Do you want to go pro?

With the boom of online poker and poker in general still going very strong then the lure to play the game full-time has never been so powerful. But there are numerous drawbacks with playing the game for a living and doing nothing else. Firstly if you want to play poker tournaments for a living then I really do wish you the best of luck.

The variance in all poker tournaments is severe and the average return on investment is such that you would have to play sizeable tournaments in order to be able to earn enough to make a decent crust.

Even then, the variance as I have just mentioned is so bad that your income will be anything but steady and you will go several months without even cashing. I have played full-time in the past so I know a little about this but the difference was that I played cash games online.

This is why the overwhelming number of full-time and semi-professional players now operates on the internet. There are no travelling expenses, no tipping, the games are always there 24/7 and you have the option to multi-table as well. There is still decent money to be made but getting to the stage where you can make that money is now getting increasingly difficult for players who are just starting out.

There are numerous problems associated with playing poker professionally. Firstly there is no one to give you a pay rise so you are going to have to manufacture a pay rise from somewhere. This usually means playing at a higher level. The problem with this now is that there is so much poker tutorial material out there that moving up a level places you into a situation where you are going to encounter far better players.

This is inevitable and a consequence of moving up. Once you hit the $100 level at most forms of poker then the competition will be pretty decent. On top of this will be the fact that you will receive no paid holidays, no pension scheme or health care benefits and no sick leave.

Your environment will likely get tougher to make money in the future and many people will not give you credit for making a living down this avenue even if you are successful. So what’s the answer then? Well in my opinion, I have never been a big believer in placing all of your eggs into one basket.

It is always better with most things to have as many options and to retain as much flexibility as possible. This is why I recommend to anyone that instead of playing full-time, they play part time instead and retain their current income from their job or whatever other type of income that they have.

I still think that there will always be money to be made at the lower levels, this is mainly because of the fact that there will always be players coming in at those levels that basically don’t know the games well enough and make enough errors to provide you with an income.

I play most of my poker now at the lower levels simply because it is easier for me to make money without much hassle whilst I do other things. Even then, I now find it very difficult to envisage being able to make more money without having to either play more hours, play more tables or to move higher up.

Playing online poker for forty hours a week can be incredibly mind numbing and this is another factor as to why I recommend not playing online poker full-time. So the bottom line is…..keep the day job and go semi-pro.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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