Is professional poker player a viable career?

>>1587851
A computer will be able to play better than you will ever be in less than 25 years. What are you going to do then?

>>1587851
Poker is similar to trading, you need good risk management skills, keep your head in check, and have a winning strategy.

>>1587851
Online poker is filled with sharks and software to give them an advantage. Better odds at an actual casino/tournament. Fuck online poker.

File: 10ploZoom.jpg (506KB, 2487x1120px) Image search: [Google]

506KB, 2487x1120px

>>1587851
I've been learning PLO for the last year or so while at uni. After about 100k hands at 2PLOZ, I became a consistent big winner (30bb+/100 for a 40K sample size) and started moving up. I'm pretty conservative with money and I don't like to take big risks. I'm currently at 10PLOZ. I've been beating it for a decent winrate. The graph is of my last 5k hands where I beat the game for around $17/hour - it's a very high winrate and likely not sustainable longterm. But having familiarized myself with how the regs play at that level, I'm confident that I've reached the top 5% in skill.

I'm in a similar position as you as I'm considering taking poker more seriously and trying to generate a living wage. I don't play NL so I don't really know what the winrates are like there. Moving up to 25PLOZ is a big jump in skill from 10PLOZ but a winning player can generate a pretty good hourly - better than most entry level jobs. And depending on the country you live in, you might not even have to pay taxes on the income.

I believe that the only way of finding out if poker is sufficiently profitable for you is by putting in the hands at the table and the study away from the table.

>>1587851
I wouldn't play online as the combination of bots, sharks and take will ruin you. I used to run small games with my friends in high school and college. Invite someone every week who has no idea what they're doing, that's free money for the pot lol. But it's a fun time, hang with your buddies and have a couple beers, maybe make a hundred bucks. I wouldn't rely on poker for your sole means of income.

>>1587851
It's absolutely viable.

You need a good bankroll and tilt control. $4k is perfect for 1/2, you could get by with $2k as well.

Only play live, online is riddled with super genies. When you are losing and you know you are tilting, get up and leave. You'll forget about the nonsense that has occured.

Also stop playing with play money immediately, play money vs real money are two entirely different games.