Joined: Feb '11
Location: Canada
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 1660
Greetings all,
I was just wondering at what point did you commit to poker permanently (if at all?). When did your bankroll reach a point where you could really see the profit potential? Also have much do you think you need to consistently play in the big money games?
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United States
Age: 42 (M)
Posts: 178
It's my personal humble opinion that a serious & good poker player can generate a profit from nothing. Or a min deposit. Bankroll management and poker strategy is essential. But with these you can become profitable with any size bankroll.
The commitment is up to you and begins when you decide to take the game seriously by learning strategies that work for you, and constantly practicing. I've built bankrolls at many sites with no deposit by playing freerolls and building on that.
Joined: Sep '10
Location: Romania
Age: 45 (M)
Posts: 104
im agree with Killuminated the size of your bankroll dosent matter i can not say about tabels because im a tourneys player and a small bankroll for som entries with a little strategy cant be profitable so good luck on the tabels
I was just wondering at what point did you commit to poker permanently (if at all?). When did your bankroll reach a point where you could really see the profit potential? Also have much do you think you need to consistently play in the big money games?
Thanks in advance for your input.
REMEMBER the Chris Ferguson challenge! That is from $0 to $10k so if you do manage to do such challenge even if you will take 3-5 years, then with 10k as bankroll you can see your profit profitable enough to take poker as a permanent/full time commitment...
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
It is relative, assuming the player is a profitable player then all he needs to do is have a bankroll that lets him/her play limits that = or better the avrage/current wage were the player recides. Assuming serious means quitting work for full time gaming. Reguardless of how big my bankroll gets (I cash out quite regular now) I would never commit to poker permanently, I would continue as I am, work fora living and play for my entertainment. Poker is a very risky thing for a job, you never know how much you will earn, how long a downswing can last, and if it fails you are at square 1. IMO if one was considering it I would have to have min of 1 years worth of money put to a side to cover all bills/hols/clothes/shopping/etc/etc and a seperat bankroll for playing, and if that bankroll does not keep your personall roll at 1 years float then consider working.
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Good advice Bigfoot. Keep it fun and set yourself targets, devote time and effort but just like in pro sports, not many people make a living from poker vs. the number of people who play. In the back of my head, I get a feeling this whole internet poker thing is going to look very different in a few years as governments worldwide want to start getting a cut. Who knows what will be left at that point? Governments are great at digging deeper and deeper into our pockets, and might make it very hard to be profitable. The ability to click buttons on a computer and play this game might not be worth much down the road, although personally I hope it goes on for a long time!
Yeh i agree with everyone here, play for fun and if you start making money everyday consider doing it full time but put money aside for important things and carry on playing, if you lose then get a job or try again.
You could still have a part time job or even 30 hours a week to make a bankroll for yourself and see if you can make profit with it each week.
I use to make £20-30 a day from poker.co.uk but i never use to go any higher but decided getting a full time job was better for me because i think poker is a risky full time job but the lifestyle is amazing.
Joined: Feb '08
Location: Netherlands
Age: 52 (M)
Posts: 818
I agree with B1gfoot + u shoud be confident in your game-strategy. You shoud also be making more than a month's wages in profit every month consistently for a long period as proof to youself that your able. One big win shouden't be the only proof of your pokercapebillity. I quit my job about 3 years ago and i've been living of poker since.( With a period of 1.5 years inbetween i wasen't, because i was very sick)
Joined: Jan '10
Location: United States
Age: 33 (M)
Posts: 123
Posted by B1gfoot: It is relative, assuming the player is a profitable player then all he needs to do is have a bankroll that lets him/her play limits that = or better the avrage/current wage were the player recides. Assuming serious means quitting work for full time gaming. Reguardless of how big my bankroll gets (I cash out quite regular now) I would never commit to poker permanently, I would continue as I am, work fora living and play for my entertainment. Poker is a very risky thing for a job, you never know how much you will earn, how long a downswing can last, and if it fails you are at square 1. IMO if one was considering it I would have to have min of 1 years worth of money put to a side to cover all bills/hols/clothes/shopping/etc/etc and a seperat bankroll for playing, and if that bankroll does not keep your personall roll at 1 years float then consider working.
