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 My .02 on going Pro...What do you think?
Ok, I was bored at work, thinking about what it would mean to me to leave the cubicle life for good. While I know there is another thread open about this topic, I want to have my "blue print" for going pro reviewed by you guys.
First off, I think a lot of people fail at turning pro because they don't prepare themselves for that lifestyle. I think if they did their research, and evaluated if their lifestyle then they might be able to come to a clear answer.
Anyhow here is what I would do if I were to even consider going pro, this is in it's rough draft stage so bear with me and I've had a few beers, so grammar aside  .
1.) Evaluate your game! Use all the tools available to you, PT, PAHud, FTR, your own analytical mind, books. Plug leaks, become a consistent winning player at your level.
2. Save up 6 to 12 months of your salary - this is VERY tough to do for some, hell most, but it is possible! Plus no one says you have to have it in a year, however long it takes do it. My reasoning behind this is for you to have monies to fall back on in case you take a hit due to variance from the start of your new life as a professional poker player. This money will not be in your bankroll, it will be sitting in a liquid investment, i.e money market mutual fund, earning interest. Also, if you have the discipline to complete this step before you even quit your job to turn pro, I think that says volumes about your discipline, patience (which are VERY important on your new job) and it shows that you are ready for this endeavor.
3. While you are saving up your "emergency fund", however long it takes, this is the time you use to build up your bankroll, again making sure you have the fundamentals down, are a winning player etc. Your goal is to have a bankroll big enough so that you are playing at a level that will allow you to live the same standard of life you are now, or beyond it, but not below it. Again, no time constraints should be placed on yourself.
4. So you've completed steps 1-3, what should/ or where should you be at in the stages of going pro? Me personally at this point would hope I could be at a win rate of 50 to 100/HR, again emphasizing no time constraints to reach this point, if I am able to or you are able to sit down at 10/20, or even 25/50 and win consistently, then I think you are ready, granted that you've successfully completed the above steps.
5. We're not done! Say you are playing 5,000NL, you have the "emergency fund" set aside in an liquid investment, and you have a BR of $200,000, which should be adequate enough to play at 25/50. At this point set aside 4,000 put it into a savings/checking whatever at your bank.
Go to either www.vanguard.com or www.troweprice.com and open up your Roth IRA, fund it with 1,000 initial, then divide the rest up so that it's automatically taken out of your account each month to contribute to your IRA, so that you are using dollar cost averaging to invest in your retirement. The 4k can come from your EF, or your BR. That part I'll leave up to you.
6. Pay your rent/mortgage quarterly, especially since you are just starting out, it's better to have the rent paid for so if you go on a massive downswing you won't have to worry (even though you have your EF) about where you'll be living.
7. Now at this point, if you are winning still fairly consistent, instead of having a BR of $200k sitting on a poker website, take 1/2 of it and put it into a save investments like bonds and break it down like this:
100K:
25K bond that matures at 3 months
25k bond that matures at 6 months
50K bond that matures at 12 months
Then take the bond from the top recycle it to the next stage and continue this step process until the money is needed for Poker, that way your bankroll is still making money for you when you are not utilizing it.
This is all I have for now, but guys let me know what you think, if it's crazy, if it just might work, if a player can have the discipline and perseverance to do it, input, ideas etc?
-shysti
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Originally Posted by Wayne Vinson
