Taking The Leap Next Year
Posted by TheRaulrus
Posted by
TheRaulrus
posted in
Poker Journals
Taking The Leap Next Year
Sometimes you find something in life you absolutely love. Something you're so passionate about and when you're partaking in it, the time flies by, in fact, you don't even notice the time. Sometimes you think to yourself that you would want to do that something for a living. That something for me is poker.
To be perfectly honest, I do have a great full-time real job. I work at my father and uncles' family owned 3rd generation ironwork business, potentially 4th if my cousin and I decide to take it over one day. The pay for me is good and I'm always getting a paycheck every week. We stay busy throughout most of the year. The thing is, I don't see myself taking it over and actually enjoying it for the rest of my life. It's a great business by all means but it's not totally in my interest and really it's not for me.
When I play poker, I tend to get into my own world of enjoyment and happiness, where I hardly experience that at my real job. It's a great feeling to be honest. Being able to do something that you love for a living must feel fantastic and I thought, why not me?
My plan is this: I am going to save up 6 to 12 month's worth of living expenses from my real job before I even step foot into the full-time poker mode. I am going to study the game 1 hour each day either through reading, watching videos or logging onto to R.I.O to learn. I am also going to play live at a local casino near by, each weekend so that my skills that I have acquired don't become rusty. When I play live on the weekends, I will play mostly NLHE cash games at the $1/$2 level and sometimes play in tourneys if their worth playing in. I was planning on attending this year's WSOP in late May, but I'm gonna cancel that out and save my money instead. It hurts to miss it, but saving money comes first. I wanna have enough money saved when I start this journey to take some stress off of this lifestyle, which requires money on a daily basis.
The way I look at this whole thing is that I'm 25 years old and if I can't happen to maintain the poker full-time lifestyle, I'll go back to a real full-time job and keep poker as a profitable side hobby but I will be satisfied to know that I at least tried to do something I loved for a living. I don't want to live my life as a would'a, could'a, should'a type of person. That's just not me.
I'm gonna prepare myself the best I can for the up's and downs that this game brings. In the end, whatever happens, happens and life will tell me if this is right for me or not. Hopefully it will be.
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Very best of luck to you , i hope your life wishes come true :)
I was in the same boat several years ago. Quit my first job out of school 3 months in, to give pro poker a shot. Long story short, I failed, and it's a good thing I had a backup plan/degree to fall back on.
As long as you have a back up plan, and it sounds like you do, I say go for it! Best of luck! #yolo
PS. you should start a journal to keep you focused/on track!
I'm very glad you're starting with 6-12 months of living expenses. Taking the leap to play full time is a big deal, and I'm glad you aren't taking it lightly.
The future of poker is very uncertain (as the past 8 years have shown us). Since you have such a great (safe) career option lined up, I'd suggest doing everything you can to keep that door open. Perhaps even try to go part time before taking the full leap? Is that an option or are you in an area that you can't really play the way you want?
I will say, there's nothing better than being passionate about for what you do for a living, so I almost always would encourage people to "follow their dreams" when it comes to work. They just need to do it in a relatively safe and smart way.
It sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders and that you're prepared mentally for the ups and downs that come with the job.
If you want to share some more about your poker journey so far, I (and everyone else) may be able to offer some more specific advice. I'm curious about your playing experience and level of success (as that's a big part of the decision to take the leap), as well as if you'll need to move to play. If you'd rather not get into it, that's all good too!
Either way, good luck! I hope you'll keep us posted, and I hope RIO can help you along the way!
Thanks a ton, Phil, for the feedback. Always appreciated, along with everyone else on here who comments. I really love R.I.O for that matter. It's a tight-knit poker community where it seems like the players look out for one another and the way you set up the site, helped obtain that attitude.
To answer your first question about going part-time before taking the full leap, I've tried that in the past, but like you said, I can't really play the way I want. I'm burnt out from a full-day's work and I can't obtain the type of motivation and drive to fully play my A-game after work is over. Sometimes I do, but most of the time it's just too forced instead of being just a natural, enjoyment type of feeling.
