I quit my shitty $16/hr job in March and I'd say it's been about as difficult as expected.

I expected a lot of difficulty, many swings, many great days and bad. I will never regret leaving MDS because if I hadn't, I'd always wonder: what if?

Here's my advice: Play 100k hands or so, and only quit your job to play poker if you are making at least just as much money on average as you did as your previous job. I know what some people are thinking: "what about the bad days? You should make at least twice as much as your last job because of the variance." Well, no fucking shit, include the bad days, I said 'on average.'

A good indication of your average pay is only determined by a very large sample. So play a lot of hands.

When comparing wages, be sure to include benefits. I hate it when people mention 'what about not having benefits?!1??!!?!' OMG..... if I make 55k/year playing poker and made 50k + benefits/year shipping packages, it's the same fucking thing. I get so annoyed when people bring it up.

Expect huge upswings. I made 10k in June. More importanly, expect major downswings. I am breakeven since July. You have to be mentally prepared, and this is the hardest part about going pro. You have to be emotionally ready to take on the variance.

In summary,

1. play a lot of hands (100k+++)
2. compare wages
3. be prepared emotionally
4. go for it, or you'll always wonder what if, and why the hell am I still here?