Making some major life changes

[Radii]

I rarely post deep stuff about my life here past a few threads about my job, but I feel like writing this will be good for me, and some people here know me pretty darn well.

I'm 31, been divorced about a year now, I'm a software developer making a very good(near 6 figure) salary, I have not been unemployed since I was 16. I moved away from home(home = Wake Forest, NC) when I was 18 to come to Georgia Tech and have been in Atlanta ever since. I've had issues with my mom, who is bi-polar and occasionally very very hard to deal with. I've never been alienated from my family, but i've been... distanced.

I posted awhile ago about my job, that I work for a company on the verge of going under. After being shorted some money one paycheck 2 months ago that has yet to be made up, and seeing things continue to flounder(trout?), I've turned in my notice, effective ~Christmas. Nothing odd there, I've changed jobs before, I have a very good skillset. But things are different this time. Maybe I'm jaded, or burnt out, I don't know, but I simply have decided I need time away. I have no desire or interest to go Monster hunting for a new gig.

So what's the rest of this that makes it worth posting?

Neither of my parents health is great. My mom has a laundry list of issues, both physical and psychological. My dad miraculously and wonderfully beat brain cancer 5 years ago, but brain surgery and whole head radiation take their toll. He is simply not the same man, memory issues, vision issues, confusion... My grandfather is 92, but in better health than both my parents. My younger sister has done an astounding job of being there for them, and they are all religous and receive help from their churches. As the years go by though, my distance from the situation crosses my mind more. I don't have the savings to take significant time off where I live now. BUT, I can move back home and my savings will last me 12-15 months, depending on how some things at work end up. Good for the family, good for me.

Now, the decision to move back home doesn't make me a saint, though i do truly desire to spend more time with all of my mom, dad, sister, and grandfather.

The questionable/selfish/degenerate part of the story: I love poker. I have long wondered if I was talented enough to for a living, if I would enjoy playing for a living, have seen friends do it successfully, and have passed up the chance to do it in the past because my life situation simply made it impossible. Now is the time to explore the possibilities. I have savings set aside. I have a small online bankroll, but moving home I have virtually no expenses. I have a larger amount of money (separate from savings) available outside of the online roll, and as part of keeping my sanity while living at home, plan on spending 7-10 days a month elsewhere, vegas, Atlantic City, tunica, biloxi, wherever is the most affordable(likely Atlantic City, drive+cheap hotels leaves me with small expenses). I want to seriously work on my live game and seriously challenge myself to scrape out a living with the extremely low expenses and fallback I will have in 2008 of being with my family, and evaluate after a time whether I can do this, want to do this, or if its time to enter the work force.

There are some other alternatives too. We're exploring the opportunity for me to contract some hours a month at the job I'm leaving. I have some pretty strict constraints on my willingness to do this(max 50-60 hrs/mo, being given deadlines and being allowed to plan my own schedule to meet them, not being accessable 9-5 except near deadlines). Right now my primary desire is to make my own living and support myself on my own timelines, I have a *love* for poker which makes it a natural pursuit but I'm keeping my mind open.

Anyway, this is so long and out of hand, sorry. This will be the first time in my adult life that I won't know exactly when the next check comes in. It'll be the first time in 13 years I've had extended exposure with a family that I love, but have selfishly distanced myself from. I know I'm doing the right thing, but damn I'm apprehensive.

If you made it this far, you are quite the trooper, and I appreciate taking the time to read this incredibly long post.

[Radii]

dola, the poker portion of this is begging for a dynasty, don't you think?

[Buccaneer]

What a minute, didn't you just get married like 2 years to oliegirl? Or am I mixing metaphors again?

[Subby]

You are my hero.

Dynasty: yes, please!

[Eaglesfan27]

What a minute, didn't you just get married like 2 years to oliegirl? Or am I mixing metaphors again?

That is who he divorced about a year ago. No advice for you Radii, but I hope it works out well for you whatever you decide.

[Passacaglia]

Good luck, I hope it all works out for the best! :)

[stevew]

Good luck, you've always been one of my favorite FOFC'ers and I'm sure it'll work out for you. Worst comes to worst, and you'll just have to grind out the 9-5 if it doesn't work out for ya. Maybe we'll be seeing you on ESPN?

I'd still look into the contract thing though, as it's always a lot more expensive than you think when you don't have a steady income.

[Galaxy]

That is who he divorced about a year ago. No advice for you Radii, but I hope it works out well for you whatever you decide.

I though they were getting married. I must be out of the FOFC Dating loop.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Poker?

"Out of hand?"


Have you considered comedy writing?

