KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro

KingBowl

First, I want to wish you luck. Nothing wrong with trying to play full-time if there are no negative consequences to failure. You don't mention any kids or anything, so fair enough.

Second, if you've only won £5.5k from poker in the last year, a significant amount of that from HU sng's, I'd worry about you playing as high as 500NL. I don't know what your roll is like thanks to your staking, but those are some pretty high levels. You'll know better than me whether you can handle the potential losses of a bad run, of course.

I'm sure you'll get plenty of posters with more to offer than me. I don't generally read diaries but the title of yours caught my eye... might want to think about changing that, btw. There are some folks around that like to see others fail. 

Once again; Good luck young chap.

KingBowl

Hi,

A little about myself, I'm 21, a student in his final year at the University of York studying Economics, and I want to play poker full time for at least a year after I finish my degree. 

I've been passionate about poker since I was quite young, but can only recently call myself a 'winning player'. Over the past few years I have dabbled in everything, from hyper turbos to cash to five figure MTT fields on Stars. I can only really say I've been a winning player for the past 18 months, due to the fact I made some good poker friends and really began studying the game. Over the first half of 2014 I made around $3000 playing heads up hyper turbos, before switching sites and playing cash. I made around £2800 in the second half of the year playing 30-100NL, but hit a nasty 1.5K downswing that resulted in me making the decision to start playing under a backer/coach for 2015.

I am currently playing £100-£500NL (backed) on sky, and intend to play a few of the main nightly MTTs per week, with the aim of making around £5000 by summer. I decided to start this blog to keep me motivated and to get more involved with the sky community, and will update frequently with my results.

Good luck at the tables everyone, and thanks for reading!

(My adventures with hyper turbos)

(Results in second half of 2014)

(Results so far under my backer)

RyanC7

I'm also in my final year studying Economics. I wouldn't bother playing poker for a year if I were you. I'm unsure how your playing levels up to 500nl with a small year total profit of £6k roughly lol? It appears you may have a false sense of optimism and have most likely misinterpretated your results. On this basis, I wouldn't bother. Get a job. 

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

First, I want to wish you luck. Nothing wrong with trying to play full-time if there are no negative consequences to failure. You don't mention any kids or anything, so fair enough. Second, if you've only won £5.5k from poker in the last year, a significant amount of that from HU sng's, I'd worry about you playing as high as 500NL. I don't know what your roll is like thanks to your staking, but those are some pretty high levels. You'll know better than me whether you can handle the potential losses of a bad run, of course. I'm sure you'll get plenty of posters with more to offer than me. I don't generally read diaries but the title of yours caught my eye... might want to think about changing that, btw. There are some folks around that like to see others fail.  Once again; Good luck young chap.
Posted by BorinLoner

Hey, thanks a lot for the kind words. Yeah I figured I'd take one year out and go for it, if it doesn't work out I've not lost anything. With regards to my roll, I have 20+BI for £500NL thanks to my staking so shouldn't be too much of an issue, will keep my backer constantly updated with my results so it may be the case I move down a few levels if I encounter a bad downswing. Thanks a lot for the advice

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

I'm also in my final year studying Economics. I wouldn't bother playing poker for a year if I were you. I'm unsure how your playing levels up to 500nl with a small year total profit of £6k roughly lol? It appears you may have a false sense of optimism and have most likely misinterpretated your results. On this basis, I wouldn't bother. Get a job. 
Posted by RyanC7

Hi thanks for the post. I made £6000 in 2014 playing a lot lower stakes (20-50NL mainly and $15 hypers). It is only for 2015 have I been lucky enough to find a backer and be able to move up to higher stakes Good luck with your degree!

F_Ivanovic

I'll echo Ryans thoughts. I have played poker since finishing Uni but I'd already been a winning player for 5 years making £5k a year on avg part time. But I literally had no idea what else I wanted to do/could do - I only got a diploma for 2 years (flunked third year) in Maths so a graduate job wasn't really an option. 

