Poker as a career- advice needed

[AndrewT]

My avatar is Robin briefly because everytime i go to post i find batman beat me too it!!

Has babymonkeyboy had a paternity DNA test?

[UpTheMariners]

hmmmm.... finished uni today no commitments..... what could i possibly do??? 

[Acidmouse]

get a job?

[UpTheMariners]

get a job?

kinda set myself up for that lol

[Rookie (Rodney)]

All advice read, and all good, but i don't think that it would be THAT bad if spencer took up poker, which then fails to pay for him and then go back to work.

I was working about 14 months ago, as it happened, i got the sack lol, and left with one months pay (if that). Now, i didn't have no job, no wife/gf, no kid's. I was living, at the time, with Dad and his gf paying monthly rent, and i only had GCSE's, on A levels or Uni qualifications. So, what did i do? I played online of course, if i lose the money i had then i would go back to work, but, touchwood, i haven't had to as yet, and i hope not to!

So, if you want it, go get it! You only live once and all that!

Ps... About the whole enjoyment factor... I love playing poker, i normally play between 3 and 5 days a week, although i have barely played in the last 3 months, you could call it time off lol. I know i wouldn't be this happy in a 9-5 job like i was doing all those months ago.

[matt674]

My avatar is Robin briefly because everytime i go to post i find batman beat me too it!!

Has babymonkeyboy had a paternity DNA test?

hmmm, that may explain the receeding hairline..........  

Click to see full-size image.

food for thought

[AlexMartin]

Not easy, you need discipline in all forms of your life and a huge bankroll. I also wouldnt advise playing solely MTT's for your income, the variance is too great.  30 comps without a podium are commonplace even in 150-200 fields. Small cashes and minor final tables aint gonna help you live. Learn to play cash, build a big big roll, then consider it.

[Graham C]

hmmmm.... finished uni today no commitments..... what could i possibly do??? 

If I was single, childless and mortgage free, I'd be somewhere exotic and cheap with my laptop and an internet connection playing poker.

Thankfully, I'm not

[Longy]

I would advise against turning pro for one simple reason, you have no proven record of winning at poker. You have run well for a month and made some nice mtt cashes, the varience in MTT's is massive and you could well be seeing the upside of it. It concerns me that you are losing cash/stt player alot of the skills in these games are also essential in MTT's.

Your circumstances are good for turning pro but you state you enjoy your job and I cannot see why you want to play poker for a living. My advise enjoy your run treat as a side income, continue to work at your game and if you are still coining it in 12 months, then consider giving it a shot.

[Pab]

Nowadays, with the popularity of poker, I think it is very difficult, verging on nigh on impossible to make a living online playing just mtt;s. the fields are too large, and with all the learning tools available in the mainstream a lot of players are really good at tournament poker. There are some exceptions to the rule and these players can be found at the top of the rankings on pocetfives. As you are still considering taking a shot at a full time player, i think it would be a bad decision if you were going to rely soley on mtt's for your income. I was lucky in 2006, I caught the poker boom at the right time and made a lot of money off mtt's, but now i make most of my money from cash games and if i started losing there would probably have to start looking for a job

[Rookie (Rodney)]

I don't necessarily agree Mr Pablo. I think good MTT selection and doing your homework will help and you or anyone can (especially if i do ffs!) make a living from MTT alone.

[TightEnd]

I think good MTT selection and doing your homework will help

tell me more please

[AdamM]

hmmmm.... finished uni today no commitments..... what could i possibly do??? 

get a job?

big mac and large fries please

[Ironside]

ok lets look at it from a maths POV

not sure what a good expectance from a MTT player is but i imagine that an ROI of 50% is above the normal but for this example we will use it

if you have a $1k bankroll you should be playing not above 20$ comps now stars have 180 man SnG $20 comps on average they take 4-5 hours
good thing about these is at certain times of the day you can get1 running every few minutes so no long waiting

now say you can play 4 MTTs at a timeputting in a 10 hour day you could expect to play about 12-16 (due to the number of times you bust out in first 2 levels) so over a 10 hour day you can expect to earn 160$ thats about £80 or £8 an hour

now that assuming you can make a ROI of 50% (not many people could) so unless you have a much larger roll that $1k and can find alot of lager buy in events running and starting when you need them i would think that a run of the mill desk job would be much more enjoyable and profitable

[ZZZZZZZROPE]

by good mtt selection im guessing about tourneys where you get a good structure for ure money to make the skill level magrinally bigger. for me its tourneys like the $30 , $50 double stacks on playtech, the $50 3k starts  stack on stars. also blue sq tourneys where they gatantee $2000 , $50 buyin and usually gets around 10 runners. ansl the blonde $50 is good value