(seriously, good luck... although reccomending anyone look to poker as a way of life for anything other than destroying his credit and paying back the ex and her alimony "needs")

(PS, if that's the case I support you 100%!)

[Radii]

What a minute, didn't you just get married like 2 years to oliegirl? Or am I mixing metaphors again?

Yeah, the discussion of the divorce was oddly placed in a thread that didn't mention the divorce in the thread title and that most people would have skipped over anyway. ;) I never really discussed it here at all myself outside of possibly replying in that one thread, and I don't remember if I even did that. We had an unfortunately short marriage, separated last July(2006) and officially divorced Jan 07. No major trauma on either side at that time, just a mutual realization that some poor and hasty decisions were made that could be undone for the better of all.

[Radii]

You are my hero.

Odd, you're pretty much my hero around these parts, with the weight loss, marathons and other successes! (this is getting awkward, lets make out)



I'd still look into the contract thing though, as it's always a lot more expensive than you think when you don't have a steady income.

Yeah, I do feel like I have a solid handle on my expenses, I know what little credit debt I have left will cost me, I have auto and health insurance covered, and I do still fully expect you're right, that as realistic/conservative as I'm trying to be, my expenses may be more than I'm figuring.

I have a very good feeling about the contract work so far, but I work for some very emotional people and I am not holding my breath. It will be a major boon if it happens, but is not something I am counting on.



(seriously, good luck... although reccomending anyone look to poker as a way of life for anything other than destroying his credit and paying back the ex and her alimony "needs")


recent identity theft issues have reinforced and strengthened my hatred of creditors, credit, and debt. All year I have been actively 'scaling down' my life, and really this is in part a continuation of that. I have very, very low expectations for income in 2008. Outside from reviewing my income from a poker perspective I am perfectly content and ok with having a low income(I won't be living at home forever, the goal for 2008 is to simply make progress towards a place where I could support a higher cost of living down the road, if it looks like I'll still be living at home in 2010 or 2011, well, it'll be time to change the plan ;))


I though they were getting married. I must be out of the FOFC Dating loop.

Yeah I really very, very rarely post about that kind of thing, the people I play OOTP and FBCB with see a little more of that, don't feel bad ;)


I appreciate the kind words and words of support, this community is freaking awesome.

[JeeberD]

Best of luck to you, bud. I hope it works out!

[Cringer]

This will be the first time in my adult life that I won't know exactly when the next check comes in. It'll be the first time in 13 years I've had extended exposure with a family that I love, but have selfishly distanced myself from. I know I'm doing the right thing, but damn I'm apprehensive.


I know the feeling. I am on the edge of doing this myself in about 2-3 weeks. Good luck, hope it works out for you as much as I hope it does for me. Enjoy taking the leap, I know I will.

[cubboyroy1826]

Best of luck in your endeavors. I respect what you are doing and think you will fondly look back at this time.

[Galaxy]

Best of luck to you. My advice: Don't look back in 5-20 years and regret what you didn't do. Even if you somehow don't succeed, you'll wonder what if. Life is boring if you don't take a risk every now and then (as long as you are prepared for them).

[sabotai]

The questionable/selfish/degenerate part of the story: I love poker. I have long wondered if I was talented enough to for a living, if I would enjoy playing for a living, have seen friends do it successfully, and have passed up the chance to do it in the past because my life situation simply made it impossible. Now is the time to explore the possibilities. I have savings set aside. I have a small online bankroll, but moving home I have virtually no expenses. I have a larger amount of money (separate from savings) available outside of the online roll, and as part of keeping my sanity while living at home, plan on spending 7-10 days a month elsewhere, vegas, Atlantic City, tunica, biloxi, wherever is the most affordable(likely Atlantic City, drive+cheap hotels leaves me with small expenses). I want to seriously work on my live game and seriously challenge myself to scrape out a living with the extremely low expenses and fallback I will have in 2008 of being with my family, and evaluate after a time whether I can do this, want to do this, or if its time to enter the work force.

I don't see anything questionable, selfish or degenerative about this. You only get to live once. If you're aren't trying to follow your dreams, then what the hell is the point? If you find that you can't do it or that it isn't worth it, then at least you tried and can move on to something else you love to do.

Good luck!

[Chief Rum]

I rarely post deep stuff about my life here past a few threads about my job, but I feel like writing this will be good for me, and some people here know me pretty darn well.

I'm 31, been divorced about a year now, I'm a software developer making a very good(near 6 figure) salary, I have not been unemployed since I was 16. I moved away from home(home = Wake Forest, NC) when I was 18 to come to Georgia Tech and have been in Atlanta ever since. I've had issues with my mom, who is bi-polar and occasionally very very hard to deal with. I've never been alienated from my family, but i've been... distanced.

