How am I still not broke after all of this, you ask? We call it BR management, bonus whoring, and rakeback FTMFW.

[iceman5]

[iceman5]

[PkrKat]

[Stoneburg]

[k3nt]

bdon, some advice, now that you've decided to go for it:

(1) Play like Iceman, not like Xaston. X's style may win you more money over time, but Ice's style will win you money with fewer downswings. That's going to be important to make you feel like continuing to play, and keeping you on an even keel so you don't hate your life.

(2) Post at least one hand for analysis here on the forums every day.

(3) Don't call yourself a "poker pro" in public, or even to yourself. Don't define yourself that way, or let others define you that way. You're a guy learning poker full-time while also looking for a more stable source of income.

Good luck!! I am jealous of your ability to do this. If my expenses were that low I'd definitely give it a shot. I just know I'm going to see your posts saying "$100 NL" then "$200 NL" and then higher real soon.

[shamdonk]