going to the next level of playing poker online/becoming a pro

Hi,

i am looking from advice from anyone who plays online poker frequently, possible somebody who has done the sort of thing i am contemplating.
I am only 19 years old and being playing poker since i had just turned 18, started by beating friends in kitchens and have been playing reguarly online for a year or so.
I have always been slightly succesful at winning small amounts of cash and am seriously considering turning this into a living but probably easier said than done. i started playing freerolls and generally make the final 30 players 70% of the time then in the last few months i have started depositing money and recently won a $15 multi -table freezeout tournament winning $1,500, which to me is a considerable amount of money, about 80% of my monthly income, and have entered $5, $10 multi - table tournaments getting into the money on several occasions.
I know how to play poker and am very confident in my ability, preferring to play freezeout multi table tournaments, i am generally very tight at the start (first 2 hours) then as i build my stack and the players leave i loosen up and feel i have a decent balance when playing.
Does this mean i am a decent/good/exceptional player, what advice would you give me. How long would you wait before seriously considering quitting the day job?

Peter,

It's one thing to be a decent player who can cash in $5 MTTs. However, it's a completely different thing to be a professional player. Depending on your costs of living, being a professional player could mean needing to earn $1000+ every week. If you work 40 hrs/wk, that's $25/hr, not exactly the easiest thing ever done.

Here's my advice: Don't quit your day job, and in your spare time (make sure this won't take away from family, friends, etc.) work on improving your poker bankroll. Do your best to not deposit, and follow proper bankroll management. By this I mean never enter a cash game with more than 5% of your bankroll, and never enter a MTT with more than 1% of your bankroll. Let's say you have a $2000 bankroll now, that means you can't enter a game with more than $100 (cash) or $20 (MTT). Don't move up levels unless you can afford to.

In addition, poker should be a fun game. Continue playing with friends, and I believe you'd enjoy our games here. We have a regular league at poker stars, along with a number of pick up games started with little notice.

__________________
1st place, March/April 2008 Sunday League

Intelligence, lack thereof: Causing insanity to those with.

Well quite. For every successful pro, there are hundreds who don't make it. The best way, as I understand it, is to keep the day job and see how it goes. If you start being successful, then go for it. No one can tell you whether you will be one of the few or one of the hundreds. All we can say is don't put your circumsatances into jeopardy. Not only is putting your finances into jeopardy bad for you, it is bad for all your friends and family. Worse it is bad for your poker. You will only be at your best when you are not worrying about the money. Whilst so ever the money is just a way of keeping score you will be at your best. And if the money becomes enough to give up the day job, well then good luck mate.

The bankroll advice was fundamentally sound. I have mine & they are even more stringent than that. Just keep playing & it would help if you also read some poker books. If you are serious about becoming a professional get some SERIOUS knowledge of what you are getting into.

I would say build a nice BIG bankroll first, and have a stringent management system to follow, and study. If you can built that $1500 up to lets say $15,000 just through small buy-ins, then you might want to consider it. You make $1875 a month, and ive heard some estimates its best to have between 6-12 months of your normal pay to be able to make it easier on you. (The less money means to you, the better chance of being successful) So a minimum of $11250 using the $$$ and % you gave, SAVED UP just for living expenses, food, partying, or w.e you use that money for. Not to mention your bankroll, so I would put my orignal figure of 15K to a much larger number for you, maybe around 25-30k, if you want a good size bankroll to play of and be able to handle the variance. When I was 18 I cashed for $4K online, quit my job, and played live for 6 months and thats all I did(In Alberta FYI) I was mostly playing 1-2 NL, while I was actually turning profit every month, I was spending far more than I was making, down to the point where I had to start working again. Point is, if I would stayed @ my shitty job, and kept building it, and got to some higher levels where my ROI was the same but actually worth more real $$$, I could have kept up to how I was living. IF you are going to start to try and play full time, @ least have a part-time job with some income going into an account which you don't touch. Just some advice, which I wish I had 2 back, would have helped a lot.

thanks for the tips, really good advice, think i'm gonna stick to playing the MTT's and gradually build it up and also start reading some books, i've been told to purchase all 3 volumes of 'Harrington on hold'em' so gonna give them a try