If you're successful at your degree and could get a decent job out of it, then definitely go down that route. Going to be easier to get a job now then after taking a year out since they're going to wonder why you took a year out.

If you've just not found Uni was for you and have no idea what you want to do as well as not having any commitments in life then sure, go for it for a year and see how it goes. GL whatever you decide!

RyanC7

Are you liable for any losses? 

This backer has to be your dad?

No one in the right mind who slightly understands poker would even consider backing a player with this profit for 500nl

RyanC7

Don't mean to sound like an absolute pest by the way. These are just my thoughts lol

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

Are you liable for any losses?  This backer has to be your dad? No one in the right mind who slightly understands poker would even consider backing a player with this profit for 500nl
Posted by RyanC7

Lol I can understand your berwilderment. My backer is an exceptional player with over £200,000 in tournament earnings, and has been a consistent high stakes crusher for the past couple of years. He has been coaching me for a few months and believes I'm good enough to back for those games. We'll see if he is right soon enough I imagine  

RyanC7

Yeah but is he your dad though? Haha

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

Yeah but is he your dad though? Haha
Posted by RyanC7

Lol no he's not

TimmyRaRa

Hi ya Kingbowl im looking forward to this diary and wish you the best of luck I hope it works out.
Ive got a diary on here my 2nd year being a Pro.

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

Hi ya Kingbowl im looking forward to this diary and wish you the best of luck I hope it works out. Ive got a diary on here my 2nd year being a Pro.
Posted by TimmyRaRa

Thanks buddy , you too! That's awesome, I'm checking it out now

LARSON7

haha quality start.

jdsallstar

Best of luck mate. If you're gonna go for this sort of thing you're at the right age with no commitments etc

To echo what Ivan says above just make sure you have a good "excuse" for taking a year out should you decide to go for jobs in a year or so's time. Virtually every employer will want you to talk through your CV to date including any gaps in employment or learning and i wouldnt advise "I tried to make it as a poker pro for a year" lol The little white lie of travelling is probably the best option

As I said good luck and i sincerely hope you make it and I will read with interest.

Jd

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

Best of luck mate. If you're gonna go for this sort of thing you're at the right age with no commitments etc To echo what Ivan says above just make sure you have a good "excuse" for taking a year out should you decide to go for jobs in a year or so's time. Virtually every employer will want you to talk through your CV to date including any gaps in employment or learning and i wouldnt advise "I tried to make it as a poker pro for a year" lol The little white lie of travelling is probably the best option As I said good luck and i sincerely hope you make it and I will read with interest. Jd
Posted by jdsallstar

Hey thanks for the kind words and support man, yeah the employment gap is a concern of mine, guess I will have to see how things go. Like you said, making something up about taking a year out to travel / explore different options without specifically mentioning poker is probably the best bet. Good luck at the tables!

shakinaces

Look forward to reading this, sure the comments about it being a naive decision may be proved right, but how bad can it be to take a shot when you are young enough to rebuild if it doesn't work out.

We have several people on the graduate scheme at my employers who have a year-gap between leaving university and joining the scheme, either due to travelling or attempting some sort of ambitious but failed business start-up, so there will definitely still be options available to you in the corporate world if that sort of fall-back is required/wanted.

Hope your make-up terms aren't too onerous mind... I'd imagine that during the learning phase (at least) there is a risk you could easily end up £5k-£10k down (only 20 buy-ins at 500nl)!

Good luck with the goals!

