Want to become a poker player

dont drop out to play poker unless youre a proven, longterm winner.

stick to law

one giant moron if u quit school for something so uncertain.

Stay in law school. Never drop out of school to play poker unless you are already making enough to match what your job would pay a year

Even then, it is still a tough decision

I wouldnt consider quitting school for poker until u've made over 2000buyins or 150k or somehting

are you fucking crazy lol?

people getting leveled count : 5 ??

law school 100%

Waiting for Maynard to arrive in this thread, who recently finsihed his law degree.

I'm not sure a lot of you guys understand the legal market right now. There are graduates from top 10 schools who can't get a 40k/year job.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704866204575224350917718446.html
I think that article will shed some light on the situation.
I have no guarantee for a job in law, actually. I may end up in the middle of the pack, and get nothing, especially in this economy. I've heard horror story after horror story regarding the legal market right now.

I'm going to be spending the summer playing poker like a mad man, reading up on everything, etc.
The question is if it's worth the extra 10k of debt for the extra semester from Jan-May to 'figure it out'. If I want to actually try in law school, it's going to take up all my time, I won't have time to play poker.

On November 09 2010 12:39 ahole-surprise wrote: I'm not sure a lot of you guys understand the legal market right now.

im not sure you understand the poker world.

you'll have 10x more success if you put in those hours into networking, interning, and making connections that will help you out in your job search. I know the job market is fucking dogshit terrible in Law right now, with established lawyers being fired left and right - but that doesn't mean you have to choose to be a "run of the mill good student" and be owned like everyone else.

I probably don't. (referring to Jolin's post).

But I do know that I'm more likely to burn out doing law work than playing poker. I've actually grown to really enjoy playing poker. I'm not a gambling junkie. I see it as a way to make money if done right.

I would like Maynard's take on it, what school he went to, how he compares the two lives, etc.
I'll msg him.
--------------------
You're probably right about putting in the effort to network and stufff, but realistically, I still think I wouldn't get paid well enough for the actual law work, which I think I would hate.

its much harder to make it in poker than to make it in the real world. legal market will always be better than being a pro gambler.

Im sure there are way more horror stories in the poker world then the legal world. worse comes to worse u can use ur legal degree and do some simple clerical work, but playing poker you could easily be broke for the rest of your life.

On November 09 2010 12:33 wobbly_au wrote: one giant moron if u quit school for something so uncertain.

yea this basically sums everything up for u, plus nl10, wat kinda money do u think u can make there

I just started out playing after a long break, that's why I'm at NL10, I don't expect to stay there for long, I'm making a consistent profit and maybe I'll move up to NL25 soon, I've only played like 120 hours total at NL10.

The thing about law school is that I'll be about 60k in debt plus interest when it's all said and done. Not to mention opportunity cost of not having a job in the next 3 years cause I'm at school. At minimum that puts me 120k in the hole for no guaranteed well paying job in the legal market where I'm probably going to hate the work/my life.

But it looks like you're all saying it's sensible I should at least give this semester and the next my best try, incur another 10k in debt, and see what happens from there. I won't have much time for poker though.

On November 09 2010 12:59 ahole-surprise wrote: I'm making a consistent profit and maybe I'll move up to NL25 soon, I've only played like 12 hours total at NL10.

this shows you really have no understanding of variance in poker. these results dont mean anything.

whatever the horror stories are from law school, they cant nearly be as bad as the horror stories from poker. hopefully you can see why everyone whos more experienced thinks its insane to drop everything and try to become a poker pro starting at nl10.

it was 120 hours, it was a typo sorry bout that

i dont think you should stick with law school if its not for you. but dropping it to play poker is just insane.

Basically, my plan would be to get a regular 8 hour job while playing poker at night and weekends, build up my skill and bankroll and go from there, if that changes anything. I do have some money saved up and I could jump into higher stakes but I'm just trying to learn poker right now.

The extra 10k in debt for another semester is no joke, plus opportunity cost of no job/no poker development cause I won't have time to play.

I guess overall I should wait and probably do another semester but I'll think about it.

How much do u think u will make as a career poker player? How intelligent do you consider your self? How patient are you? There are so many questions you have to consider before u make such a big decision. From just your few posts alone tho, your chances of success are probably much lower than average..

and 120 hours of 10nl and u havent moved up? jesus christ u must be bad.

Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that's it.
Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't.
Don't give anything away.

With that, you should be able to pay your way through half of law school

I was just playing for fun for a long time until it started clicking, I've taken some shots at NL 25 and NL50, my bankroll is pretty big, I should probably be playing NL25 but I haven't had much time in the last month or two cause of law school.

On November 09 2010 13:14 byrnesam wrote: Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that's it. Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't. Don't give anything away. With that, you should be able to pay your way through half of law school

LOLOLOL y didnt anyone post this sooner

On November 09 2010 13:14 byrnesam wrote: Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that's it. Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't. Don't give anything away. With that, you should be able to pay your way through half of law school

<3

On November 09 2010 13:14 byrnesam wrote: Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that's it. Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't. Don't give anything away. With that, you should be able to pay your way through half of law school

See I learned how to win a little at a time, but finally I've learned this: if you're too careful, your whole life can become a fucking grind

Just because you moved up at a steady pace to NL25 does not mean you're going to easily make it to a limit you can comfortably live at. There are a ton of people on this site that have been at the low stakes for a very long time.

