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Life of a poker pro?
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25m aspiring pro currently grinding 1/3-2/5 and $100-$300 tournies with about a $22.5 hourly over the last 2 years. I currently have a day job but the dream is to have the 6-7 figure bankroll and play for a living.
For those of you who are full time poker professionals, how did you do it ? At what bankroll did you cease working a job and just play? What’s your lifestyle like? What happened in your career for you to realize you had what it takes to?
Again, aspiring pro, and would love to get as much insight as possible from those of you who are actually doing it. Thanks !
Top Comment: What up, I first have a few more questions about your situation - is online poker legal in your jurisdiction? Also, are these daily tournaments you’re referring to, or multi day tournaments with big prize pools? I’m 22 years old and playing full time, but I live in a regulated state so most of my volume is online. I started in the cash game streets when I was around 17 years old but now I play strictly tournaments. I would highly suggest choosing one form and specializing in it- if it’s cash games for you, then I would only take shots at tournaments with bigger prize pools. If you’re taking a shot, you want the chance to win 20k and not just 2k, if that makes sense. As far as the lifestyle goes, I love it. I sleep in, I study and coach poker / review databases during the day, I get to go to the gym when it’s less crowded (huge help), and I grind online tournaments from ~7pm to 1am. I take shots at live tournaments in the 300-1000$ range a few times a month. If you have a game you’re beating, the shot take has to be worth it to pull you away from that game. If I don’t think I’ll have a high enough ROI in a live tournament, then it’s not worth it for me to leave my desk. For you, if you’re beating 1/3 and 2/5, your expected ROI has to be high enough to take you away from the cash tables, and that’s usually not the case in small field daily tournaments. Definitely reach out to me with more questions!
New to Poker,Any Advice?
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Hey Guys!
Wanted some advice from the best people online.
Basically new to Poker,played some home games a few years ago and absolutely loved it without even really knowing the game and for some reason just never really kept pursuing the game.
Now I have a good amount of free time and a spark to really learn the game,unfortunately I dont have any access to casinos in my country but we do have daily tournaments that are going that I can attend.
My main priority is to really learn the game and have some fun,who knows maybe it will be my new hobby. I'm not really concerned about the money aspect of it for now.
What is the best advice u can give a newbie that wants to learn the game and just have some fun while doing it?
Have a good day everyone :)
Top Comment: Learn and grind pre flop strategy for the most part in the beginning. This will elevate your game the fastest IMHO. As far as YouTube videos for beginners: Jonathan Little, CrushLivePoker, CarrotCorner, 2CardConfidence, and hungryhorsepoker are some good starting point channels.
How bad really is live poker?
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I see a lot of posts here emphasizing how bad live poker is, saying that even 2/5 live is softer than online micros. If that is the case, why aren’t you guys (the people who study serious enough to be on a sub like this) making 6 figures a year eating all these “fish” alive?
Top Comment: Live poker is soft enough that a strong player can realistically make 15-20bb/hr in $2/$5, pre-rake. The problem is, that's not as much as it sounds like. First of all, the rake is typically at least 1bb per hand, plus jackpot rake that you usually won't get full value back from, plus obligatory tips to the dealers. Assuming you win 5 pots per hour, that's something like 7bb. So now you're down to $40-65 per hour. But you have to factor in the following: you make no money while waiting for a table. You make no money when you get up to piss. You don't get paid to study. You make a lot less money when you're on your B game and you might break even or lose on your C game. Compare that to a salary or hourly job where you get paid to take breaks, slack off, etc. You don't make many friends at work and most of the friendships you do make are people whose money you're trying to win, so it doesn't feel quite right. A high proportion of the people you interact with are depressed. You sit down all day long. It ends up being a very stressful way to make $75k a year with no vacation or benefits. I went back to working in tech.
If you could re-start your poker journey, how would you start?
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I’m trying to get into the game, and I want to learn it, but there seems to be just too much to learn and I’d like to hear how you all would approach the game if you were beginning today. What would your first weeks look like? Your first moths?
What would you read? What apps would you use?
How would you study?
Top Comment: Most online resources are too advanced; they discuss the game from a perspective of playing against high level/smart players. Two resources that have worked well for me at low stakes are: Jonathan Little’s weekly poker hands often address the tendencies of low stakes players and does a good job modeling what should be going through your head during a hand. How to not lose at poker is a good podcast for understanding some really fundamental concepts that most other resources assume you already know.
Does anyone know any good poker forums?
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Does anyone know any good poker forums?
Top Comment: This subreddit is fine. Just make sure you ask questions clearly and your hand histories are comprehensible
Help! Guide to an optimal way of Learning Poker
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Hi guys!
I've been playing for a couple months (ONLINE), mostly Tournaments but a Cash here and there. I've won a couple of really small "tournaments" (GGPoker $0.25 - $1 type of tournaments) but lets be fair, probs 75% of those were plays that worked outta luck.
I've been learning from videos online, things related to GTO, Pre-Flop strats and such. But I feel like I'm stuck and I need some guidance, I'm trying to go ALLLLL the way back to basics (which isn't that far, lol) and get my hands on some books as well.
So, with all this said, I've a couple of questions:
- I'm trying to get into Cash more lately, I've play the Rush & Cash mode in GGPoker but idk if it's a right approach to start??
- Do you recommend that I forget about Tournament and get into Cash completely, or is it ok to play both?
- Do you recommend any YT videos, channels or content to learn proper Poker?
- I have in my possession a couple of books, but idk which ones are worth reading and in what order:
- Play Optimal Poker
- Harrington on Online Cash Games
- Harrington on Hold'em Vol. 1
- Harrington on Cash Games (How to win at no-limit Hold'em)
- Modern Poker Theory
Thanks for your help guys!
Top Comment: If you want to do cash and focus on the basics, Mastering Microstakes by Alton Hardin is pretty solid. For the tournament side, your Harrington on Holdem book will give you some basics. From there I actually think Dara O'Kearney has some solid material that really changed how I look at the game. I've been reading poker books for the last 20 years. Realistically though, you probably should watch some poker giraffe videos and get a GTO Wizard subscription. Learning from books isn't optimal these days (although I still like it). Also you'll be needing to work on your mental game and the Jared Tendler books are great for that. Once you have some context there, try asking an AI to act like a poker coach -- it is surprisingly effective for mental game stuff.