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

Look forward to reading this, sure the comments about it being a naive decision may be proved right, but how bad can it be to take a shot when you are young enough to rebuild if it doesn't work out. We have several people on the graduate scheme at my employers who have a year-gap between leaving university and joining the scheme, either due to travelling or attempting some sort of ambitious but failed business start-up, so there will definitely still be options available to you in the corporate world if that sort of fall-back is required/wanted. Hope your make-up terms aren't too onerous mind... I'd imagine that during the learning phase (at least) there is a risk you could easily end up £5k-£10k down (only 20 buy-ins at 500nl)! Good luck with the goals!
Posted by shakinaces

Thanks a lot for your post, good to hear that a year out won't affect my career prospects too significantly I will be using table selection of course when it comes to playing the higher stakes, it's quite rare I actually end up playing a 500NL game, but it's nice to have the option to flick in if I see a good table running. Most of my action is 100-300NL at the moment.

Good luck!

GagginKs

Don't post here, occasionally browse, but a couple of things really irked me. Firstly the guys offering the negative, non-constructive comments have absolutely no experience even playing these stakes, never mind beating them. Also @RyanC7.. We aren't living in the 80s mate, theres a thing called the internet. This isn't a time where you have to learn entirely based on trial and error. The amount of resources and learning materials available is incredible. Pretty short sighted post from you IMO.

GL king!

RyanC7

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

Don't post here, occasionally browse, but a couple of things really irked me. Firstly the guys offering the negative, non-constructive comments have absolutely no experience even playing these stakes, never mind beating them. Also @RyanC7.. We aren't living in the 80s mate, theres a thing called the internet. This isn't a time where you have to learn entirely based on trial and error. The amount of resources and learning materials available is incredible. Pretty short sighted post from you IMO. GL king!
Posted by GagginKs

Fair points. I guess my main argument is that employment with his degree > "trying" to become a poker pro on the basis of some pretty average results. Like, how many guys on this site earn > £40k a year. Cameeeee annnnnn

GagginKs

'You miss 100% of the shots you don't take' - Wayne Gretzky.

So true. Personally, id rather not be a sheep.

KingBowl

@GagginKs Thanks for the support man, honoured that your first post was on my thread  I'll see you at the tables , gl

@RyanC7 I understand your points a lot of people have said these things to me, but I'm  young, don't feel like I am sacrificing much if anything really by taking a shot for a year, let's see how things go

GL all

zing

Seems like you're dressing up having a year out before getting into the real world as an attempt to go pro which given your results and the fact you're staked is highly unlikely to ever come to fruition.

Whatever justification you need I guess.

unknown_username

Loving Ryan's comments hahaa. On a side note, I wish you the best. A couple month's breakeven/losing and you'll probably reconsider.

KingBowl

I guess we will have to wait and see

IDONKCALLU

best of luck u been on the site long cnt say i recognize the alias 

Donttelmum

GL bowler, I think you'll smash it.

Phantom66

Firstly I genuinely wish you good luck with this, although skill, patience, and discipline will be needed more than luck.

Secondly I do hope this isn't a growing trend whereby people get a loan to study for 3 years at uni and then 

a) Never use their degree

b) Never get a salaried job to pay the loan back

Us tax payers will be left plugging the black hole of unpaid student loans in years to come

I guess the parent/taxpayer part of me should say, get an income and do this part time to see how you go for a while and give yourself some security. 

However the poker player/gambler in me says why not, go for it, better than having a gaaaap yaaaar, live the dream or at least give it a shot while you have no mortgage/dependents to worry about.

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

best of luck u been on the site long cnt say i recognize the alias 
Posted by IDONKCALLU

Nope joined a few weeks ago, cheers man

KingBowl

In Response to Re: KingBowl - An attempt to become a full-time pro:

GL bowler, I think you'll smash it.
Posted by Donttelmum

Cheers man lets hope so

SUPERSNEDD

I say "Give it a go", you might never look back and good luck!!

If you crash and burn - get a job and play poker part time and you'll be a better player for it.

If you ever lose your job and need some income inbetween, then poker is a nice little handy earner until you find a job.

Everyone's a winner

Remember be honest with your results and ability and as long as you're not kidding yourself you'll see the warning signs before they bite you in the rear.

Best of luck