BubbleBoy 0 Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 I just began playing professionally after I graduated college. So far its been great being able to just play for a living and not have a schedule or a boss. For me the freedom is the best thing about playing poker and you can't put a price on freedom and flexibility. However it can be hard at times to motivate yourself to play and stay focused. But once you get in to a routine and really crack down on yourself, things move a lot more smoothly. One thing that every seems to hit on is spending too much money, so basically I'm trying to live as frugally as possible. I mean I'm 22 and just graduated college, so I don't have a ton of expenses or needs. I do know however, that if I put in the time and hands the money will come, I just have to dedicate myself and play my best at all times. One person already mentioned this, but my number one fear about this is if poker doesn't work out in say four years is what to do about my resume and getting a job. If the games dry up or i go busto, what will I do about the four year gap in my resume. I have a degree so thats a start, but I've heard from others that unexplained gaps in resumes are killers. Not much i can do though, I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it.One final thing for Scott (Nutzbuster). Scott you are truly one of the coolest "old guys" (and I use that term very loosely as we know you're about 19 at heart) that I've ever met. Seriously when I'm your age I only hope I'm half as cool as you are. I mean Amber from Survivor definitely wanted you. Scott you a huge poker fan and have a passion for just watching people play and railing tournaments. I would hate to see you lose that passion for the game in general if you go on a bad stretch actually playing poker. You truly take joy in meeting and supporting other people and I would hate to see you lose that, b/c very few people have that ability. Link to post Share on other sites
nutzbuster 7 Posted October 11, 2007 Author Share Posted October 11, 2007 I feel like a lot of the comments are aimed at me specifically, and for that I am humbled. I fully appreciate everyones well wishes, and thank you. Please don't take it wrong if my reply's are somewhat generic, it's just that the direction this thread has taken seems to be one of tremendously honest, advice and insight best suited for the masses and I'm happy it's turned out this way. Mark, you are mostly correct. Corporate stuff can be and mostly is a drag. All the time wasting romper room garbage, meetings for the sake of meeting, getting guilted into joining committies that in reality you don't give a ratz-ass about, etc. SO much BS. And I am not unhappy here, I am grateful, but 23 years of this is enough and I can't wait to bail out, as you know. Potsie, I think you are on the right track. I have feelers out there in the consulting world and a few other options (you guys need a part timer? he he), but no home Depot, lol. I just would rather not have to do anything other than play, but I still have some fairly inconsistent technical flaws in my current game that in my game that I hope to fix before I depart tis place. And a good part of my emotional issue does come from money, but my roll is a self induced one. I have access to plenty of money, but I am trying to be disciplined and work within those self imposed constraints. And I know I am better than half of my competition in my regular live game, but I am impatient by nature and try to force things, etc. It is a work in progress and I am confident I can get to the place I need to eventually. Socal, I will be much more involved working on my game soon, but I can't seem to find my DELL??? ( inside joke to Mark, lol). I will AIM you at some time in the future, so thanks for the offer.Ozi! anytime buddy. I will be out of town for the weekend of Oct. 21th though.Everyone else, thanks again. And please, to those who haven't posted yet please consider doing so.edit: wow...thanks Bubble! (tear...LOL!) 'preciate it man. Link to post Share on other sites
drcossack 0 Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 for what it's worth, drcossack and merc, i probably PLAY for about 4-5 hours a day unless i'm doing a live session or something. of course, i spend a couple extra hours teaching on top of that, but i'd say i only "do poker" for somewhere around 7 or so hours a day, and i take at least one day off a week, sometimes two.I was referring to live sessions, btw. I tend to get too tired/tilty towards the end of 5 hours live, which is something I need to work on. Link to post Share on other sites
