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jamsey

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How to become a poker pro, starting with a 1000$ bankroll?

It's a huge challenge but I would love to realize it. I would like to be able to quit my job to play poker. When I can do this, when enough money pours in every month or so from poker to meet my living expenses and then some, I can say I have succeeded.

I wonder how it can best be done.

Posted 571 day ago

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soutie

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First make sure you've read the best books. check out twoplustwo for the best poker books. (I'd try to suggest one, but it depends on what you plan to play, SnGs, Limit, No Limit, MTTs, stud, etc)

Then, you need to settle in. With a 1,000 bankroll your ideal game is either .5/1 limit Hold Em or .25/.5 No Limit Hold Em. But, i'd get my feet wet one level below that until you are adjusted to what it is like to play long sessions. You can lose a lot when you play your first 2 hour session and aren't used to how tired or stressed you can get.

Then check out some rakeback sites like Rakeback Resource and bankroll building guides like Ultimate Poker Bankroll. Those will help you maximize your bankroll and let you turn 1,000 into 3,000 and then 10,000 a lot quicker than just play at the table. You can also get free pokertracker through them, which is an invaluable tool. You should not play professionally without this, or Poker Office.

You should also make sure you have a wide screen high res monitor for multi tabling without overlap. Start off with one table, then move to two, then three, then four before worrying about this, but the right monitor can make a big difference in your bottom line. With a crappy monitor you will miss hands when you are sat out on a table that is obscured, or misread bet sizes, and all sorts of other problems.

I would also make sure you take your time. Look at this as extra income, not a count down to quitting your job. Doing so will make downswings less stressful, and make the transition a lot easier on you. Don't set a time frame, just see how you do.

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Answers (10)

soutie 		You can't do it starting with $1000 if you just quit your current job.

You can keep your job, and play part time at night or on weekends. When you get to the point where your poker winnings are consistently higher than your regular salary, and you have at least six months of living expenses saved in the bank, then you can think about becoming pro.

I don't know if you live in the US, but if you do, don't forget to include things like Self Employment tax (15% + of your income), medical insurance (required under law thanks to Healthcare reform).

Good luck. You're going to need it.

Posted 571 day ago

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soutie 		First make sure you've read the best books. check out twoplustwo for the best poker books. (I'd try to suggest one, but it depends on what you plan to play, SnGs, Limit, No Limit, MTTs, stud, etc)

Then, you need to settle in. With a 1,000 bankroll your ideal game is either .5/1 limit Hold Em or .25/.5 No Limit Hold Em. But, i'd get my feet wet one level below that until you are adjusted to what it is like to play long sessions. You can lose a lot when you play your first 2 hour session and aren't used to how tired or stressed you can get.

Then check out some rakeback sites like Rakeback Resource and bankroll building guides like Ultimate Poker Bankroll. Those will help you maximize your bankroll and let you turn 1,000 into 3,000 and then 10,000 a lot quicker than just play at the table. You can also get free pokertracker through them, which is an invaluable tool. You should not play professionally without this, or Poker Office.

You should also make sure you have a wide screen high res monitor for multi tabling without overlap. Start off with one table, then move to two, then three, then four before worrying about this, but the right monitor can make a big difference in your bottom line. With a crappy monitor you will miss hands when you are sat out on a table that is obscured, or misread bet sizes, and all sorts of other problems.

I would also make sure you take your time. Look at this as extra income, not a count down to quitting your job. Doing so will make downswings less stressful, and make the transition a lot easier on you. Don't set a time frame, just see how you do.

Posted 571 day ago

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jonbrown 		There is a lot of good advice here already -- good job, Matt and pdq.