Well said! I believe you need a good little bankroll to make a good profit then trying to start from nothing. Takes forever and its way more difficuly obviously.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Spain
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 2851
By the look of it, b1gfoots answer is pretty popular. And so it should be! I agree as well.
And if you were asking about limits and such Arithmajik, i don´t think that question can be answered. People apparently make a living multi-tabling $10 Sng´s, 45 to $50 Tournaments, and all sorts of cash game limits. It all depends on the multi-tabling you do or don´t, the time you put in, etc. Very hard to say, but as to the bankroll and Bank account, B1gfoot said it all.
Joined: Mar '11
Location: United States
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 15
Calmplay you mentioned the Chris Ferguson challenge. How many hours do you think it takes to do something amazing like that? Also, if anyone can give me a good answer to this question regarding freeroll I would appreciate it. I would like to see if I could build a bankroll just by playing freerolls on several different sites. So far I feel that Full Tilt is the easiest to place in the money. The other 2 sites I have tried is PokerStars and Bodog. It's hit or miss for me there. So many people shove all in every hand and it's just hard to play against players that do that. Anyways, after placing in some freerolls, what would you consider a good bankroll size to begin playing other game types? Also, What game type would you start? For example you have less than $6 dollars from freeroll winnings. Would you continue to build it up maybe swtich to FL ring games? Any advice is very much appreciated by anyone. Thanks
Joined: Aug '09
Location: Romania
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 11
Assuming serious means quitting work for full time gaming. Reguardless of how big my bankroll gets (I cash out quite regular now) I would never commit to poker permanently, I would continue as I am, work fora living and play for my entertainment. Poker is a very risky thing for a job, you never know how much you will earn, how long a downswing can last, and if it fails you are at square 1.
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
Posted by brutaru: Assuming serious means quitting work for full time gaming. Reguardless of how big my bankroll gets (I cash out quite regular now) I would never commit to poker permanently, I would continue as I am, work fora living and play for my entertainment. Poker is a very risky thing for a job, you never know how much you will earn, how long a downswing can last, and if it fails you are at square 1.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Canada
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 1660
Awesome and detailed responses everyone. thanks b1gfoot for the well rounded response and Jazzy for clarifying consistency being an important factor (I could see that being key before making the transition.
I had another related question: Is it pretty much necessary to grind multiple tables or do you guys know of people who just play higher stakes. I for example prefer to play 1 table at slightly higher stakes than a bunch of lower levels (Multiple tables just feels like poker flash cards to me, it's like memorizing my multiplication tables all over again)>
Joined: Apr '09
Location: Australia
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6483
Posted by Arithmajik: Awesome and detailed responses everyone. thanks b1gfoot for the well rounded response and Jazzy for clarifying consistency being an important factor (I could see that being key before making the transition.
I had another related question: Is it pretty much necessary to grind multiple tables or do you guys know of people who just play higher stakes. I for example prefer to play 1 table at slightly higher stakes than a bunch of lower levels (Multiple tables just feels like poker flash cards to me, it's like memorizing my multiplication tables all over again)>
The thing with multi-tabling is you can even out the variance a LOT quicker.. The more hands per hour you play the closer you'll run to your EV. Playing 1 table at twice your regular stakes will see a higher variance.
Your ROI will generally improve the less tables you play and your hourly will generally improve the more tables you play..
You should find a sweet spot where basically you're getting a decent ROI/Hourly ratio.
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Hey Arithmajik. I had a thread in December which was supposed to be about the hardware people were using for multi-tabling, but instead ended up being a discussion about multi-tabling itself. The important thing is to be comfortable with the number of tables you are playing. Some play up to 24 tables, but if you can't focus quickly enough you will start to make a lot of mistakes. Read through and if you have any questions post them here again and the mobsters will give their opinions.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: Canada
Age: 39 (M)
Posts: 1660
Awesome, thanks guys. Good point about the variance, (I definitely have a lot of it, but am careful with my bankroll so as to not bust out . . . yet). Currently I focus on ROI. Got a lot of related subject matter to read through now.
