can you really make a living playing poker?

[De Niro]

this question is for both live and online poker

i believe making a living is approx $500 per week

i know you have to play definately higher than the micro limits. someone told me at least you have to play $5 above online and at the miniumum $10 on live games.

may i have some discussion on this topic. does anybody here play professionally or do you know anybody personally. yes, there is the variences and the swings of losing, but always starting out w/ the superior starting hands, knowing pot odds, knowing position, reading people, knowing who raises/bluffs, finding the table of losers or players w/ less ability, discipline, etc...

does all these skills equal profit enough to make it as a profession

thanks

DeNiro..... First crack out of the box. One must be single. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[De Niro]

sport

correcto

no doubt you have to put the hours in

everyone gets share of their cards. the pros w/ a winning rate should comeout positive even with all the fish hitting getting lucky. this however means putting in time/hours where everything equals out and superior play gets the money.

[TTinCO]

Where's Bobby C? I think he's a month or two into an attempt to make a living at it.

[degenerategambler]

$500/week is hardly a living, thats barely existing.

[TTinCO]

Degenerate, a lot of it depends on where you live---but yeah, where I'm at you better at least double it, and triple it if we aren't talking tax free.

[BuzzRavanaugh]

It used to be you needed to win one big bet an hour. So 500 a week would be playing in a 10-20 limit game approximately.

I think you can make a living playing no more that 3-6 games and plan on making more dollars. Sklansky believes a good player can make a 50-60,000 playing 3-6 hold em.

I suck at poker and have been playing 5-10 and 10-20 pot limit omaha and some hold'em in brick and mortar games and my bankroll goes through huge swings but last week in Tahoe I made about 15 dollars an hour.

[bigboydan]

if you have the time,patients,and the ability to read people/players betting habits then yes, i believe you probly can.

[Bax]

there is no doubt in my mind that someone can make a living playing online. I made several thousand last year and only played about an hour or so on average a day.

[jjgold]

El Diablo Blanco you add nothing here

What a shame

God Bless You


Most people will lose playing poker

$500 a week is just getting by even if you are lucky enough to win that much

Go buy real estate and forget gambling

[JoeyrollNy]

I think it is probably a lot tougher than people expect. Most will probably go bust trying, before they even knew what happened to them.

[docdekay]

if you have the time,patients,and the ability to read people/players betting habits then yes, i believe you probly can.

Hopefully my patients have the patience to sit in front of a computer playing cards.

[nehpets]

probly doc, probly.

[caddy]

Ahh, at last an easy one to answere... can I make a living playing poker? NO... Hell No.

[De Niro]

caddy

can you explain

the rake? no skill involved but luck?

[KingYao]

I'm not going to say its easy, or that anyone can do it....but at the level you are asking ($500 per week), there are a good number of people doing just that - both online and in casinos. A player in a 10/20 game would only need to average around $12.5 per hour in a 40 hour week...that's very doable by many players. Of course there will be some wild fluctuations so you'll need plenty of extra money that you can't dip into.

But I wouldn't recommend it. No pensions, no insurance, no benefits. I think people usually overlook those extras. Now that I'm not working, I have to pay for health insurance out of my own pocket. For just my wife and I, it is $800 a month - and we are in our mid 30s with no health problems. For a full time player, add in rent, food, gas, etc., and that's a tough nut to crack if you are grinding it out as a 10/20 or 20/40 player. So most players usually go without the extras, no insurance, live on cheap food, etc. - its not my idea of a quality lifestyle.

[cash]

if you play like pokerjoe.....hell yes

[De Niro]

for some casino poker players, i believe paying the rake is like paying rent

know some people play 3 straight days w/ a few hour naps

[Bobby C]

Originally posted by: TTinCO
Where's Bobby C? I think he's a month or two into an attempt to make a living at it.

Yup, third month is just about in the books. I'm working as a prop player.

My first couple of weeks was brutal, as I sat down using Miller's "Small Stakes Hold'em" strategy in games that did not call for it. I got killed. I had to drop to lower limits and regroup. I'm just now getting back to the $5/10 games. I'm just breaking even in the games (props have to play without a pro's most important weapon, "game selection").

The last 7 weeks, I've averaged about 24 hours per week; lost about $50/week; and got paid about $700/week to play.

Still making adjustments. I've only recently started taking a five-minute break every hour. Duh! Before I started doing this, I'd quit after 2 or 3 hours, exhausted.

I'm just now figuring out that playing three $5-10 tables is easier, and more profitable, than playing five $3-6 tables--fewer mistakes, and doesn't wear me out as quickly. I worked 7 hours today--a lot more than normal. It looks like I'll be able to put together a few 7-8 hour days, instead of all these 3-5 hour days.

If you're happy with $500 for 40 hours, I can hook you up with a prop program that pays you $13/hr to play $2-4 or $3-6. You've got to play at two tables, and you'll have to keep a regular schedule for about 10 of those hours, but that's all there is to it. If you win in those games, that's gravy.