How should I read this

[jimmym]

Hello All and Happy New Year.

As some of you may now, I really do love playing online poker.
After a couple of years dabbling here and there, at a cost. I decided this year to have a go, but with the intension of making money.
I have a job that allows me to play poker knowing that I could afford to lose a max of $150 per week for a year, this may sound stupid but really it isnt, I gamble quite a bit and usally spend a a far bit at horse and dog meetings I can do this because I also get pleasure out of the meetings I attend and class this as a evening out.
I really do love poker though and I want to turn pro and enter some serious tournys in the next few years.

To convince my wife I entered a freeroll on pokerstars tonight and played for nothing, I finished 18 out of 3553. Ok I and you says this means nothing, but as I said to her. If I want to play well I can.

Freerolls are nothing to any player upto a certain point, then it comes down to POKER, and Good poker players, at least thats what I think.

To finish this my stats are this , first full year won a couple of hundred online, second full year lost a couple of thousand online.

Read that and you may laugh, why does he want to play as a pro?

Well the differnce is , I know I can play better now and I want to win.

Is THIS good enough for me to do it now?

Please give me some of your thoughts, It would be appreciated, I joined this forum because poker players could ask for advice and comments, I guess now is my time to ask.

Jim.

[Talking Poker]

My quick response:

Keep playing online (playing your best - so there's no more excuses), and fine tune your game until you are winning consistently. I think even considering turning "pro" before this would be a very bad idea.

Poker is a great second job, but most any pro will tell you that only a very few people are cut out for playing poker as a primay source of income.

[Aequitas58]

You want to become a professional poker player. What does that mean to you?

1. do you want to earn your living as a poker player, or
2. do you want to consistently win when you play poker?
They are two different things. Someone can have a day job, but play (and win) high stakes poker cash games and tournaments.

If you want to earn your living at poker, you have to look at the game in a different light. Poker has to become a job. Not only does this job require you to start off with a big bankroll, but you have to be "good" at your job to make enough money to live.

Here's my advice. Take it or leave it:
If you think you have real potential to make lots of money at this game, then don't dismiss it. Although I think alot of people want to be winning poker players, if given enough time and dedication, I believe the game can be beat. I suggest keeping your day job. Designate a fixed poker income and work with it online. Expand this money by winning at cash games, SnGs, and MTTs. Take your beats in stride, and try not making the same mistakes over again. Win satellites to get into big, expensive MTTs. Read anything and everything related to poker. Keep current with 2+2, RGP, and other internet forums, and definitely discuss your results on a consistent basis. Start a poker blog. Once you get good, you will have results. Results make it easier to get backers, and one day, you might find yourself backed in the WSOP main event. Hoe do you think Raymer got there. Then, and only then, is it up to the amount of coin flips you win.

Good luck.

[BrianSwa]

another good post Lou, I'am way off the pro fork in the road and am no way gonna go pro anytime soon but I totally agree with Tp and Lou before you turn pro you need to become a winning player. Im in no way a winning player and really have no place to give advice so im just giving my opinion. Start keeping track of you online seccions and see where you can tighten up your game, If you are losing money see if its because you played badley or just got unlucky, like its been said before in the long run the better players make out with the money. It seems like you have the bankroll for the swings so start grinding it out this year and see how you do, then at the end of the year look back and see if YOU think you play good enough to enter those pro events, hell maybe you will make enough this year to enter those high buy-ins then if you fail go back to grinding it out and try again if you wish. Whatever you choose I wish you all the luck in the world.

[omahilo]

to me it sounds like he wants to play pro as in big buyin tourneys and play the cash games but wants to keep working. Also he makes enough money to do this for fun but wants to start taking it more serious.

I personally think u should take it seriously. If your playing with extra income and such, its alot easier than if you were playing with the rent money.

The best example of this I can think of is Paul Phillips, he is a dot com millionaire and just picked up poker as like a hobby and such. Since he can play in 10K buyin tourneys like they are nothing, he has no pressure on him whatsoever. But He started taking it seriously and is now a really good player who can play tournaments with some of the best in the world.

[jimmym]

Thank You .

Good advice there from the 4 people I expected it from, I will take your comments on board and have a think I what I am going to do.

Again Thanks for your replies.

Jim.

[eddo31]

jim

i would agree that playing well all of the time is the first thing that you need to do, and then down the road you can make a decision. i would guess that your experience online so far, even though it is a losing experience, would be very helpful towards your continued progress. use the information that you have been picking up over the last two years, and combine that with actively studying your own game in order to improve.

it seems like you have a sufficient bankroll to play with, so that isnt really the biggest issue for you, but in order to fine tune your game you might want to drop down a few levels. as a horse bettor, i would guess that you might generally sit down in poker games that are reasonable stakes for you, but they are populated by better players than the smallest game in the room. if you make money less of an issue, and play below you rmeans fo ra little while i think that this can help your game significantly