I posted awhile ago about my job, that I work for a company on the verge of going under. After being shorted some money one paycheck 2 months ago that has yet to be made up, and seeing things continue to flounder(trout?), I've turned in my notice, effective ~Christmas. Nothing odd there, I've changed jobs before, I have a very good skillset. But things are different this time. Maybe I'm jaded, or burnt out, I don't know, but I simply have decided I need time away. I have no desire or interest to go Monster hunting for a new gig.

So what's the rest of this that makes it worth posting?

Neither of my parents health is great. My mom has a laundry list of issues, both physical and psychological. My dad miraculously and wonderfully beat brain cancer 5 years ago, but brain surgery and whole head radiation take their toll. He is simply not the same man, memory issues, vision issues, confusion... My grandfather is 92, but in better health than both my parents. My younger sister has done an astounding job of being there for them, and they are all religous and receive help from their churches. As the years go by though, my distance from the situation crosses my mind more. I don't have the savings to take significant time off where I live now. BUT, I can move back home and my savings will last me 12-15 months, depending on how some things at work end up. Good for the family, good for me.

Now, the decision to move back home doesn't make me a saint, though i do truly desire to spend more time with all of my mom, dad, sister, and grandfather.

The questionable/selfish/degenerate part of the story: I love poker. I have long wondered if I was talented enough to for a living, if I would enjoy playing for a living, have seen friends do it successfully, and have passed up the chance to do it in the past because my life situation simply made it impossible. Now is the time to explore the possibilities. I have savings set aside. I have a small online bankroll, but moving home I have virtually no expenses. I have a larger amount of money (separate from savings) available outside of the online roll, and as part of keeping my sanity while living at home, plan on spending 7-10 days a month elsewhere, vegas, Atlantic City, tunica, biloxi, wherever is the most affordable(likely Atlantic City, drive+cheap hotels leaves me with small expenses). I want to seriously work on my live game and seriously challenge myself to scrape out a living with the extremely low expenses and fallback I will have in 2008 of being with my family, and evaluate after a time whether I can do this, want to do this, or if its time to enter the work force.

There are some other alternatives too. We're exploring the opportunity for me to contract some hours a month at the job I'm leaving. I have some pretty strict constraints on my willingness to do this(max 50-60 hrs/mo, being given deadlines and being allowed to plan my own schedule to meet them, not being accessable 9-5 except near deadlines). Right now my primary desire is to make my own living and support myself on my own timelines, I have a *love* for poker which makes it a natural pursuit but I'm keeping my mind open.

Anyway, this is so long and out of hand, sorry. This will be the first time in my adult life that I won't know exactly when the next check comes in. It'll be the first time in 13 years I've had extended exposure with a family that I love, but have selfishly distanced myself from. I know I'm doing the right thing, but damn I'm apprehensive.

If you made it this far, you are quite the trooper, and I appreciate taking the time to read this incredibly long post.

Long post, my ass. You, sir, are just a novice, and one I find wanting. :D

Seriously, though, wow, good luck. It takes a lot of guts to follow your dreams.

[Izulde]

Seriously, do this now while you have the opportunity to. Even if it all flames out in the end (which it doesn't sound like this will), you'll be richer for the experience and the memories, both with your family and your poker attempts.

[Dutch]

You are a braver man that I. Good luck!

[Malificent]

As I told you, sir, since you'll be in my area, any assistance I can give you is yours. This is the right move for you, and I hope it works out.

[timmynausea]

Sounds like a pretty sweet plan on multiple levels, and, yes, you should definitely do some kind of Going Pro poker dynasty. That'd be awesome.

[digamma]

In the words of Will Muschamp, possible future head coach at your alma mater, "Boom Mother Fucker, Yeah!"

Good luck, will be pulling for you. (Even if this does put you back closer to the Heels.)

[Lathum]

Radii- I went pro about a year ago and it is hard. I guess the only advice is you should definantly do the contract work if able to. One of the best things I did was get a part time job at a country club bartending. It definantly helped keep me sane having a little extra money coming in during the down swings.

I am still persuing it and am slowly doing better but it really is a grind. When I started I had visions of winning alot early on and it wasn't like that. Ot takes time for the math to work in your favor.

[Klinglerware]

Good luck to you, Radii.

[Lorena]

Best of luck to you. My advice: Don't look back in 5-20 years and regret what you didn't do. Even if you somehow don't succeed, you'll wonder what if. Life is boring if you don't take a risk every now and then (as long as you are prepared for them).

