Poker Semi Pro

Posted on 4/6/2022by admin

Over 1 year of playing poker semi-pro (and way more than 500 hours), I make x5 of what I earn at my office job. So don’t tell me how “hard” it is. I’ve read your books, Jonathan, you can call me a dreamer or whatever, but for me 30 hours a week at the poker table is NOT enough.
So I play as my bankroll combined is 1500€ together. Anyway I have never been more than€20 net negative in poker overall at the beginning. My goal is reaching NL100 in 6-12 months investing 4-6 hours a day. 50% time invested in studying (right now watching video courses in poker and studying my HUD database).
Im 30 years old semi pro poker player ( still have my office job for now). No need to say i need to stay focus for extended period of time and able to deal with anxiety / stress. I workout 4-5 times a week. I started to take cold shower. I still cant form the habit of meditate but i will get to it eventually.
Good article Daniel. Having been a successful pro and semi pro for 20+ years I've seen many hopeful pros be losing players - they just are not as good as they think they are and play too high too.

Shameless self-promotion leads to more variance-free income, which in turn leads to happier semi-pro poker players. Lesson 4: Try New Strategies When basketball doesn't go well for Jackie, he's not.

floatingflops
over 5 years ago

Although I agree that you have to treat poker as a business if you are going pro, let's paint a more realistic picture of what expenses really look life for those that don't have their own personal chef.

Rent for a one bedroom in Las Vegas: $700
Utilities: elec, internet, etc. $300
Food: $400, less if you eat with your comps
Car + insurance + gas: $400
Total: $1800

If you make $20 hr x 2080 hrs (full work year) you get $41,600
Taxes are not 30% in this bracket but for sake of argument we will use it. Gross after taxes: about $29,000
Monthly income: about $2,400.
Income - nut = $800 disposable income every month.

Anyone working their tail off now at a job they hate have an extra $800 at the end of every month? Me neither.

trentbridge
over 5 years ago

Except floating flops - if you worked at a regular job that pays $20/hr - you get a paycheck every two weeks - the income tax is already taken out and your employer pays half of your social security. (6.65%) Plus you might even get two weeks paid vacation to go to the WSOP in Las Vegas.

Self-employed as a pro poker player, you aren't guaranteed any income and you owe 15.3% self-employment tax in lieu of social security.

Semi Pro Poker Scene

You can't reduce a decision like this to accounting - you have to be comfortable making your living in a skill/talent based business that has nine folks at your place of business who believe they are as talented/skilled as you are - all wanting to take your money. It's the same world faced by writers, actors, musicians, comedians, artists, and professional golfers. The rewards at the top are extreme but there are no guarantees that more than 2% will ever reach those heights. Even established players are eager to take on sponsors - write books / do commercials/ sell teaching videos etc to make some income away from the felt.

skippy01
over 5 years ago

$1,000 per month for food? And you are a vegan?
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Vegan-4-00-Day-Conscious/dp/1570672571