The thing is that if, at some point, you are able to quit your job to play poker, playing poker will become your job. You will need to have the discipline to play 30-50 hours a week, just like a job-job. And some of the hours where your results may be best may not be those you are normally awake for. Bankroll management is a big thing -- but, if you become a pro, bankroll management will need to incorporate your costs of living. That is, you will need to make a profit, every month, of at least the amount you need to live. Add in the cost of taxes. And, if you want to move up in levels, you will need to reach the bankroll-management-safe level to be able to do that. You need to have the discipline to move down a level if your bankroll falls below a certain point -- and then where are you on your cost of living profits? Oh, well, you will have to work more hours. And win. But nobody avoids downswings. So some weeks, or months, or years, you might be in the hole. Can you handle that financially or emotionally? (Sounds like hell to me!)
This assumes you are any good. Keep your job and play poker part-time. Build that $1000 up to $50,000 or $100,000 in a relatively safe, slow, disciplined way, where you never ever risk more than you should. Save up at least 6 months of living expenses -- a year's worth is better. And then you can consider whether this might be for you. Also note that Matt feels that $20/hr is a good return for a professional player. A lot of jobs pay that without any risk of losing money.

The months or years of working that extra 20-30 hours a week playing poker will give you a sense of the life you now think you want. It will also give you the sense of whether you have the ability to do it. Few do.

Bottom line: money doesn't necessarily pour in from poker. For most people, the money pours out, sometimes slowly, sometimes in great big splats.

Posted 571 day ago

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celt71 		I think Pdq and Matt both said good things. The 5% rule is good and safe. You can play stakes that low online, or you might be able to find some 25/50cent home games near you. At the same time, you can usually get away with cheating it, because it's rare you'll have a long streak of bad luck. Or if you do what Matt said, and use a win to buyin to the next level, that's kinda like having a bigger bankroll. For instance, the 5% rule says you can play 25/50c. If you made $100 and then played at a .5/$1, you're basically freerolling and you can try to profit faster. If you lose the $100, you can just go back down to 25/50c. If you win, stay at .5/$1. Stay at .5/1 until you have $2000, then start repeat the process: skip to the $1/2 stakes. Also, when you're doing this, you don't have to buy in for the max, you can do like 3/4 the max so you're not cutting as sharp a corner.

But imagining what I would do if it were my 1000, I have a different idea. But first, a disclaimer: my idea assumes you're already better than the average person playing at a casino. If you don't have much poker experience, if this dream of yours was rather spontaneous and you're starting from scratch with it, ignore everything below!

The average 1/2 game at a casino is about as easy as the average 10/25cent game online. The easiest days are weekends. But this is the summer so every day is easy. I was gonna say, start playing on weekends, but really you can play any night you have time to play. Play 1/2 no-limit. Buy in for 150. When you reach 300, cash out, go to another table (maybe at the neighboring casino), and buy in for 150 again. If, before you reach 300, you realize a table is a bit tough, switch tables. Also see if you can notice if some casinos are easier than others. Sometimes you'll have a choice of which table to sit at; see if you can get good at guessing which table is easier (aka, scoping).

If you get to 2500, you can stop doing the quick cashouts, stay at an easy table for as long as the fish do. When your bankroll hits 3500, start buying in for 200. At 5000, buy in for 300 if you see fish with lots of chips (so maybe buy in for 200, realize that a big stack is a fish or see a fish double up, then you can always add to your stack to make it 300). At 6000, start trying the 2/5 stakes, buy in for 300.

Like the others said, you should have a few months of steady success before considering quitting you job. But the summer months don't count, they're too easy. Let this summer just be a bankroll-builder. Then play through the fall, winter and spring, at 2/5 and 1/2. If you have success from this Fall to next Summer, especially at 2/5, playing multiple days per week (meaning, you're winning on weekdays, not just weekends), then you can probably quit your job without regretting it.

Posted 571 day ago

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celt71 		Quitting your job to play poker with a $1,000 bankroll is not a good idea. I suggest keeping your job and squeezing in 20-30 hours a week of poker and building your bankroll from that. As far as bankroll management if you are starting with just $1000 than you shouldn't be buying into cash games for more than $50. I prefer always to have 30 buyins available before moving up in stakes.
So at most you should be playing .25/.50 cash games. While it is possible to make a living at these stakes you will need to put in long hours (40-60 hrs / week) and being playing many tables at once (absolute minimum of 4 but preferably 8 -16) to make it a go. But playing 8-16 tables at once is a skill in itself and the cost for the propper equipment (e.g. multiple monitors/tv's) is thousands itself.Make sure you have a good bonus/rakeback program set up.
Check out my website for some useful tips:
http://www.areyouapokerfish.com/articles.html

Posted 571 day ago

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jonbrown 		Playing poker for fun or for money in casino games is good, but what would i say that don't quit your job for only the sake of playing poker. And as par your requirement of poker knowledge you need to have a good observer to play poker, as you have to observe many things while playing poker. I have posted a link below that could help you to learn the tips of poker playing. Hope it might help you.


