Philossify launches a Full Time Poker career

[philossify]

Hi all,



just about to start my poker "career". Jan 5th I escape from work. "I'm not doing any work, give me some money and I'll go away" I said and lo and behold they gave me some money . I'm a simple man with simple basic needs (wine, women. song, poker) and have happily discovered that my early pension will (just about) keep me in those basic needs, whats left over I intend to waste.

So come Feb 1st or thereabouts I intend to start my retirement plan - playing poker a little more seriously (hopefully having left work behind the freed up brain cycles can be used for profitable fun ).

Its my intent to devote about 40 hours per week to Poker and reach a stage (by year end) where I'm supplementing my pension by something akin to minimum wage (£6 per hour) which equates (since its tax free) to me working for £15K+ per year - not a lot but as its all gravy its significant. I'm hoping to keep good records which I intend to share with you guys. If that works then I'll start stretching a bit and see if I can make more. If it fails, then I might have to look for a real job once more or sell up and move abroad or find a rich widow to fund me (preferably looking something like the one off the Scottish Widows ad ).

I'm currently thinking that I will experiment for first 3 months (Feb,March,April) with a mix of STTs (£5,$10,£10) and "value" MTTs (such as the 9:00 am Betfair game - something to get me out of bed ) and see this site as helping me do that. Means I'll be cutting out some of the "lottery" freerolls (or entering them, playing lots of very loose all ins at the start and then if I survive playing very tight for a while, so that they move from cost ineffective to cost effective) . If that don't work might have to give NL ring games a go (not my preferred option).

One thing I definitely won't be cutting out (unless it starts attracting lots more entries) is the "dollar up" on SO. Thats one fun (and profitable) tournament.

I may even start doing a real face-to-face tournament once a week in one of the Casinos in Southampton (do they still allow smoking which was what put me off in the past).

So watch this space and hopefully applaud a successful enterprise or sympathise with me as I fail. The initial funding is "free money" from the £2000 or so I've slowly accumated from playing freerolls and suchlike over the past year (ROI probably a huge percentage but amount per hour probably crap). I'm a tight so and so such that if it ever gets to the stage of funding it with my own money then I'll take that as a sign that my poker skills are not up to the requisite standard and go back to freerolls.

[the tufty fan club]

Good luck with this venture Philossify


Looking forward to seeing how you do in the coming months

[GotaFancy?]

Wow - very best of luck!!! Brave and couragous move - and wish you the very best of luck with it!!!!

[GotaFancy?]

Hope you don't mind - really felt this deserved a thread of its own!!!!!!

[PAULM03]

All the best phil

[kevsul]

Good Luck with this .. and i also hope you enjoy it..

[Mr Intensity]

Good luck player

[georgej]

Good luck with this

(Wish my wage was £15k )

[philossify]

Brave and couragous move

It wasn't that brave - after 28 generally happy years my current job just wasn't doing it for me any more - all my mates who've taken retirement packages etc. look very happy. Time for some adventures before bits start dropping off . Could have stuck around a few more years amassing a bigger pension but then being too old to enjoy it. I've told the kids that I intend to spend their inheritance before I die , but if I go unexpectedly the grandkids are welcome to whats left.

[jomell]

Very best of luck mate
Something i would like to do myself,although at the moment with Wife and three kids to support,not quite the right time.
I've managed to make a fair amount of money this year playing poker and casino's and at the moment i play for the pleasure factor (money's just a bonus)
Good luck with your quest and may the cards be with you!

[Danny Cash]

BRILLIANT STUFF!! GO FOR IT!!

I'm glad you're keeping results as well!

Don't overdo it though, remember you don't need to play every single day.

All the very best.

Danny

[Big Andy]

Good stuff and best wishes Phil

I`ll be watching with great interest.

[Mr Bubbles]

Good luck to you, I look forward to seeing your records showing healthy profit.

[runadrum]

The very best of luck with this Phil.

I know you don't perhaps accept that it is but ..... They (whoever 'they' are) say that Fortune favours the Brave and I think I believe it.

[The Quiet Man]

Great decision Phil - you're about to live the dream that we all have.

You're a bloody good poker player and someone that I always treat with respect when you 'appear' at my table. (I still can't understand how you won the wooden spoon)

Anyway, the best of luck, we'll all be watching you very closely and I think you'll do brilliantly!!!

Great to see you'll still be competing in the 'Dollar Up' - maybe you won't bother after you win your first million?

GO FOR IT PHIL!!!

[mcgin]

Good luck Phil, wish I had the balls to follow in your fot steps. I'm waiting on my "Big Win" in the poker before I drop out of the rat race

[spreadman]

Good luck, Mr. P......I know nothing about STT's MTT's, 'dollar ups', and 'poker' is something I use to stoke the fire.