Potsie P 0 Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Some thoughts for those concerned with a "serious gap in your resume's work history":1. Do some charitable work. Volunteer with Habitat, or with Big Brothers Big Sisters or something, and take a pseudo-responsibility role in it. This requires less time than you think and is great fodder for your resume in terms of management skills, leadership and community involvement.2. "Travel the world," or collect your travels to date and say you did. Nothing says free spirit or independent thinker or creative type like taking a year (or three) off to travel across the U.S. or around the world "to truly find yourself." Spin these travels with something like, "after spending that much time on my own, I realized that I really DO want to be an accountant" or some other crapola.3. Call it "a life experiment." I met an MIT grad who was dealing blackjack at The Flamingo in Vegas who told me he always wanted to do this--just for a year or so--to see what it was like to "see math in practice." I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever heard.4. Say you moved home to care for a dying relative and/or save the family business. Though I've never used this myself, I'm always shocked over a) how many times I've heard it at my various workplaces, and 2) what a positive light it projects onto the person saying it.5. Sum up your poker career as "your stint as an entreprenuer" or "a small business owner where you were your own boss." Call it something cool, like "speculative investments" or "risk management" or "financial planning."6. Do what every person in San Francisco has done at least twice and say you tried the "start-up thing with some buddies" and it bombed.7. Do what every money-flashing freak in South Beach does and say you were "in the import/export business." I've never met anyone, myself included, who knew how to respond to that without sounding accusatory.8. Do something else once in awhile that you can take extra credit for on a resume. Build a myspace page (web developer). Make a short film for YouTube (independent film director/producer). Start a blog or submit articles/stories to publications (freelance writer). Take a community college class (student). You only have to do something like this once and it's good for at least a "October - December 2006" line item on your resume.9. Go to school (or go back). Once you have recent school history and a new degree, few will care about what you did before that.Good luck. Link to post Share on other sites
Dratj 0 Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 I was naive about many things. The many long, lonely, crazy (by most folks standards) hours, downswings involving staggering amounts of money, many shady characters, realizing that many of the best are actually broke, etc. It was exciting and very sobering at the same time. And while so many of them are solid individuals and very cool people, many are not. And the pressures of constantly playing at the highest levels of poker are extreme and something I know I would never be happy with.More details if possible would be great. Oh, I wish I could respond to this thread but I'm not a pro poker player. Link to post Share on other sites
NoSup4U 0 Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 Socal, I will be much more involved working on my game soon, but I can't seem to find my DELL??? ( inside joke to Mark, lol). I will AIM you at some time in the future, so thanks for the offer.Oh yeah, I better get on that this weekend whoops :)Mark Link to post Share on other sites
tentenoffsuit 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Anyone ever thought about just taking 3 grand and heading for vegas and seeing how far you get?People have apartments for cheap out there... literally you could pay all your bills playing 5/10 and winning two bets an hour (wait that's better than my job now...)Anyone ever actually done it more curiously?I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes i just wanna pack up my crap and head for Vegas and just see what happens... Link to post Share on other sites
socalpoker_j 1 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Anyone ever thought about just taking 3 grand and heading for vegas and seeing how far you get?People have apartments for cheap out there... literally you could pay all your bills playing 5/10 and winning two bets an hour (wait that's better than my job now...)Anyone ever actually done it more curiously?I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes i just wanna pack up my crap and head for Vegas and just see what happens...Scott is trying to be a winning player for life, this is a recipe for disaster and selling your body on Fremont Street for stakes in the 1-2 NL Golden Nugget game. Link to post Share on other sites
jmbreslin 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Some thoughts for those concerned with a "serious gap in your resume's work history":7. Do what every money-flashing freak in South Beach does and say you were "in the import/export business." I've never met anyone, myself included, who knew how to respond to that without sounding accusatory.Yes, you could even change your name to Art Vandalay... Link to post Share on other sites
tentenoffsuit 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Scott is trying to be a winning player for life, this is a recipe for disaster and selling your body on Fremont Street for stakes in the 1-2 NL Golden Nugget game.LOL... just throwing it out there... I mean, to do poker as a job, everyone seems to think you need to make $100 an hour... many people live decently in America making $20-$30 an hour... though i guess when you factor in the fact that at most jobs you'd be getting medical insurance along with retirement savings, ect you would need to earn more playing poker... Link to post Share on other sites
