Going Pro

[Sweetness]

I was just wondering if anyone here is a pro player and if so how did you get to be one and what does it take to stay there.

Also is anyone here in the forum thinking of going pro and if so what steps are you taking to ensure you make it to the pro level and what steps will you take to stay there.

When, as in how long, will it be before you get there and what kind of bankroll are you setting for yourself to give yourself a good start.

[aces_up]

I don't know if I would want to be a pro player. From everything I have read it really is hard work. People see the tourneys on TV and they think it's just a few hours and you can be rich. But all the pro's tell you that in reality it's a grind. Major tournaments last for days and most of the time you go home with nothing to show for it. And becasue you have to travel you don't get to be home a lot. May sound glamorous - but eventually all hotel rooms start looking the same.

And with the popuarity of Poker these days it's only going to get harder and harder as the field size increases dramatically every year. I would not mind being a talented amatuer and winning a seat to a couple major tourney's though...lol. It would be nice to get a chunk of winnings and be able to afford to play an event here or there as I choose and then have some vacation time after.

[The Professor]

Like I said in a different thread - I earn a nice income from Poker, but I don't rely on it as my only source of income.

To turn Pro would take a good sized bankroll - and very good bankroll management skills. You would have to have a pretty solid plan of action and at least initially you would have to "work" pretty long hours to cover a decent income.

[pokergal]

I have always wondered about that. I knew that it would take a good amount of money to get started. I doubt if I would ever want to go pro. I would hate to lose that kind of money.

[flopmistress]

I'd love to be a pro, I think it would be a blast to get to travel around the world and just play poker. I have no idea how much money it would take to get started and I don't know if I would ever be good enough. I mean I do OK, but the tournaments that you see on TV are all big buyins and they dont always win. So I think it would take a lot of money to go pro. More I think than I will ever have to spare...lol Nice dream though.

[The Professor]

There are different levels of tournaments though - you don't have to play on the "big stage" with the $10,000 buy-in tournaments - to even contemplate that you would be looking at needing a bankroll of somewhere around $1million for those sort of buy-ins.

But you would obviously start with alot smaller tournaments when you first went professional.

[rowena105]

There are a lot of tournaments that are $125.00, $60.00 with rebuys, $200.00 that you can play in almost everyday but ... do you really want to spend the number of hours it takes to play a tournament everyday?

I think if you are going pro you would be basically playing the cash tables with a tournament or two a week thrown in.

That's my way of thinking. I mean you aren't necessarily going to become one of THE MILLIONAIRES that you see playing in the WSOP or the WPT but you want to earn a decent income on a regular basis. If you are only going to play tourneys and "TRY" to move up into the big leagues then that means you have to spend money on travelling when they aren't in your hometown of Vegas or Reno or A/C.

[Basix]

I have turned Pro a few months ago. I can tell you you need to be very patienced and have no massive financial comitment and than you will have a chance in making it

[kentox]

discipline is critical..

the best way to start would be grinding out a nice bankroll part time initially, get heaps of practice (100 000 hands +) and work up the levels til you get to a level you can beat consistently

the only thing stopping you is playing outside your bankroll and excessive tilt.