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Message: [QUOTE="milencenov, post: 4109371, member: 183801"] The article is nice, but puts too much focus on old things that are very often overrated. Yet, it reminds us about some key aspects of poker, especially about the combination of poker with everyday life. I played poker twice in my life. Actually, 3 times, if we include pre-Internet era. Can you imagine 4 kids at the age of 11-12 who would gather in the apartment of one of them, smoke cigarettes and play "poker" ? By "poker", I mean "5 card draw". This was the game we called "poker" in my country. Watching scenes with stud in some US movies was making us feel awkwardly. "WTF is this game ?" LOL The second time I tried myself, was when online poker emerged. And "beginner's luck" kicked in. I was winning at the low stakes, and eventually I won a huge amount of around 50 000 $ from one tournament. Ah, I was so proud that Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey were nothing to me then ! LMAO, so wrong was I... I spent immediately nearly 10 000 $ from that money to play "high-stake" tournaments. And I paid the package to go to WSOP. I busted in day 3, and I lost all the 10 000 $ spent on online tournaments. However, I was careful to withdraw the 30 000 $. I spent the money to pay for my wedding, to buy a car, to make a downpayment on an apartment and to invest in a small portfolio of securities. I am a financier by profession and education. Mostly banker and project developer. So, I know how to not go bankrupt ! But in poker, I am still not good in BRM !!! - LOL, but true. My wife insisted that I should stop any sports bets, poker and FX speculation activities. I agreed. So, back in 2006, all of my online accounts were officially closed. But I decided to propose a new "deal" to her. And she agreed. She agreed that I will be allowed to play poker, if I never ever deposit any family money in any poker room. I was only allowed to play "with casino's money", i.e. whatever money I could earn from freerolls and re-invested freeroll earnings. So, back in 2009, I had to re-open my accounts. Well, I had to open new accounts. And it was hell of an adventure to explain to 16 poker rooms why I wanted to open again an account with them. But none of them refused. So, I had my new nicknames, my new Moneybookers account and my new enthusiasm. I made my "first deposit" (in a room which recovered my "lifetime Platinum status" - LOL) when I was deep ITM in a nice 7,500 $ guaranteed tournament. As I always pay attention to discipline, I deposited 10 $, and half an hour later, I won 380 $ by reaching the FT. On top of that, I earned nearly 100 $ additional money due to promotions on my first deposit (mostly related to soccer bets). And the snowball started rolling. The average net winnings I was able to generate over the years, were around 300 $ per month. A nice income, which allowed me to spend HALF for the "pleasure of feeling a winning player" and HALF to satisfy my wish to play poker. In April 2016, I joined CardsChat. And when I check my leaderboard winnings and my non-leaderboard cash, I am earning 60 $ per month thanks to CardsChat. Well, 360 $ per month still allow me to play a lot at the low stakes, and at the same time, I am still buying all Xmas presents for my family with poker money. [B]And now about the main topic - going pro.[/B] Well, I am a financier, so mathematics and finance play significant part not only in my poker games, but in my whole life. So, I would define 3 steps which I (or maybe most of us) must pass on my way to become a poker professional. (assuming that I really want to be a pro, which is debatable). Step 1: to achieve positive net winnings in the long run. In other words, to score profits. Well, poker is played for fun and for money. But it is really debatable whether you can find a lot of fun, if you lose big money every day. So, start at the low levels. And don't risk your own money. Even nowadays, there are still a lot of promotions and other sources of free poker money. Grow a small bankroll. Then try playing "normally" at the low stakes, but follow the rules for BRM. Step 2: to earn more $ per hour than from your normal job. Last year, my normal job was paying me between 16 $ per hour and 50 $ per hour, depending on workload and project availability. So, I set a task for myself - to start earning minimum 10 $ per hour and then to try to go to higher buy-ins. Well, my 360 $ per month come in 120 hours of playing. So, 3 $ per hour. Very far from my target level. Decision: continue playing poker at low levels and keep my job, until I become better player or prove that as a financier I am good enough and don't need experiments. Step 3: to compare earnings and life expenses when I go to work and spend my time working versus my earnings and life expenses if I only play poker. Yes, expenses are a factor. BRM rules always show what to do if you have X dollars and WANT TO INVEST ALL OF THEM IN POKER. But in life, you have to withdraw money, in order to pay for your expenses. In terms of expenses, online poker is better than brick-and-mortar poker. In order to go to Las Vegas, a big part of your expenses will not go for buy-ins, but for travel, accommodation and... entertainment !!! Also, in casinos, rake is much higher than in online poker. And in casinos, you see much less hands per hour than in online poker. Also, you cannot multitable and multiroom in live poker. Now compare paid job versus playing poker. When you play poker, you can win, but also you can lose. However, you must always pay your expenses. On the other hand, your job pays you salary - without bad beats and variance. Poker is always dependent on probabilities, and never gives any guarantee to win. Imagine a situation: You have 75% to 25% positive chance to either win 1 million jackpot or face death by hanging if you lose. Would you make the bet ? I will not do it. The chance is in my favor, but I cannot tolerate the variance. The same is true in every day games. If one bad beat can destroy your food or rent money for 2 weeks - are you really willing to be a pro ? Are you ready to be a pro ? So far, I play for fun, I hit it well sometimes, but I am far, far, far from becoming a poker pro. So, I am enjoying one very big aspect of CardsChat - the social one. Here, I found friends who love the game which I love, who respect each other, respect the game, and make my time really nice and enjoyable. Until I learn to play better and win big, I will have a lot of fun. After that - I will have even more fun ! GL to everyone in your endeavors to become good players ! [/QUOTE]

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