Can it be done

[sjay2k]

what are your present results?? (e.g. PT screenshot)

[jimmym]

No disrespect, but I am not asking you for advice on me playing full time due to my results. please read the thread.

[sjay2k]

You need to be a consistent winner if you want to play 40 hours a week for 50-odd weeks a year; even with bonus whoring.

Your original post is so convoluted that it's hard to know what advice you're seeking. You asked for "Any advice would be helpful apart from the advice that says dont do it." You're not seeking advice so much as confirmation.

Sorry to be harsh, but if your "cash play is not so good" it would be a huge, huge mistake to put 10k cash online. If I'm wrong and indeed you are skilled enough to be a long-term winner, why not start with a lower amount ($500 should be more than enough) and build that up?

[jimmym]

Yep ok. thanks for your advice......I wouldnt tell you how much I win/lose ect, please read the thread if you have got some advice on how to get the best out of bonus whoring with 10k then it would be appreciated I regulary place $600 on pokerstars to take advantage of there bonus worth $120max.
My play and turning online full time player is not in question it is how to get the best from my initial outlay.

[PShabi]

Well, every bonus possible is listed at . I really don't think many "pros" are bonus whoring for a living though. I could be wrong.

I know if I played 450 hands / day at 5/10 6-max. I'd "only" make 28k if I was winning at 2bb/100.

Have you ever played 8 hours in one day? Doing it 5 days a week for 52 weeks out of the year would make me want to kill myself. Not to mention, I'd have to by a new wardrobe to fit my fat ass from all the weight gain.

First thing you need to do, is figure out how much you have to make to live. Compare that to the limits you play and find out what your winrate would have to be over how many hours.

Also, in addition to bonus whoring (or maybe instead of, depending on your limits) I would look to set up rakeback accounts at sites I have not played at before. Rakeback + bonus is available at sites like FT, UB, Interpoker, etc.

The last thing in the world I would want to try to do is to break into "professional" poker as a tourney player. A long drought and the added pressure of making the rent would make that miserable and your chances of success are slim. (I'm defning 'success' as making a comfortable living).

I wouldn't even think about doing this unless I was playing cash games full time.

[Talking Poker]

Ok, I'm caught up.

I'll be honest with you... Chasing bonuses is NOT the way to make a living from online poker. Simply put, it's not worth it. There come a time in everyone's bankroll (when they are winning a lot of money) that they realizes bonuses are effectively nothing. Ok, if you chase them ALL, you may grab an extra $2000-3000 per year or something.... maybe even $5000. But what is that at the end of the year? It's nothing.

In order for someone to become a professional player, $5000 a year needs to be nothing to them. It needs to be a good night... or a decent week... AT THE WORST, an average month.

I don't NOT take bonuses when they are offered to me, but I don't play elsewhere to chase them any more. I most definitely DO think that players at lower limits and with limited bankrolls SHOULD chase bonuses, but what I'm saying is when online poker becomes your primary source of income, chasing bonuses will be the last thing on your mind. You'll be focusing on finding the best games and sticking to them, whether there are bonuses available on that site or not.

[jimmym]

TP we were thinking investing 10k on your comments do you reacon 60k would be the amount needed, the very most we could afford to lose in the year if worse was to happen would be $20k £15000, before I would have to return to work. Personally do you think this is enough. Obviously I would be looking into having a planner up and running of what tournys schedules ect to enter play in ect.

Who knows we may meet in a wsop in coming years.

[nflchad]

First of all I have a really strong feeling that you haven't played nearly enough to know how much of a winner you really are, much less how this would relate to you making enough money to help support your family. Saying things like "lately I've been succesful" leads me to this belief, I could certianly be wrong. Keep in mind that win rates don't solidify in cash games for around 50k hands and for about 1500 sng's.

The general consensus is that you should have 3-6 months of bills/living expenses outside of your bankroll. I'm with Pshabi here in that bonus whoring is unlikely to be a majority of your income, rakeback would be far more adventageous if your going to play that many hours. Not to say that you couldn't still take advantage of the bonuses but you won't be able to play on a bonus for 40 hours a week, so you need to make outside income when your not playing off those bonuses. I think how much you plan to make a week is another important thing to look at, if you want consistent money then you shouldn't be playing many MTT's and certainly not $5 ones, you should focus on SNG's and cash games instead.

Just looking at rakeback on turbo sng's lets say you get 25% rb and four table the 33's lets say they take on average 40 minutes to either get elimanated or win. You would make .75 a sng's you played and since your four tabling this would be $3 an hour in rakeback, 8 hours a day 5 days a week is $120, or $6240 a year. Combine that with a good ROI of 18% and you would be making roughly $27 an hour (I'm too lazy to convert), or 56k a year before taxes.

Another thing that Pshabi touched on was being able to play that much, I have a really strong feeling that you would HATE poker if you played that frequently especially if you absolutely had to play.

Good luck and I hope that you make it, be sure to keep us updated.

[jimmym]

Thanks nflchad, TP and shabi.

fantastic thoughtout comments, and lots I will take on board. I feel I may have gone around the houses with my original question. We have planned me doing this next year or the year later at the latest.

I feel I can make most playing SNGs and tournies, I am not a real lover of cash games but will invest a small amount of time and money into playing these, probably at a small level.

I play as most know mainly on Pokerstars and very little on Ladbrokes, and was told by an online player that I really should take advantage of bonuses, so rather than placing 10k into My pokerstars account I really was looking to take advantage of bonus whoring the rakeback mentioned by nflchad is a start and something I will take advantage of when I look into it.

To be perfectly honest, I am intending to only deposit once , lets say at pokerstars $600 and turn this into thousands, will this work well time will tell but its nice to be able to do this and with the backing from my wife. But with a starting bankroll of 10k I really feel I should exploit and rake in some free cash.

Shabi thanks for your comments that site looks good for what I want and again thanks TP for your time whilst you are away (the sign of a great person who still finds time during his own time).

Am not the greatest player in the world but we do really feel this is something we must do now in the next couple of years,I know I could match my current wage just by playing like I am now, I just need to put in the time. as for sitting 8 hours infront of a pc this is what I do now at work all night 40 hours a week and look at my pic am not fat ...........................Yet.


ps- recently after my car crash I played 8hours a day and 5 days a week for 4 weeks, I won nearly treble my monthly wage $5400 playing in SNGs , so I know I can do this.