Killingbird said
So amazing...congrats my friend!!  It's times like this I wish i could find the swim floaties picture.  

Like this life preserver, I'll never let you down when it comes to finding my old silly ass pictures.

Carlos said
Poker History:
I have been a member for over a year, but I am just now starting to use the forum.

I started playing in 2003 and moved to online in 2005. I began at 9 man SNGs, moved to MT SNGs (which is when I signed up for TPE), and now I am playing MTTs on Merge. I have played a little live cash and even less online cash.

Overall I have been profitable, but I was an 8th grade math teacher in Atlanta, Ga for the last 5 years and have come back around to trying to do mtts to eek out a small living (2-3K monthly) to supplement my other streams of income. I am single with no kids and I live very cheaply so I am very comfortable with this.

Safety net:

I have about 3 months of expenses saved in liquid accounts and another 3 months that I can get within 30 days. I also work part time as a math tutor and dj. If that is slow, I can take a few days as a substitute teacher. Worst case scenario, I still have my teaching certificate so I could get a contract very quickly because math teachers are always in high demand.

Goals:

- A yearly profit of at least $30 000.

- Average 5 days a week and between 10-15 tournaments each of those days

- Im rolled for games up to $11. I will mostly play $5 games and lower to start out though. I will play sattys in order to take shots at bigger games.

- I may also play some small stakes and live cash to improve my post flop game.

- Actively improve my game by watching videos, discusssing and posting hands, reviewing my own game

- Spend the summer in Vegas to grind the small sattys and play at least one real $1000-$1500 WSOP event.

- Possibly play some smaller events at casinos in the south.

Progress Reports:

 
1. Weekly Reviews

2. Monthly Reviews
I've seen things like this done in the past for a few months, but I am serious about keeping up with this for the entire year. I will be back Monday 1/7/13 for the first weekly report.  

We did it guys!

https://www.pokernews.com/tours/wsop/2021-wsop-com-online-bracelet-events/event-8/chips.421162.htm

Foucault said
Guaranteed? Just take that word out of your vocabulary if you are thinking of playing poker professionally.

Then check out .....-pros/  

WOW, i remember this post from way back in the day.  A really good read!

I never cease to be amazed at the breadth of characters we have here from all walks of life. 

"Better to take the plunge one year too late than too early".

Sure, I can go with this. Also, I got kids to support, so I have to be sure it will work out.

WRT what Andrew says re: taking 'guaranteed' out my vocabulary...I know that a full time MTT pro can never bank on winning years sometimes...which must be brutal. But a SNG'er who dabbles in MTT's is surely much better placed to have as guaranteed an income as it is possible to get?

Foucault said
Guaranteed? Just take that word out of your vocabulary if you are thinking of playing poker professionally.

Then check out .....-pros/  

What he said!!!

Let me give you an example outside of poker that might put this into some perspective. When I graduated from college I joined my family's business. I worked in the family business and while I enjoyed working with my dad, I did not enjoy the business itself. After five years I made the decision that I would leave the family business and go into sportswriting (journalism was my college major and I was a sportswriter/columnist on my college newspaper). I gave my dad one year's notice that I was leaving so that a replacement could be found and trained. During that year I worked in the family business during regular business hours and I got a freelance job (meager pay, good experience) covering high school sports in evenings and during weekends for the Chicago Sun-Times. I was also all set to go to Northwestern University to get my Master's in journalism when the year was up. I never went to Northwestern, however, because I ended up getting a full-time job at a national sports publication before the start of the school year. I worked at the national sports publication for 12 years and loved it before changing fields one more time 16 years ago to take over a new family business that had been started after the original family business was sold.

Most people told me when I left the original family business to go back into journalism that they thought it took a lot of guts to make the decision I did without knowing if I would be able to get back into journalism after a six-year hiatus. I never saw it as taking guts or as being risky. I felt that the only way to get back into journalism was to take the plunge and commit to the change. Even though I did not know how it would play out, the only way to make it happen was to go for it. There was no guarantee it would work, but trying to just dip my toe into journalism was never going to make it happen. I did my due diligence, was confident in my abilities and I went for it. I suppose I was walking a tightrope without a net, but the only way to get from one part of my life to the next was to take a chance.

That is what I suspect a poker player must do when making the initial decision to become a full-time pro. I am not saying to be reckless in your decision, but you put in the work, see some positive results and at some point you have to decide if you want to go for it. If it seems too risky there is no shame in not taking the plunge. But if you have the bankroll to give it a shot and deal with no regular paycheck then perhaps you make the decision to go for it. You have to take an honest look at your ability to handle a possible poker downswing when you no longer receive a steady paycheck.

As for your question about whether you should take the plunge now or give yourself another year to part-time grind at poker to see what the results are while you still have a regular paycheck, the advice I give to most people in business is it is almost always better to take a chance one year too late as opposed to one year too soon if you are not certain. Another way of looking at this is when I am talking to tenants or prospective tenants in the office buildings I own or my family owns (the new family business), I always tell them that it is always better to take too small a space than too big a space. If you take too small of a space you are a bit cramped for a year but you know you can handle it financially before going bigger. If you take too big of a space you might end up putting yourself out of business.

I hope this helps. I thought that looking at the question from a non-poker perspective might clarify things.

Then check out ...../mtt-pros/

How large does my sample size need to be to know if I can go pro?

I have been a losing tourney player all the way to 2017. In 2018 I have won a total of $37000, playing mainly SNG's but also a fair few tourneys. I have a sample size of 2367 tourneys/ SNG's. My ROI is 10%.

Last year I took home from my day job £40000, or $49,952 gross. My net income was £30,161 or $37,666.

I could, very easily, multiply by 10 my game volume. In fact, I could probably x it by 20.

Is 2367 SNG's/ T's a large enough sample size to be confident that my 10% ROI is basically guaranteed? Or should I give it another year to make sure? My estimation is that the ratio of SNG to T is 10:1.

Many thanks for your thoughts.

~Maniac1130

As for me, I believe I took 4th place this week. So I get a $55 tourney ticket. Who knows, maybe that will be my ticket to increase my bankroll. Anyway. Good seeing you play KB. Extremely excited about the podcast. I can't frickin wait!

~Maniac1130