The idea of becoming a professional poker player has entered the heads of many a poker player but few have approached it the right way.  Going professional is a big decision and in the end isn't always as glorious as it sounds.

I'm going to warn you right off the bat that this article is going to sound negative about going pro.  It's not intended to be negative, just honest.  Becoming a professional poker player isn't as easy as it sounds so I want you to have a fair chance to evaluate every factor that affects your chances of success. 

Very few of you will be able to honestly give positive answers to all of the questions presented in this article.  That's perfectly fine.  Keep poker as a side thing and be happy with the extra money you're making - if you go professional before you're ready, all of those living expenses are going to take a big chunk out of your winnings.  Trust me; it's not a bad thing to put going professional on hold.

It is important that you be completely honest with yourself in answering these questions.  It's OK to admit that you're not quite ready - make it a goal to become ready if you want!  Just don't jump into it without looking.  You wouldn't be doing yourself any favors by putting that kind of pressure on you and your bankroll.

If you do decide to become a professional poker player, you need to approach it with a business attitude.  This isn't something you can just jump into after a few months of running hot and winning a few thousand dollars.  There are many things you need to consider such as:

• What is my long term winrate?
• What are my retirement plans?
• What benefits will I be losing?  Insurance, retirement, etc.
• What are the tax implications of going professional?
• Have I done an honest evaluation of my monthly living expenses?
• Who else is counting on me to make money?
• How much non-bankroll money do I have saved up?
• How will this move affect my résumé?
• Will I be comfortable explaining my profession to friends, family, etc?

 

These are just some of the questions you need to answer before you even consider going professional.  Although traditional jobs are often unsatisfying and frustrating, they provide benefits beyond just a steady paycheck (which is important in itself).

I've seen a hundred forum posts where some guy will play poker for a couple hours a week for a few months, win a hundred bucks a week and try to extrapolate those winnings into a full-time winrate.  It doesn't work like that for several reasons.

First of all, you need to have a HUGE number of hands to even have a decent sample size to base your winrate on.  You need to have a database of at least 100,000 hands to have any idea of what your true winrate is.  If you don't have PokerTracker to give this information, you probably haven't yet reached a level of seriousness in your game that would make it a good decision to go professional.

I recommend a winrate of at least $100/hour before going professional.  This might sound like a lot but I suggest it for several reasons.  You're going to have more living expenses as a poker player.  Right off the bat taxes are going to take a big chunk out of your earnings.  After that comes health insurance - you don't want to go without that.  You will also want to have enough money coming in that a downswing or dry month isn't the end of the world.  And last, you need to be able to build your bankroll while paying the bills.  If you make exactly enough money to pay the bills but not grow your bankroll, you will go broke one day.

Before you quit your day job, you should do an honest evaluation of your monthly living expenses.  It's easy to fib on this one so give it the extra effort and be honest here.  You want to count your rent, gas, electricity, water, car payments, car insurance, car maintenance, groceries, going out to eat, taking the girlfriend on dates, internet bill, cable bill, veterinarian visits, going out with your friends, contacts and credit card payments just to name a few.  It will pay to be brutally honest here.  It is infinitely better to overestimate your living expenses than it is to underestimate them.

Your job also provides you with health insurance and a retirement plan.  Make sure you add private health insurance to the list of monthly living expenses.  You're already paying for this at your job but you just don't feel it since it comes straight out of the paycheck.  What are you going to do about retirement?  You don't want to be a small winner for 30 years and have nothing to retire on.  Add investments to your list of monthly expenses.

You will also be seriously hurting your résumé by not having a job during your professional poker playing career.  Will you have a job to go back to if you lose your bankroll or the poker industry dries up?  Most job interviewers will have a hard time dealing with the fact that you quit your last job to play poker for a year.  Even though the argument that you work harder and smarter as a poker player than you do as a laborer is mostly true, your interviewers won't see that.

Along the same lines, you will want to think about the people around you before you make this decision.  Going professional is a completely different experience for an 18 year old college student living in a 1 room apartment than it is for a 32 year old married man with two kids and a mortgage.  If you have a family relying on your financial support, I strongly suggest you reconsider your decision to go full-time.

You'll also want to think about the tax implications of going professional.  This isn't an area I'm qualified to give advice on, so see a tax professional for more details.  What I can tell you is that right now most of your taxes are taken out of your paycheck and you don't notice it.  When you play poker, you will be taxed on your winnings but it's up to you to report and pay your taxes.  If you haven't thought about this yet, add it to the monthly expenses list.

If you are still ready to go professional, there is one last thing you need to have.  To give yourself the highest chance of success, you need to have a minimum of six months of living expenses saved up.  This money should be separate from your bankroll and should be safely tucked away in the bank.

When I say six months of living expenses, I don't just mean money to cover six months of rent and electricity.  I mean six months of comfortable living - enough to cover that monthly living expenses list we talked about earlier.  Six months of that.  If you have a downswing or you lose your right arm and can't play poker any more, you need a big cushion to help you get back on your feet again.  And this is the minimum.  A year of living expenses would be ten times better.

I know this has been a long, critical list of questions but don't let it dishearten you.  If your goal is to become a professional poker player, then keep at it.  It might not seem as easy as it once did but is anything ever as easy as it looks?  Many people have gone professional and done great for themselves so don't become discouraged.  It does take a lot but it's a big decision and you want to go into it fully prepared.

Good luck!