With my playing experience, I started playing NLHE back when I was 16, (25 now), with a group of close friends playing in small buy-in home games. It took me a little bit to understand the flow of the game, but once I did, I was hooked. Even though I became hooked, I didn't start taking the game seriously until about 2 years ago. I actually took some time off to pursue work and my other hobby, which is music. I knew poker would be waiting for my return though and when I did, I fell back in love with the game all over again. To this day, I still remember my first casino poker room visit. Sat down in a $1/$2 NLHE game, bought in for the very minimum, which at this particular casino is $50, max $200. Had really no idea what I was doing because casino play and home play are two totally different aspects, but to my surprise, after about an hour and a half, turned $50 into a little over $300. I don't know if it was beginners luck, or if the players at my table were just really bad, (including me), but I then told myself, If I can win $300 without barely any real knowledge and study of this game, imagine if I took it more seriously, devoted more time and study and see where I end up. And that's what got me involved. To this day live, I usually still play $1/$2 NLHE, buying in anywhere from $100 to $150, sometimes max depending on the situation. I enjoy live tourneys as well and if their worth it, I'll partake in em', but my main ground is NLHE live cash. Down the line, I'll take shot's at $2/$5 if I can afford it or if the situation is just right, but I'm fine with $1/$2 at the moment. Really, play a lot of live. Started playing online just kinda recently on Carbon Poker, playing micro-stakes, but I'm unsure of how long these off-shore sites are gonna stick around. Lot of talk about putting them to an end completely, which I understand. Regulated is better in my opinion. I do enjoy online, but at the time of the boom, I was busy with music and didn't even acknowledge online poker, so I kinda missed the boat on that one, but at least it's starting to come back around, slowly but surely. Would love NY state to eventually lift the ban on it, but who knows if and when that will happen. Politics are tricky.
All and all, I'm bracing myself for this move. Reading as much as I can, playing as much as I can and saving as much as I can from work. I planned on going to the WSOP this year for my first time, but I'm gonna cancel that out and save the money instead. It hurts to do that, but down the line when I really can afford, I will go and that's a promise. I understand this game as changed a whole lot since the boom. It's harder to make a profit and the players are getting better, but I enjoy challenges and I know that this will be a big one. I'm just gonna take it one day, one session at a time and see how it goes. Like I said, If I can't maintain the lifestyle, I'll go back to a real full-time job and keep poker as a profitable side hobby, but at least I know I tried and I can live happy with that.
So is the plan to stick with live poker in your area? It's a tough way to make a living, man.
I would normally say that you should really have some proven track record before taking the full-time leap, but it's hard to get a DB of hands and put in a ton of hours playing live when you have a full-time job.
Just make sure you're studying a lot and I'd suggest sticking with the high end of your living expenses plan (12 months worth).
Why don't you just keep the job and play poker 10-30 hours as a week as well? What time does your full-time work normally start?
I'm a lawyer, I do between 40 and 50 hours a week on average at work, and I manage to fit in ~20 hours a week on poker without too many problems while keeping a pretty active social life. Helps that my girlfriend has moved to another State temporarily though, otherwise it would be a lot tougher :)
It sounds like you are starting at a good place, with a good plan. I wish you luck and look forward to updates! :-)
I agree very much with Phil about keeping the door to your current job open, if possible. Being smart about the transition and having a safety net in place will reduce stress greatly. This will set you up for performing your best.
Stress is like variance. It's part of playing the game, but it's good for us to reduce it when it doesn't cost us anything to do so. And even if there's a little opportunity cost, it might still be worth it.
I am also pondering about going pro (24 yo turning 25 this May). It is surprising to find someone in a similar situation. My situation is that "real" job eats up too much time, (9:00 to 22~23:00 + Saturday if necessary, is how people work in Japan) (wonder how it is in other countries), which is pretty poor EV wise since I am a 5bb/100 winner @ NL200zoom over 200k hand sample.
Really wonder how poker industry changes in next 5 years or so. Government policies, state of the game (games getting tougher and tougher), etc.
Have you already convinced your family members?
Btw, really liked this part.
" I don't want to live my life as a would'a, could'a, should'a type of person. That's just not me. "
Sorry for bad English. Will study harder.
