Is it viable?

I have a question to answer today from a reader…..Lee Rodgers who asked me this week if turning professional in online poker is still a viable option.

Q…..This is a very relevant question because of the fact that I am about to embark on my “pro poker challenge” starting on the 1st April. There are so many factors that contribute to being able to play the game full time. Firstly it comes down to if you are actually good enough and until you have PROVEN that you can win money online then the answer to that is no irrespective of how much you have won in live games…..they are two totally different things.

But let us assume that you are in fact good enough……what may I ask are you good enough to beat?…….. NL50…..NL400…..PLO100…..SNG’s upto $33……Razz……O8……what exactly and for what levels and how many hands/tables can you play. If you want to play poker full-time then you need to be looking at how much you are currently earning now in your present job. If you are making £1000 a month bottom line then you could make this amount playing lowstakes poker and especially with a good rake deal.

The next question is……would you want to? That grand a month that you are earning now is guaranteed and to earn a grand a month online is no mean feat seeing as around 95% of players dont make it pay. If you are making £4000 a month bottom line then you are on much shakier ground and you need to do some serious thinking before you take the plunge. I would recommend that anyone plays on a part-time basis for at least 50k hands at a given level before deciding to play full-time.

Can you handle the swings?……..well can you…….have you ever been through a bad one…….not 2 or 3 poxy buy-ins but a real bad one like 20-25 buy-ins or 4-500 big bets at limit? If you havent yet then it is a given that you will. For most people, turning pro simply isnt worth it as you will probably end up playing too low in order to find beatable games which means that any poker income that you make may not reach the levels of your previous income from your job.

So the answer is…..yes…..turning pro can be viable but this is highly dependent on your current income, skill and numerous other factors on top. I know that many of you will be fed up in your current job and feel like lashing out and playing full-time poker to escape the grind but you will be jumping from one grind to another……trust me on that.

Back when I was a croupier……you would be amazed at how many people thought that this was a flash job……seems it from the outside but on the inside it is a different story……same thing. But you CAN play poker either semi-professionally or professionally and my “pro poker challenge” is designed to prove just that.

If I can make say $1500 a month playing 80 hours then this shows that $3000 a month playing full-time is reachable and there are millions of people the world over for whom $3000 a month represents a lot of money. Not sure that I have answered anything here but there are too many variables to be able to give definitive answers.

See ya soon and take care

CAKE POKER…….THE SITE WITH ONE OF THE BEST RAKE DEALS ON THE NET AND THE SITE THAT DOES NOT ALLOW TRACKING SOFTWARE.

The Dean is sponsored by Cake Poker and can be contacted at Carl@Pokerquest.f9.co.uk for coaching, mentor schemes and all other coaching and gambling related topics.