Jarrid Krieger


Welcome to Part 2 of "Becoming A Pro." The first article on the subject gave some general information and a few of the basic steps that should be taken if you have decided that you want to try to make poker your career. This article will delve deeper into the process so that you are better prepared to make the change from poker as a hobby to poker as a living.

In this article I will show you some of the obstacles you may face and the ways you can avoid them or get through them. These are issues that I faced when gambling needed to be my primary source of income, and these are issues that almost every gambler faces when they are at the point where winning and losing can determine if you are going to be eating steak and lobster this month, or Ramen Noodles.

The single biggest problem all would-be professional gamblers experience is money. Now money in and of itself is a big obstacle so I will break it down into three distinct parts. Those three parts are your current expenses, your starting bankroll, and your income goal.

Current Expenses

These are the unique (1-time) and repeating (usually monthly) expenses that you are going to incur and that need to be paid in order for you to continue on your career path of becoming a professional poker player. These expenses are going to vary greatly from person to person. They include rent/mortgage, utility bills, automobile-related bills, internet-access costs, food, medical expenses, and discretionary funds. Now you may have more expenses than this, so just add them in to the list. You should also leave a little extra money for those “out of the ordinary” costs such as appliance repairs and replacements.

The obstacle here is that you need to either have a reserve fund to cover these expenses until you are generating enough income to cover them or you need to start generating the income to cover these expenses immediately. Since making enough to cover them immediately is not only difficult, but very unlikely, I suggest that you have a reserve fund to cover these expenses for at least a month. If you are planning to keep your regular job or maintain your source of income outside of poker, then you will need to maintain that income stream until such time as you no longer need that income to cover your expenses.

Starting Bankroll

Another big question that most gamblers face is the question of starting money. How much money do you need to start off with? Some people can go to a casino with $20 and play the slots all day, but I won’t walk into a casino with less than several hundred to play with. The same holds true with playing poker. You may want to start off small with a .50/$1 table or you may want to start off at a $3/$6 or $5/$10 table.

Your starting bankroll should be a reflection on how much money you are willing to risk. Always assume you are going to lose everything and ask yourself if you can afford to lose it all. If the answer is no, then you are starting off with too much money at risk. It should also be a reflection on your short-term goals. If you start off wanting to make $50 for the first month, you do not need several hundred to start off with. On the other hand, if you want to make $1000 in the first month, a starting bankroll of $50 is not going to cut it.

Income Goals

This is the third aspect of the money obstacle, and it is one of the factors that should decide your starting bankroll, as I mentioned above. Of course your goal is going to be to make enough money that you will never need to work at a traditional job again, but your goals should be set almost like a business plan. You are going to have your short-term goals (tactical), your mid-term goals (strategic), and your long-term goals (vision).

The best analogy I can think of is an Olympic-class sprinter. I will start at long-term and work backwards to short-term to explain it better. Your vision or long-term goal would be to win a gold medal in the Olympics. This is basically equivalent to saying you want to play poker for a living and make enough money playing poker to do it.

Your strategic goals, or mid-term, goals are going to be things like joining the track team in high school and college and working with a top-notch trainer. This is like making enough to cover your expenses without needing a secondary income source.

Your tactical, or short-term, goals are going to be the most basic of things like learning how to crawl, walk, and then run. These are like making enough to pay one or a few bills or making enough to pay for your vacation this year. We have all heard the expression that you need to learn how to crawl before you learn how to walk, this is what it means.

Time

Now that you have some insight into the biggest problem, we come to the number two issue facing would-be professional players, the issue of time. Using yet another over-quoted saying, the best explanation of this issue is "Practice makes Perfect." Just like anything you want to be really good at, you need time to develop and hone your skills. Other than instinct, repetition is what makes things second nature.

Over time, through seeing hundreds and thousands of hands, you will be able to read opponents, calculate odds, and determine the correct course of action that in the long run will make you a far better and more successful player.

Another aspect of time is that you need to be able to commit large amounts of it to becoming a professional poker player. An hour or two a week is not going to do it. As you progress up the ladder from $1/$2 online games all the way up to the big WSOP tournaments, you will need increasingly more time.

If you're playing online you can do that from the comfort of your own home, but if you want to build a substantial bankroll you will need to put in the hours to build it at a strong and steady pace. As you start progressing as a professional and start playing in “live” games/tournaments, you will need to travel and sometimes take several days in order to compete.

If your goals do not include playing in the top tournaments and you are happy with just playing online then the travel is not an issue. But for most people, the allure of the fame, glory, and recognition of the top tournaments is too enticing to pass up once you have hit a level where you can compete with true professionals.

Taxes

Now we come to an issue that is often overlooked and ignored, but really should not be. That issue is related to money, but has more to do with it leaving your hands than it coming in. The issue I speak of is taxes. Now I am by no means an expert on each state’s individual tax codes or even the Federal Tax Code, but in most cases, your gambling winnings are taxable, and the government is going to want their cut of your money. If you report your gambling winnings to the government when you file your taxes is your business and not mine.

My advice is to just be aware that if the entity that checks your return can see that you only claimed $2,000 dollars in income but paid $8,000 in property taxes on your home, an audit may be in your future. For any specific tax questions, you should refer to your tax professional or authorized government agent regarding your specific issues. Based on your specific circumstances, you may want to inquire about the possibility of incorporating (either yourself or with a group of other players). As this option may depend on the laws in your particular area, you should seek professional legal advice on the subject.

Don’t think that these are the only obstacles that you are going to face in your efforts to earn a living by playing poker. There are countless other issues that you may face based on your specific circumstances. These are just some of the more common ones, and these are the ones that I have some personal insight or experience with. Becoming a professional gambler (be it poker, sports betting, or horse racing) requires a mental commitment and the confidence to not only face the challenge, but to overcome it.

Remember that most people that follow this path fail and some fail miserably. It is a rare person that can say they decided one day to become a professional poker player and now they clear hundreds of thousands of dollars a year playing a game they love. The best thing that you can do to become one of those rare few is to go into the endeavor as prepared as possible.

Let me leave you with a little quote, which is a modified version of a famous quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. I heard this years ago at a poker table. "The only thing I have to fear is fear itself…and my opponent having pocket Aces."