socalpoker_j 1 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 LOL... just throwing it out there... I mean, to do poker as a job, everyone seems to think you need to make $100 an hour... many people live decently in America making $20-$30 an hour... though i guess when you factor in the fact that at most jobs you'd be getting medical insurance along with retirement savings, ect you would need to earn more playing poker...The point of playing for a living is freedom to not have to endure the daily grind of corporate America, be your own boss, be naked while you work, etc. Grinding for a living is no bueno. Link to post Share on other sites
tentenoffsuit 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 The point of playing for a living is freedom to not have to endure the daily grind of corporate America, be your own boss, be naked while you work, etc. Grinding for a living is no bueno.But what if your life is a grind and you hate your job and you just really can't find anything that you really like to do except play cards?I'd think it'd be better to grind it out making $30 an hour then grinding out your life making $25 an hour doing something you hate... Just playing devil's advocate a little bit and saying that you don't have to make hundreds of thousands to make poker your profession... Link to post Share on other sites
jmbreslin 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Except that grinding it out doing something you hate often comes with benefits and a certain amount of income security. Definitely more security than poker, that is... Link to post Share on other sites
NoSup4U 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Yes, you could even change your name to Art Vandalay...What did you import?Mark Link to post Share on other sites
Abbaddabba 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 LOL... just throwing it out there...I mean, to do poker as a job, everyone seems to think you need to make $100 an hour... many people live decently in America making $20-$30 an hour... though i guess when you factor in the fact that at most jobs you'd be getting medical insurance along with retirement savings, ect you would need to earn more playing poker...Unless you have the worlds worst job, you will come to hate poker even more than that if you're playing to make $30/hour.Ive talked a lot with friends about the tradeoff, and i think that the point where it becomes worth playing full time (for me personally) is somewhere in the area of 2-3x what i'd otherwise be making a week... for all of the reasons people mentioned earlier, and some others. Link to post Share on other sites
tentenoffsuit 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Unless you have the worlds worst job, you will come to hate poker even more than that if you're playing to make $30/hour.Ive talked a lot with friends about the tradeoff, and i think that the point where it becomes worth playing full time (for me personally) is somewhere in the area of 2-3x what i'd otherwise be making a week... for all of the reasons people mentioned earlier, and some others.I guess when you work a job that you're tired of and you think you can make more playing poker even if it's not much more, it seems like an awesome idea. But I can definitely see the point that grinding it out eventually just sucks, but I'll probably never really know the true answer... Link to post Share on other sites
finztotheleft 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 i think something like the lilholdem post on p5s is pretty indicative of a general trend among young players getting started at professional poker--he simply lacked the maturity to deal with a rough patch properly and acted like an ass. granted, that's to be expected to some degree. lord knows i whined when i ran bad. but i think that indicates that "pro poker" requires a pretty high level of maturity to really do as a career, though that's not to say that a 20 something with a lot of talent shouldn't give it a go if s/he really wants to.It's refreshing to hear a young(ish) player say this.It's one reason why I am a big JC fan. For a young guy, he certainly comports himself very well. His mother should be proud. I'm not referring to anyone in this thread, but there are a few posters on here (and so many at 2+2 and neverwin, I can't stand reading those forums) that act extremely immature (in their writings here and their reports of their offline behavior). I can understand how it happens, but I'd be mortified if one of my kids acted that way. I love hearing about younger players who actually appear to have their heads screwed on straight.ObeytheDog......I didn't realize that you were so young. From the quality/level of maturity of your posts, I just assumed that you were much older. My list of young people to repect is growing..........Very interesting thread. Great idea Nutz ! Link to post Share on other sites