I work for a Japanese company as well, Kuroari so I can relate to your long and painful working hours. It's so painful to sit there knowing you can't leave before your boss does because it's disrespectful... only dreaming about going home to put in some hands of poker, but then by the time you get home you're exhausted!!
i just came here for the free cookies
I think playing poker as a fulltime job is a big mistake for 99.9% or more of players. I do think poker is the best part time job ever.
Why do you say that? Assuming you can handle the variance, it's so much more fun, makes oyu more money, freedom, happiness etc.
@chael - Lots of reasons but based on your other post I will only focus on one - most "poker pros" aren't making that much money and are taking pretty big financial risk in the long term for moderate income today with questionable long term returns. It has worked out form me the past 6+ years in that I built a BR, pay my bills, enjoy my freedom, but I know many others who haven't faired as well and very few who have really made "big bucks"
my advice after playing this game for 8 years: Be an entrepreneur and take a company public. This game will rear its ugly head eventually and you're in the honeymoon phase with the game. If I had all the money I've wasted making ill timed bluff raises and getting sucked out on id have several companies worth millions and an investment porfolio. Its not worth it, but poker is a bitching way to pay for luxury items that you normally wouldnt want to waste money on, just remember, this is coming from people who have no choice but to play this game for a living.
Can you tell im stuck today? lol seriously tho, think it through, you'll never make 25 million playing poker and there is alot of easier ways (especially now a days) to make a few mil.
What other profession allows you to make millions, without a degree, and 10 years of corporate ass kissing?
Selling weed doesn't count.
I was gonna say selling weed
Im saying being an entreprenuer not climbing a corporate latter, obv fuk that
Example: The full tilt guys didnt get rich off poker, they got rich starting a business. You think the guys that started Party Poker or Stars would have made that kind of money grinding against a bunch of gto bots i dont think so, you guys havent played this game long enough trust me
Mark Cuban turned 3k into 2.5 billion. Kevin Oleary turned 10k into a 4 billion dollar company, can you tell I like Shark Tank??
I don't like you purely because you speak common sense and your avatar made me very hungry.
Good luck!!
HOTSANDWICH, playing devils advocate, if its that easy then why don't you and everybody else start your own Mark Cuban businesses. Those are absolutely outliers and a product of variance and their skill set just like there are with poker players. Now, the ability to exponentially grow your money is much easier with businesses because you have others working for you (for the good or the bad).
Businesses have such a high failure rate and with many of them have such high overhead and other expenses just to operate and break even, on top of their living expenses. To be just as successful you have to know the right people and be in the right place a lot of times. Not as easy as what you make it out to be. P.S. I do own my own small business and it has extremely low overhead in a specialized area where I have a niche.
Personally, I'm kind of split between full time and part time professional poker players. Part time is obviously the safer route, it limits your upside potential gains but also limits your downside potential losses. If you are extremely skilled and can handle that pressure, then I say full time might be a good option. If you have other dependents and have to work hard to be successful then I think diversifying your income is the best route. If you can own a successful small business that doesn't take up too much time and can play poker then you open up your options and have the best of both worlds.
I am not sure I agree that part-time work and part-time poker really limits your upside in poker. One advantage of having non-poker income is you can be more aggressive with your poker BR than you can if your poker income is all you have. This can give you more upside potential with similar risk.
Btw, Hotsandwich, I never said I was going to make $25M or even $1M, lol. I'm not really shooting for that. I'm shooting to make money obviously, but to make money while enjoying what I'm doing is key for me. That in itself fills my idea of being rich. Enjoying what I'm doing for a living. I don't really have a money goal for what I'd like to shoot for just yet because I won't be starting this experience until next year. I'll see how the year goes for me and play it by ear.
Wonderful insights and a very timely read for me. At cross-roads in my professional carrier and was contemplating long & hard to take up poker as a side gig while I am in the process of completing SAP & PMP certifications. 15+ years of monotonous 9-5 is about enough for me. One short coming is No "Legal" poker in TX. Hopefully it will come to pass in my lifetime.
It sounds like you've planned it all, Raulrus. I also say go for it, cause it seems as if you are reasonable about it. You don't want to look back and think "What if?" Now is the time to try it out. I look forward to getting updates from you once you take the leap. Best of luck to you, sir! :-)
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