Yup, exactly... life is all about taking risks and boy have we taken them. If you have the finances to support you, absolutely go for it! Better to try and not succeed than never trying at all.

Good luck!

Oh, your post isn't that long. If you wanna see long posts, go visit the WW forum, you'll see several of them. Ahem Chief Rum :)

[NoMyths]

Sending good thoughts, radii -- you're a sharp cat, and there's little question you'll do just fine this year.

[CamEdwards]

Best of luck, Radii. It sounds like it'll be an exciting year. :)

[Toddzilla]

Wow - seems like a major coming together of several huge life changes. Making one big decision is usually tough enough. It sounds like you have given this a tremendous amount of thought which is reassuring, and at the same time it sounds like you are going to realize a certain degree of "peace", with your personal self, with your family, and with your professional self. Very few of us have the opportunity to do all that, so in a way you're pretty lucky.

My only caution would be to make very darn sure that you have an iron-clad fall-back plan if everything goes downhill. I know you've probably done all the "what ifs?" a hundred times so I'm not going to re-hash them here, but if poker dried up, the contract gig went away, and your parent's health took a turn for the worse requiring your near-constant attention, will you be able to handle it and be able to support yourself financially and emotionally?

No doubt you've got a huge network of friends right here who can and will do whatever we can to support you, so go live your dream, grasshopper, and look me up when you drive through DC one of these days - I may even go halfsies on the gas and ride with you to AC :)

[Icy]

Go for it man, it's the perfect time. As you said, you have money to survive for some time, good skills and experience to search for a new job if needed, no family to feed (i mean wife and kids), etc so you can afford to have a hard start for a few months, then if it works, great, if it doesn't, you would have enjoyed a lot pursuing your dream and you will be back on time to search for a work like the one you have right now and get back to a more standard life.

About poker, recently i have been talking a lot with a poker pro from Spain. he plays mainly online besides some championships at poker shows from time to time and he makes a good living from it while having a goof life due to the freedom of no working schedulle. He is now also writing a poker book (that is why we talked, to study the possibility of creating a poker strategies/school website), so the income sources are not only related to playing poker in big championships, you can make small sums playing online or doing related stuff, and at the end, all the small sums can be a nice chunk together to support your hobby and profession.

I guess the pro poker player life is not the best for a family man, as it's too risky and you can't play with your family food, but being single and with a good backup of skills and savings as you have, you can't lose a lot.

Go for it and write the dynasty :)

[Radii]

You guys are awesome, the kind words and support from people here means quite a bit. Within 2 hours of my original post I had two PMs from people in the southeast US asking about my technical background for jobs they are aware of. That really means a lot and shows what a great community we have here :D

The dynasty will definitely happen, probably starting in early-mid january. I bought a cheap laptop from Dell last week to make sure I can keep up with OOTP and FBCB while I'm travelling, and because I don't think I would last that long without internet access ;)

[-apoc-]

As some of you may know I am about the same age as you (turn 30 in March) and I play poker for a living and have for just shy of 3 years. In all honestly Radii if you really do love poker do not think about doing it professionally. I used to love poker but now it really just is work 95% of the time. Im sure it is still better than a real job especially for me since I only have an AA degree its not like I can get a great job but for a professional like yourself I really think it is going to be a step in the wrong direction fo 99% of people in your situation.

If this was happening a year and a half ago I would have probably said go for it but the situation has really changed since last Oct. as I am sure you are aware it really is alot harder to make good money these days. There is still penty of money to be made but takes alot of time and effort to make it.

The amount of hours I work in a month is great alot less than most people but the hours I do work suck. I work pretty much every evening and to even think about going out on a friday or saturday night is a major ordeal because those are obviously the best 2 nights of the week. So even just dinner with friends on the weekend is hard for me let alone me and my gf going out.

Alot of it depends on what you play, your bankroll, how many tables you can play at once, and how much you are realistically looking to make but overall at this stage its really not something I recomend getting into.

[Radii]

If this was happening a year and a half ago I would have probably said go for it but the situation has really changed since last Oct. as I am sure you are aware it really is alot harder to make good money these days. There is still penty of money to be made but takes alot of time and effort to make it.


Yeah, you bring up some good points, and all things that I'm all too aware of. And of course one of the biggest risks is the in flux state of things online, which is part of the reason I want to spend some time playing live as well(I see a ton of 2+2'ers laugh at live players, "dude just stay home and play online", and live 2+2'ers who say "online poker is boring and shitty, live players are so bad at such higher stakes", I'm hoping i fall somewhere in between and can appreciate both).