nutzbuster 7 Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 As I am reading back thru these great posts, I remembered an article I read several months back about this stuff. It was by some pro was talking about how he plays part time and also has a real job, is really happy, etc. Man, my memory is bad on this but does anyone else remember reading it? maybe know a link to it? Cardplayer? meh....It was pretty good.... Link to post Share on other sites
cardcore 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 LOL... just throwing it out there... I mean, to do poker as a job, everyone seems to think you need to make $100 an hour... many people live decently in America making $20-$30 an hour... though i guess when you factor in the fact that at most jobs you'd be getting medical insurance along with retirement savings, ect you would need to earn more playing poker... http://www.texasholdem.com/news.php?id=124^^ putting poker on your resume, I wrote this awhile ago and reposted it. That's my take on it Link to post Share on other sites
ObeyTheDog 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Moving to vegas with 3k is disaster and not responsible. If you want to move to vegas (and you better make sure you love this city), I would first see how well you can do building a bankroll, playing many hours, and get it up over 20k. And you should have at least 10k on top of that which is separate from your bankroll to cover your first year's rent/bills in case things don't go well. That way you have your expenses and your bankroll and you go to work without dipping into either.Then again, you might just be a kid with a dream....bring 3k, put it all on one prelim tourney, run like waco, tp/mm. Link to post Share on other sites
tentenoffsuit 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Moving to vegas with 3k is disaster and not responsible. If you want to move to vegas (and you better make sure you love this city), I would first see how well you can do building a bankroll, playing many hours, and get it up over 20k. And you should have at least 10k on top of that which is separate from your bankroll to cover your first year's rent/bills in case things don't go well. That way you have your expenses and your bankroll and you go to work without dipping into either.Then again, you might just be a kid with a dream....bring 3k, put it all on one prelim tourney, run like waco, tp/mm.3 shots at one table sattelites to the ME... then you just gotta cash...If i ever moved to vegas i'd still look for a real job... I work in restaurant management, and i'd find a job somewhere and play on the side... but i think i might just wait a month and see what happened with that 3k or whatever's left in the pocket when you get there... haha.I also find it amazing/appealing that you can pay all your bills and still eat on 10k for a full year in vegas... that's just my share of the rent in NYC... so brutal Link to post Share on other sites
chgocubs99 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 if you just make enough to pay the bills, then it is a shitty idea. the whole appeal is how much potential there is.in one year ive saved as much playing poker as it would take me to save in over a decade with a regular job (assuming typical income for a degree in econ, and typical expenses).if for some reason the industry crashed tomorrow, i'd be much better off than if i'd chosen an ordinary career route.and if two years in the same happens, i'd be even better off. or three years, even better still.I don't know about this one...hard facts to back up these statements? Link to post Share on other sites
jmbreslin 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 What did you import?MarkDon't remember, but my girlfriend wanted me to focus on the importing and drop the exporting. Link to post Share on other sites
nutzbuster 7 Posted October 12, 2007 Author Share Posted October 12, 2007 What did you import?MarkLatex?Talk about a thread de-rail! Link to post Share on other sites
Abbaddabba 0 Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 I don't know about this one...hard facts to back up these statements?you're asking whether it's possible, or whether i did?1BB/100 at tables + rakeback is over $100/hour multitabling midstakes.30 hours a week, that's $150k a year. depending on how you handle the tax situation and how much you spend on frivolous baller 'shit, you can save a ton. the cost of living is about 25k a year for someone living conservatively. on a 40-50k a year income that is taxed, you're optimistically able to save $10,000 which includes pension funds that are automatically saved on behalf of you by your employer.. on 150k untaxed income, after the 25k living expenses, you have $125k. while your wages would likely increase at a job, you will earn interest on the saved money - which balances. if you are american, the tax situation will **** you up a bit since you basically have to report it or you'll be taking it up the ass from the IRS. but it's still easily 5 years worth of savings, even assuming you report it in full.whether i did that is kind of immaterial, and not worth proving. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now