Best of Luck.... :)

Posted 571 day ago

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cameron 		Just to add to the answer above about needing the correct skill level; this article offers a graphical example. I think it should be viewable whether you are a member or not. I assume you already play online so take a look and consider whether it is worth depositing $1000 or starting a little smaller and working up.

Posted 571 day ago

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Davidov 		Some really crappy advice on here so far.

You don't need to read that much on bankroll management, it's actually pretty simple. You just have to exercise discipline in executing it. I personally think that most people ignore one important fact when talking about bankroll management, at that is that it makes no difference how you manage your bankroll if you're not a winning player at the level you are playing at. You can sit at a $1/$2 table with $1 million, and you're still going to lose it all eventually if you are a losing player at those limits.

My advice is different than most, but more practical. I suggest you find a limit you can beat, then use your profits at that limit to test the higher limit games. For example, if you know you can sit at the .10/.25 NL games and make a profit, then you should play there until you have at least 3 buy ins at the next level up, and then move up and see if you can beat those games. If you win, stay there, if you lose two of those 3 buy ins, move back down to .10/.25 and stay there until you've got your 3 buy ins left.

Recommending that you don't play tournaments with less than a $8 buy in is ridiculous. If you can't beat the low buy in tables, then you can't beat the high buy in tables. You should always start at the bottom and work your way up, regardless of how big your starting bankroll is. And besides, you can make decent money at the low buy in tables. For example, say you play at the $6.50 turbo tables and can maintain a 15% ROI playing 15 tables at once (which is quite common among professional level players). You'll make over $20 an hour at those levels, not including the bonuses and/or rakeback (depending on where you play) that you'll earn.

It's hard to recommend to you what to do without knowing what you've already done. What do you play now? What levels can you beat? What do you want to play (ring games? STTs? MTTs?) If you have no experience at all yet, start at the bottom. If you want to play sit and goes, start at the $1 tables and work your way up. If you want to play MTTs, start at the $2.20 180 man tournies and work your way up. If you want to play ring games, start at the .10/.25 tables and work your way up.

The only good advice that was given before me was this: Don't quit your day job! Until you've established that you can make a living playing poker, assume you can't. Spend all of your free time playing and working on your poker game. Once you establish yourself and build up a substantial savings, THEN think about playing full time.

EDIT: I noticed the bad advice givers deleted their responses. lol.

Posted 571 day ago

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Davidov 		We don't even know if you know how to play poker profitably!

Let's assume that you do, but this is a HUGE assumption!

The most important thing you need to learn is Bankroll Management. Read a book about it, and take everything you learn to heart. In a nutshell, this is it: With $1,000 you shouldn't be playing any game that's a bigger buy-in than $50. Again - that's only provided you REALLY are an excellent player already!!! You should be playing either the $0.10/$0.25 games, or MAYBE the $0.25/$0.50 games. You should not consider going any higher than the $0.25/$0.50 until you're bankroll is at LEAST $2,000. Probably more to be safe.

You shouldn't be buying in for more than 5% of your bankroll, so if you start losing, you might have to go lower than the $0.10/$0.25 tables for awhile until you build your bankroll back up.

To say it is unlikely that you will be able to do this as a full time career is an understatement! Like John F said, make sure you've got 6 months worth of living expenses in the bank before you quit your "real" job. If you get on a winning streak early, you might doom yourself if you're overly confident with your playing ability.

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celt71 		All really great advices from the people above, learned a lot actually.. but just to state the obvious, it is going to be hard and it won't happen overnight, just keep at it, and treat the game as you would treat a business, have limits, schedules, accounting, monitoring, etc. I also want to realize the dream of being a poker pro, although I'm still far from getting there..

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