The hours are really what i want. I despise 9-5. The peak/most profitable hours in poker are the hours I would choose to code if I got to set my hours. And that's something that might happen eventually, and why I'm looking at the contract work as well. After awhile I may well see that the grass was just greener on the other side, but right now, I would rather make $30,000 on my own terms than $90,000 working for someone else, and I'm the type that lives on a lot less than $30,000/yr anyway now that i have debt under control.


A good RL friend of mine played online for a living for 2 years before he decided it was a soulsucking existance he couldn't stand. I may well find the same thing, but this feels like the right time to try to figure it out for myself and not have regrets down the road. Plus of course the other factors right now are very important. If something happens to my dad and I'm still in Atlanta not visiting often, and I'm not even happy doing what I'm doing down here, I'd never forgive myself.


I think that its probably 50/50 that I end up back in the normal workforce during 2008, hopefully with a different and improved perspective on things :) But until its time to review things and make that decision, I'll do what I can to swing those odds in my favor.

[Cap Ologist]

Try the poker gig out, if it fails maybe Chicago State will hire you as their basketball coach. ;)

Also, what kind of laptop did you buy? I'm currently shopping for one as well.

[Swaggs]

I'll be rooting for you, Rich.

You'll never regret spending time with your family, in my opinion. My mother just had a series of strokes over the Summer and my father-in-law had a heart bypass operation in March and both my wife and I have been having a lot of feelings about moving back home, to be closer to them.

The only suggestion I would have would be to try to stay partially employed (contract work would certainly qualify) and up to speed on the technology in your field, so, if you decide to go back, you will still be current and marketable.

When you get up here, send me a PM. I'll see if I can find you some Carolina tix, while we still have some connections. :)

[Radii]

Also, what kind of laptop did you buy? I'm currently shopping for one as well.


Dell Vostro, out of their small business line:

http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/vostronb?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd


Currently they're running an instant $384 off. I didn't need anything powerful, I prefer desktop computing for 99% of the things I do, I just want wireless, something that can run FBCB, OOTP, etc. I got a 15" with upgraded display to allow for 1440x990 resolution, and a laptop bag $775 after taxes. A buddy of mine upgraded a bit more for a laptop he can play WoW on and spent $1150 I think.

[Radii]

The only suggestion I would have would be to try to stay partially employed (contract work would certainly qualify) and up to speed on the technology in your field, so, if you decide to go back, you will still be current and marketable.

Yeah, if I am not contracting I will be looking for little projects to do for myself to stay sharp. I've always done backend/server side stuff, but I'm thinking about learning more about UI and web technologies, ASP.NET since I already have visual studio and maybe try to do some cool things with the FBCB site or something(though I've promised/intended to do that before and never did ;) )

When you get up here, send me a PM. I'll see if I can find you some Carolina tix, while we still have some connections. :)

Sorry Subby, I'm easy to bribe. I have a new hero now.

[GoldenEagle]

I had no clue about your divorce. I feel kind of bad about getting into it with you a couple of times. Sorry about that.

If you are going to do the poker for a living, you will have to find a way to not be American anymore. Have you thought about finding a Canadian server? You can route your IP through that and get to play on Party, B2B, etc.

Are you playing no-limit these days?

[-apoc-]

Well then on to the poker questions. What do you plan on playing tourny, cash, sng? How many tables at a time, how many hours a week and what limits roughly?

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

It takes just as much energy to wonder what if, as it does to just do it.

Best of luck Radii.

[Mustang]

You're bluffing

[Radii]

Well then on to the poker questions. What do you plan on playing tourny, cash, sng? How many tables at a time, how many hours a week and what limits roughly?


For awhile I was convinced that I was going to completely focus on tournaments. I'm profitable in the 12/180 turbos on Stars and had planned on making that my primary game, expecting to eventually 4-table them to an expected 60-80% ROI, or to basic pushbot 2 of them and play the $3 rebuy(and eventually get back up to the $11 rebuy) and some other choice bigger(in terms of entrants) MTTs.

The experience live has changed some of that. NL Cash felt very natural, soft, and crushable live. Of course I'm just playing 1/2 $300 buyin live, but I've seen enough reports of people beating it for $30/hr over 1000+ hours(my results: $40/hr over 30 hours. 30 hours is statistically relevant, right? :D). So I've started the move to NL25 6-max on stars and am so far crushing it for unsustainble rates... 2-tabling for ~25PTBB/100 over 2500 hands(which works out to like $22/hr, which of course at NL25 2-tabling is ridiculously unsustainable). I'm taking my time at the moment though, re-reading Professional NLHE(highly recommended, btw), focusing heavily on REM and SPR and not trying to add tables(or certainly move up, no way i'm doing that after 2500 hands anyway) until hand reading and adjusting my play based on SPR is a ton more natural than it is now. I think 4-tabling is a very reasonable goal though by the time I get up to 10,000 hands logged.