HOWEVER, I do know about earning a living from a skill revolving around 'gambling'.

It sounds as if you don't have too many financial and non financial commitments, which is a good start, and with a little money to 'cushion' any , hopefully brief, hiccups, as surely there will be, you should manage.

I use the word 'manage' specifically, as I think, for a start at least, that is all you can hope for, or, at least, expect.

Sure, set your targets high, but be true to yourself by being realistic, by setting achievable goals.

Good luck, again, keep in touch with us, we are all keen that you should succeed, I for one could never do what you are doing.....



Sh*t......I am.........

[winty1]

Hey phil, great post

A few of my friends graduate this summer and they will be playing professionally from there on, and I have somehow done all the research for them (i will be following same path in 18 months hopefully). If you are going to make your target, you shouldn't waste your time with freerolls. You will also not be able to hit your salary target if you play the £5,$10 stts. The lowest level you can play is the £10 stts and you will have to multi table them.

Just a few more questions if you don't mind ;

1) Are you confident you can beat the low level STTs?
2) Do you have any experience playing them?
3) Will you be multi tabling?
4) Is the £2,000 quoted your bankroll?

This thread could turn into a good one methinks, look forward to your responses

[2damnhype]

Hi Phil,

before this thread gets into the 'how the hell are you going to do that' (which i am sure needs answering ) - just want to say I wish you the very best, will not mention the 'L' word and look forward to hearing regular updates of your progress.
As has been said above - you are about to start living the dream that for many of us will remain a dream, and I feel privileged to be around when you are taking your first steps.

2DH

[philossify]

Hi Winty and everyone else.... thanks for the good wishes and comments.......

1) Are you confident you can beat the low level STTs?
2) Do you have any experience playing them?
3) Will you be multi tabling?
4) Is the £2,000 quoted your bankroll?

Answers:

1. Yep fairly confident. When I first started online poker on betfair just over a year ago, had a month off work (owed vacation) and was regularly
winning or placing in £5 STTs and the odd £10 STT (could just about make minimum wage), tailed off somewhat when I went back to work, found theres only so many hours you can concentrate and play well and work took a lot of my concentration for the day (and a lot of my mouse finger). Same thing happened when I had a few weeks off last july/august with bad back (it wasn't that bad) - was making £150+ per week (mainly from value MTTs) and the salary was still rolling in . Had built up quite a database of notes on the "regulars" on betfair and found that helped a lot - though its amazing when I see how some "muppets" of a year ago have often learnt the ropes and are now reasonable or good players (survival of the fittest).

2. Yes see above

3. Generally would play two tables at once (single STT just too boring), occasionally 3 - biggest problem was/is overlapping screens - can just about cope with switching between 3 on my current 19in LCD display set at 1152*864 (I like screen a reasonable size and like to sit a fair distance back) - may invest in a new graphics card and have dual screens to give myself a bit more real estate.

4. The £2000 is not so much a bankroll as much as a cushion (anyway money isn't "real" , I learnt that lesson the hard way, its just a mechanism for keeping score ). Have never been "out of profit" playing poker and my peaks/troughs graph has never failed to show a profit month on month (even when playing with work interfering). I would be highly suspicious and suspect I was venturing into the wrong part of the food chain if I bit into even a small part of that cushion especially playing only at £5/10 a throw.

My intent is to start out back in the £5 STT arena for Feb through April and having hopefully got up to speed in STT play again I'll then move up the chain, but I want to keep the odd "value" MTT going as well as these are entertaining and occasionally you hit a big reward. Nice thing is I can afford (due to pension) not to win or to wait out any bad patches (but an extended bad patch IMHO often means you are doing something wrong ).

My biggest strength (and probably also my biggest weakness) is that I'm not a gambler - means that you are highly unlikely to see me in the WSOP but equally unlikely to see me bankrupt. No good inviting me to a £500 head to head cash game I'm far too cautious. I only spend "spare" money (money that I can lose and not be too concerned about) on my investment in poker and so far that "spare" money has always grown. My current challenge is to vary my game occasionally to make it harder for people to read me with any consistency.

I don't see myself as playing professionally, more of a serious hobbyist. Maybe if the next year succeeds I'll up the stakes (mainly because I'll have a bigger cushion) and I'll only consider myself professional when my yearly income from poker is greater than the above average amount I earned before "retiring".

Once again let me say that this is not a brave move on my part, I'm not risking the roof over my head, the food in my belly or even detaching myself from a reasonable supply of beer tokens (aka cash) to do this. I just happened to find myself in a life position to do something I enjoy on a more regular basis. May as well enjoy myself before global warming gets me .