I'll respond later after my session. You guys here don't understand how soul crushing 6 figure debt + 50k/yr job would be.

On November 09 2010 13:39 Maynard! wrote: I'll respond later after my session. You guys here don't understand how soul crushing 6 figure debt + 50k/yr job would be.

Well understood, but to make a complete life changing decision to leave all of your schooling behind for something you have not posted any significant or long term results at is completely irresponsible and a monstrous pipe dream

lol nice rounders references

you do have 3 years - 3 years for you to try to get to midstakes?

if you get to 1/2 NL you can start considering going professional I suppose...

Well for starters I don't really think you can even pose this question until you are a long term winner at NL200 minimum, but even that isn't high enough to make a long term life decision about it imo.

Just because you can move through one comparatively piss-easy limit doesn't mean you will get much higher. Even if it's taken as read that you are very intelligent, hard working, and not prone to -ev gambling, there is still an extremely low probability, on average, that you will get high enough. This comes from experience of seeing all the intelligent hard working small stakes players stay there over the years.

I think even if you can get to be a winner high enough, and then you subsequently choose to drop out to play poker you should have some other plan on the side. Learn to be a teacher or train for charity work or whatever floats your boat in the spare time that poker affords, but in my opinion having just poker and only that isn't much of a way to live your life.

best of luck with whatever you do...

i was in the same situation when i first started poker, i was playing nl25 and i ask the community the same questions you did about 3 years ago. Everyone pretty much gave me the same answer not to quit and laughed at how stupid my idea was, but in my heart i knew poker was my only route. I told myself if i have 1 option only i cant/will not fail if i want to succeed in life. Having too many options in your life is not always a good thing since you wont put 100% of your time and effort into it. i pretty much quit school and dedicated time in school. for poker, im playng 5/10 atm.
The games has def gotten alot harder and i have no idea if its the route you want to go. Tbh the only person can truely answer your questions is yourself since it realize on how badly you want to win at poker. No one here knows your personality(if you tilt alot /emotional control), intelligences(being a lawyer, youre probably smart enough to beat this game), worth ethics.
I was lucky enough to start this game 3years ago where it was a lot softer than today thus being able to build a decent bankroll but i have no idea how hard poker is this day and age to start from scratch.

GL bud i wish the best of luck to whatever you choice to do

On November 09 2010 12:51 wobbly_au wrote: its much harder to make it in poker than to make it in the real world. legal market will always be better than being a pro gambler. Im sure there are way more horror stories in the poker world then the legal world. worse comes to worse u can use ur legal degree and do some simple clerical work, but playing poker you could easily be broke for the rest of your life.

a lot of people don't comprehend how difficult this game is ;-0

i didnt even consider going pro untill i had my first 100 buy in month at 200NL, before that point poker was just fun + spare cash

A law degree is virtually worthless unless you're law review or from a top tier university at the moment. It is worse than worthless actually. You spend three years and go into major debt. Your school is decent enough to stick through it though if you wanted to be a lawyer even if you arent law review. You don't know where you'll end up gradewise anyway. You still need to take finals. You'll be surprised who ends up where after finals. However, it appears that you don't want to be a lawyer. From what I've seen you're using poker as an excuse to quit law school bc you don't want to be doing it. For that maybe you should quit and do something else.

If you wanted to do law and thought poker might be better I'd say not to do it. Poker is far harder than it looks. It takes away part of your soul. It makes you emotionless and numb at times and at others your feelings are dictated by how well you're doing at the tables. It makes you hard and jaded in a way that is hard to describe.

If you are good enough and don't mind the swings you still have to work your way up. I cannot understate how difficult, if not impossible, I think working your way up can be nowadays. You see people who know what they're doing even at the low tables. If you're playing versus people with a clue it can be extremely hard to overcome the huge 10bb/100 rake you have to pay. Even if you are good enough to beat the rake and the players you still have to earn enough to pay rent and buy groceries. It seems almost difficult to escape the low stakes black hole nowadays. I don't care how good you really are you cannot beat 10bb/100 rake and a 100 BI a month withdrawal. I would seriously not even try unless you can deposit a few thousand and play 50nl.

thanks for the advice and encouragement guys,

based on what you're saying Maynard, I think I'll just focus on law school for now, play hardcore during winter break and update my assessment from there. I actually do have a few thousand to deposit, like around 5-6k, but I obviously want to learn the game before trying stakes like 1-2 NL. I also have rent and groceries covered assuming I move back home.

Also, does your assessment of the "black hole" only refer to online ring games? How about tournaments/sit and gos? Live games?

Don't even consider depositing 5-6k it's al gonna go down the pipe if you don't build your way up. Just because you're crushing nl 10 25 or 50 gives no indication that you'll be able to beat nl 100 and make a meager salary.

don't be dumb, stay in school, finish that up, keep poker as a side thing

aren't tournaments the highest variance games possible?

refer to my blog regarding tournaments~