I've of course done lots of reading about the experiences of online poker pros and most seem to suggest playing 25-30 hours a week to remain sharp and dedicating time to hand history review and study and such. It does seem like many play a ton more than that and I don't know if the drawback is burnout or sub-optimal play or what. I know that for the past few months I've been working 40-50 hours a week and playing poker for at least 30 and often 40, but that's with no pressure for results and screwing around and such.


I haven't yet set monetary goals. I've tried to estimate expenses as accurately as I can, I've done a lot of research into taxes, that kind of thing. If I do not have any kind of side/contract work, my expenses are expected to be down to the point where I can break even on $10.00/hr if I'm playing 40 hours a week(yes, I have health insurance, yes, self-employment taxes are figured into that). Of course I have to build the bankroll and we'll see once I'm actually doing it if my expenses are really that low.

Other factors:

Depending on moving costs and how some closing things go at work, I will at minimum have 10 months living expenses set aside that is outside of the poker bankroll. If things go well I may end up with as much as 18 months living expenses in savings.

If I'm able to do some contract work with my current employer, ~25 hours of work will cover all my expenses for a month. Based on conversations so far i'd say there's an 80% likelyhood that I'll be contracting 50-60 hours a month for at least 2 months after I leave, possibly indefinitely but I'm trying to be very very conservative here. I'm not counting on this yet but it would obviously make the first few months easy.

I have worked very, very hard over the last year to pay off debt, and to minimalize my need for money. I'm pretty antisocial(some people would call me extremely antisocial) and don't go out a ton, dating is something I'm vehemently opposed to right now, as much today as i was back in January. The cutting of unnecessary frivolous expenses out of my life is as big a reason I feel I can be successful as anything else.

I have very low expectations at the start but I have the expectation that towards the end of next year I will be making over $20/hr with the reasonable expectation that that number can continue to grow significantly in the following year. I've run all these numbers, and thought through all of this and think I am capable of succeeding. The hourly rates and levels i'm talking about are absurdly low, i know that, but its all leading up to the one primary goal:

By the end of 2008, i need to have a realistic plan to move back out on my own by the end of the following year. That will mean a drastic increase in expenses of course and will require a more legitimate earn rate. The 2007 goal is to progress and build to the point that I can begin to put the plan together to get back out on my own at the end of 2009. How any of that will work realistically we'll see, but as far as financial goals, that is how I'm judging my situation.

I haven't set game goals precisely, but I'm thinking that by the end of 2008 I'd like to be properly bankrolled for 2/5 live and $100 NL 6-max online while maintaining 6 months living expenses outside my poker bankroll. If I'm able to get to that i'm pretty sure that will correlate to being well on my way to being able to move back out on my own.

[Radii]

dola for apoc also,

i play 100% on stars right now, I don't have a full tilt account so I'm still eligible for their bonus and for rakeback. I haven't signed up there yet because i wanted to wait until i was sure I could clear the bonus, and the fact that I'm extremely comfortable on stars of course, but, playing full time, rakeback will become a much bigger consideration, so I will be acting on that at some point as well.

[gstelmack]

Dude, making life changes and coming back to North Carolina?

http://www.redstorm.com/employment/

:D

[Galaxy]

And yes....A dynasty would be awesome.

It would provide a great educational experience for me.

[Draft Dodger]

sounds like you've really put a lot of thought into this. I think it's a great idea. Go for it.

[johnnyshaka]

Good luck with whichever path you choose.

[cuervo72]

Yeah, if I am not contracting I will be looking for little projects to do for myself to stay sharp. I've always done backend/server side stuff, but I'm thinking about learning more about UI and web technologies, ASP.NET since I already have visual studio and maybe try to do some cool things with the FBCB site or something(though I've promised/intended to do that before and never did ;) )

We are *this* close to PT winning the lottery and establishing a tech fellowship for FOxL, which I think you'll be PERFECT for!


Best of luck with this endeavor Radii, we're behind you.

[Radii]

We are *this* close to PT winning the lottery and establishing a tech fellowship for FOxL, which I think you'll be PERFECT for!


Ah yes, I remember those discussions. If I ever win a major live poker tournament for millions, the FOxL fund will see a portion of the proceeds ;)

[-apoc-]

Overall you plan seems solid enough if you really want to give it a go then it sounds like this is the optimimal time to do it.

