Hey All,

 I write this as I am strongly considering breaking into playing
poker full time. I will start off by giving some background information on my
poker game and on my career and life in general. 

 I have been playing poker for nine years now.  I was exposed to the game at the age of
16 sneaking into casinos and playing in local clubs.  I had somewhat of success at a young age online and live, but
had a ton of leaks (mostly bankroll management).  I have always wanted to give poker a serious chance, but my
family always got in the way.  They
see poker as just gambling and associate all the stigmas that come with
gambling. 

 I am currently working in finance for about three years now
and really tried the “living in the box” life.  After three miserable years I have found myself now more
than ever wanting to play poker.  I
am sure you all know since black Friday it is very difficult playing online in
New York and even harder to cash out large amounts of money. From what I hear
so far New Jersey is not much better. So I have been only playing live, I play
a few times a week grinding local New York metropolitan area clubs, cash games
and local casinos, when I have time.  My main games are NL and PLO.  Would love to play some of the bigger local tournaments but I
cannot take off from work. My results have been very good, and I am very confident
in my game.  I rarely find a table
where I do not feel like I am not the best or the same skill set as the top
players at the table. The few times this is not the case is when I play games
outside my “comfortable” bankroll range and cannot play my true game.  I not making the claim I am the best in
the world, but as I said I have a lot of confidence in my game and even more in
my work ethic to take my game to the next level.  

 As most of you know building a bankroll in live games
opposed to online is a lot more tedious, time consuming and you find yourself
in some “sketchy” places.  I have recently
put some serious thought about moving outside the country to have the ability
to play online and live.  Obviously
this is a huge life decision and doing it alone makes it an even harder one.

 I know how hard it is to become a successful pro and
treating it just like any other start up, if it goes down hill you have to know
when to call it quits. I say this on a side note to the critics.  I know what comes with the game and if
I give it my best for a few years and do not make it I can live with that and
call it quits. I am a firm believer in doing what you love and what makes you
happy for a living is far more important than just making money (as long as its
not detrimental to you) i.e. why I want to give poker a legitimate shot.

 An ideal situation would be moving somewhere with a
community of poker players to learn from and having support from.  Maybe there better or different approach
I should take to try and make this transition.  To be honest I do not really know where or how to
start.  A lot of my “connects” in
the poker world especially online are long gone.  I would love to get some insight from some posters, guys who
have made similar transitions and ideally from some of the sites pros.  Hopefully you guys can help me out.

Cheers