Professional poker player

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Dig it. It's weird, for some people it just works. I am a seriously stubborn person, and although I get frustrated, I just play play play. I don't think I could play cash games, where your chips represent actual dollars, because the highs and lows are incredibly mild compared to playing tournaments. I would get bored. Playing a tournament is much more dynamic, and winning one is exciting, winning a big one is nuts.

That brings me to a question. I looked at some of those pages you posted a while back. I am not a player but was curious. Browsing through I couldn't help noticing that amounts talked about were very different from actual takings. Is that right that you play for fantasy amounts?

I am trying to make a career playing poker as well.
I have just been playing 6 months and have made about $1000 - a long way from enough to live off I know but hopefully I will keep improving.
I have been playing mostly 180 player $4.40 sit n gos and I only play one table at once.
Do you play more than one table at once and if so how many?
Have you any advice on how I can improve my game?

I think what you're referring to is the value of the chips in play? Like they are talking about a hand where I bet far more chips than 1st place pays.

In a tournament, everyone pays a certain buy-in, and everyone starts with the same amount of chips. In most tournaments, you start with between 1500-5000 chips, regardless of the buy-in (although larger buy-ins tend to start with more chips). So, of course the 3000 chips I start with in a $100 tournament does not represent $3000, it actually represents the $100 I paid to enter the tournament. So the chips still have value, just not face value.

Interestingly, chips actually lose value as the tournament goes on. In addition, the less chips you have, the more they are worth. This is getting into some rather complicated tournament theory, so I'll leave it at that.

So to answer you question, the chips you bet in a tournament are technically a "fantasy amount", but they do represent actual value.

I started playing way way back on Party Poker playing $5 sngs, but I did spend about 6 months concentrating on the $22 180s back when they went off with some regularity.

In a typical weekday session, I'll start with 2-3 tables and generally peak around 10-12. I'll play maybe 14-20 tournaments total for the session.

In a typical Sunday session, I'll start with 1-5 tables (depending on when I start and what I play), and generally peak around 16-18. I'll play maybe 25-35 tournaments total for the session.

So I often only have 1-4 tables going, but I can handle as many as 20. Considering that most of what I do is fold, it's not as difficult as it sounds. I'll generally only be playing hands on 2-4 tables at a time, if that.

I can suggest a couple things. First off I would start reading the tournament forums on 2+2 (I won't provide a direct link, as I'm pretty sure that's against policy here, but you can google it). Secondly, I would get a subscription to either CardRunners or PokerXFactor (again, no links, google it). I prefer CardRunners, but they're both good. I especially suggest the videos from AJKHoosier and Timex on Cardrunners, although these will be specifically for mtts. I figure both sites will have some good videos for mttsngs (180s are mttsngs).

If you want to make any real money at this, you need to learn how to play at least 4 tables at a time, preferably more like 10.

Thought it might be interesting to show what a semi-typical Sunday looks like for me. I start playing today at 12:45 EST and continue registering until my last event at 20:20 EST, but could be playing (hopefully) as late as 05:00 EST, although it should wrap up by 00:00 EST. In total I am running 31 tournaments today. My total $ invested will be between $4000 and $5000, depending on how the rebuy tournaments go.

All the tournaments are no limit hold em, except for the very last tournament, which is limit omaha hi/lo.

My schedule looks like this... (you've got starting time/buy-in/guarantee, with $22r, the "r" denotes a rebuy)

Sportsbook -

15:00 $109 50k
17:00 $163 100k

Bodog -

14:00 $109 15k
16:00 $109 100k
16:35 $270 WSOP Satellite (48k)
20:30 $215 25k

Full Tilt -

13:30 $55r 21k
14:00 $256 350k
14:30 $22r 19.5k
15:00 $163 50k
16:00 $75 22.5k
16:22 $22 200k
16:30 $33r 19.5k
18:00 $216 750k
19:00 $75 40k
19:05 $216 200k
20:00 $163 75k
20:20 $109 30k

PokerStars -

12:45 $215 750k
13:00 $109 50k
14:00 $109r 300k
14:15 $22r 20k
15:00 $55 200k
15:15 $55r 40k
16:00 $11r 70k
16:30 $215 1.5m
17:00 $55 100k
18:30 $215 250k
19:00 $109 100k

I'll update with my net result if I'm not completely exhausted at the end of my session.

wow this is an awesome way to make a living! how much do you think you've put in it before it started paying off?

Well, I started playing in 2002 I think. It took about a year before I was making money, maybe 4 years before it was real money.

Or maybe you mean money? Even when I first started playing I did ok, was maybe a very small loser playing very low stakes, I can't imagine I lost more than $400 or so the first year I played. I was break even pretty quick.

I'm down to my last 5 tables right now, but we've booked a winning session for sure. I've cashed for at least $5500 having put in ~$4200. A little disappointed though because I got 5th in a tourney with $23,600 for 1st place.

I'm done for the day. Seems I won more than I thought. Still not sure exactly, have to wait till tomorrow to be sure, but it's at least $7000 in gross cashes. So looks like I'm up at least $2800 for the day. So not bad, but it definitely could have been stronger.

EDIT - $7845 in gross cashes. $3600 in profit for the day.

you sound like a good investment

That is such a cool job. When filling out forms and whatnot do you actually write "Professional Poker Player"??

Great if you can do this. Of course you do not have to spend all your time making as much money as you can. Once you have as much as you need you can take a few days off and enjoy your winnings. In particular you can concentrate your time only on playing the big money tournaments. Once you are a millionaire, I guess a tournament that pays you a couple of hundred will not feel worthwhile.

You can spend some of the other time doing things that give you satisfaction in other areas.

Perhaps I should learn to play poker. I play bridge quite well although I never really achieved in the game because I could never find partners. I play a fair bit online but not for money - too hard to organise money tournaments online as players are too likely to cheat (eg IM their hands to each other).

(You can often tell actually when your opponents have cheated. They make a random double on nothing and their partner has all the right cards for them).

You women, all you're after is that paper...

j/k obv

Depends what form. Sometimes I'm "self-employed", sometimes I'm a web designer.

When it's all said and done, I generally work less than 30 hours a week, and I have the option to sleep whenever I like. I spend a good bit of time on my other hobbies.

I'm not too attached to material stuff though, so I don't spend my money on silly things. But I'm also not attached to money, so I splurge when it feels right (buying Dom for friends bachelor party, etc). Also, I paid cash for my sweet ride. (this is not a pic I took, just grabbed it off google)

One thing you need to check carefully if you don't already is whether you need to declare your winnings for taxes. If that is your profession and you make enough that way, you may have to.

I'd suggest you get yourself a tax lawyer and accountant to find out. Just to be safe.