I myself very much prefer NL cash games to tournies and it is primarily what I play. There are alot of swings especially at 6 max but the varience is still nowhere near what it was in tournaments or even SNGs. I rarely have anything more than a 10 buyin downswings though a 7-8 buyin downswings usually happens once a week more than 10 is like once every 3 months.

I dont know what you have fo a monitor setup but I very strongly recomend getting at least one that is 1600 x 1200. It will save your eyes and the frustration of constantly having to adjust table sizes since you can 4 table without having to resize any of them. I literally used to get headaches 3 times a week from my old monitor and smaller tables and now have 2 Dells and can not remeber the last headache i got from being in front of the computer for too long.

Which brings me to another tip. Take alot of breaks even if they are only for 10-15 mins or so. It is really hard to keep 100% focused for more than an hour and a half on 4+ tables without a bit of a breather imo. Another reason I prefer cash games or even SNGs to multis.

25 hours a week with another 5-10 devoted to poker related stuff sounds standard to me. $20/hr should be fairly doable to get to on 4 tables of $50NL within a few months and you don't really need a huge bankroll for those stakes. Which ironically is where im now back to since I basically didnt work all last month and spent an extra $1500 compared to normal months. I quit smoking, then internet went out for just over a week, then best friends wedding and holidays. Depending on your style I could probably give you a few tips to get you up to speed in that department also.



I haven't set game goals precisely, but I'm thinking that by the end of 2008 I'd like to be properly bankrolled for 2/5 live and $100 NL 6-max online while maintaining 6 months living expenses outside my poker bankroll. If I'm able to get to that i'm pretty sure that will correlate to being well on my way to being able to move back out on my own.

I am not sure what the live bankroll requires but I would recomend at least 50 buyins for the online one probably more. I myself stay at 100 but im a bankroll nit which is partly do to my somewhat high varience style. I only play at Stars myself I have a FT account with RB but last time I played there I honestly didnt think the games were worth it because it was such a nit fest even at $100 NL. Stars isnt a ton better these days but at least with good table selection there will only be 1-2 regulars at your table instead of 3-4 like I encountered on FT. I am not trying to bash FT it is a good site but it just wasnt worth my hassle compared to getting supernova on stars and now enjoying the perks of that.


So I've started the move to NL25 6-max on stars and am so far crushing it for unsustainble rates... 2-tabling for ~25PTBB/100 over 2500 hands(which works out to like $22/hr, which of course at NL25 2-tabling is ridiculously unsustainable). I'm taking my time at the moment though, re-reading Professional NLHE(highly recommended, btw), focusing heavily on REM and SPR and not trying to add tables(or certainly move up, no way i'm doing that after 2500 hands anyway) until hand reading and adjusting my play based on SPR is a ton more natural than it is now. I think 4-tabling is a very reasonable goal though by the time I get up to 10,000 hands logged


You should probably shell out the $25 a month for cardrunners while you are at it. It is worth far more than an book imo because it can stay alot more up to date. I was struggling for a few months late last year early this year because the games had changed so much. I kept rereading all my books and it still wasnt helping because they were basically all out of date. Things finally turned around with my CR subscription and I am now just about back to my pre UIGEA winrates. I havent read that book yet but I have heard good things about it. But I think I heard the jist of it was dont make hero folds so much? If so that is something I can strognly agree with but alot of that has to do with my style which is probably pretty laggy compared to most people. I run about 24/20/4 overall so if I have top pair I usually have to show it down cause people playback at me with worse all the time cause they get tired of me running them over.

Anyway if you have anything you ever want to ask feel free to PM me ect and I hope it works out for you.

[Radii]

I dont know what you have for a monitor setup but I very strongly recomend getting at least one that is 1600 x 1200.

Yeah, I bought the Dell 2100FP that everyone on 2+2 raves about back in early 2006. Its awesome. I'm sure I'll eventually get another b/c I love the dual monitor setup in general, but I'm set there.


I am not sure what the live bankroll requires but I would recomend at least 50 buyins for the online one probably more. I myself stay at 100 but im a bankroll nit which is partly do to my somewhat high varience style.

I definitely prefer 50 buyins instead of the 20 I see recommended on 2+2 in most threads.

I am not trying to bash FT it is a good site but it just wasnt worth my hassle compared to getting supernova on stars and now enjoying the perks of that.

Interesting! I've read some comparisons of Stars FPP to rakeback at FT, and have searched for threads comparing the low limit NL on each, but "Stars vs Full Tilt" seems to be similar to PS3 vs 360 or something where I figure I'll build up some good numbers at Stars over a month or two and then try out FT to see for myself. Do you have a shot at that Supernove Ellite thing with the levels you play?



You should probably shell out the $25 a month for cardrunners while you are at it.

I have a pokerxfactor subscription, which I got b/c they have a ton more tournament videos.

I havent read that book yet but I have heard good things about it. But I think I heard the jist of it was dont make hero folds so much?

Eh, they basically preach two big thought processes which have helped me get a handle on how to think about things. The first they call the REM Process, Range/Equity/Maximize,and they present a systematic approach that you're probably already doing anyway. Put your opponent on a range of hands starting PF and adjusting every time you see an action from them, determine your equity vs that range of hands, and then figure out what action you can take to maximize the amount you win based on the above.

The other is basing much of your analysis around SPR, Stack to Pot Ratios, which goes in depth into ways to use pot control and manipulating the size of the pot to make your decisions easy and put your opponent to the most difficult decisions possible. The simplest examples are that you like a large SPR with draws and suited connectors(b/c of the big implied odds you want a lot of money behind when you play draws), and a smaller one with top pair type hands(because playing top pair is a lot more difficult when the stacks are espicially deep compared to the size of the pot). It goes into a lot more than that but I'm still re-reading that section ;) Putting some numbers behind semi-intuitive concepts helps me a ton since I'm somewhat of a math guy.


Anyway, thanks for the replies, it definitely helps, I'm sure I'll be PM'ing you :)

[Galaxy]

For those who play online for money (not "professionally), what are the keys? Do you need a certain style to play Hold 'Em, or do you just need to feel develop a style/stragety your comfortable with? Do players get more conservative in tournaments and with bigger buy-ins/or cash games with bigger blinds?

[JediKooter]

Go for it. How many times in ones life does something like this come along? If it works out, great. If not, at least you tried.

[Balldog]

If you don't try it you will probably regret it, at least if you try and its doesn't work out at least you will know.

[Fidatelo]

I think you should forget the whole Poker thing and become an Ultimate Fighter.

[johnnyshaka]

I think you should forget the whole Poker thing and become an Ultimate Fighter.

My little sister's BF is trying that...0-2 so far. Not my cup of tea...but I give him credit, I think, for having the marbles to do it.

[Fidatelo]

My little sister's BF is trying that...0-2 so far. Not my cup of tea...but I give him credit, I think, for having the marbles to do it.

I had you as a Torontonian in my head, so when I first read this it didn't make sense. Then I looked and saw Alberta and it became more clear.

[Radii]

For those who play online for money (not "professionally), what are the keys? Do you need a certain style to play Hold 'Em, or do you just need to feel develop a style/stragety your comfortable with? Do players get more conservative in tournaments and with bigger buy-ins/or cash games with bigger blinds?


There are certainly multiple styles that can work in poker but the style that most players who succeed learn first is a Tight Aggressive style. You primarily play good starting hands(and to most people that's a ton fewer hands than people would guess) and you play them strongly when you have them, rarely getting tricky or trappy with them. Learning a fundamentally basic tight agressive game and getting comfortable with it allows people to beat the low limits online or in casinos because there are enough players who are so terrible that they are begging to give you their money if you just give them a way to do so.

As you move up there are less terrible players who will give their money away that obviously, and you have to add new things to your game and become better to stay ahead.

At higher limits I don't think saying that players get more conservative is correct, though, its just that you run into more players who are difficult to read, and who are playing a solid game like you are which means they don't have as many obvious holes to exploit.

That's all pretty general though, there's a lot of good poker players here that could respond to specific questions! There's a lot of books for any type of game out there now that do a good job teaching the basic fundamentals that can have anyone on their way to beating lower limit stuff online.

[johnnyshaka]

I had you as a Torontonian in my head, so when I first read this it didn't make sense. Then I looked and saw Alberta and it became more clear.

Grew up in Ottawa...you were close, I guess.

[GoldenEagle]

Radii, have you looked into getting a server in Canada or anything of that nature?

[Radii]

Radii, have you looked into getting a server in Canada or anything of that nature?

Nah, I have done tons of reading and have never once heard that mentioned, I'm not trying to play on party or bonus whore the old sites or anything(plus from what i've heard party isn't the gold mine it once was). If that's a standard practice I'd be curious to read about it, but I'm not trying to get shady and skirt around a lot here.

[Radii]

I think you should forget the whole Poker thing and become an Ultimate Fighter.

I guess I could go for the "sit on people til they suffocate" route, is there a fighting style named after that strategy?

[Fidatelo]

I guess I could go for the "sit on people til they suffocate" route, is there a fighting style named after that strategy?

Not yet! Now get in the ring (or octagon or whatever they duke it out in) and fight your way to Wikipedia worthiness!