[Raiderman]

I think this is a horrible idea. To quote the old adage "If it were easy, everybody would do it". You're hoping to win $100K while living in your RV?

[WmMeeker]

Originally Posted by jjameson922

Personally, to be very blunt, I think it very scary you are 7 years from retirement age and do not either own a home or have the money set aside to buy one. Apparently your past choices have been very different from mine and most other people.

You make choices when you gamble and play cards, beginning with the first choice where you will choose to take your nest egg and gamble with it. Then as you play the game, you most certainly have to make the best choices in how you play your hand. If approaching retirement age, I hope you realize there is no more time left to recover if you screw up. Taking your track record of choices into consideration, I agree with your wife.

Well I sort of thought about that too. I don't want to be careless but I am thinking I could just take $50,000 and, if I lose it, it will not alter my lifestyle much. But I am not going to do it unless I first can see how good I can learn the game. The only card game I know is Blackjack.

[WmMeeker]

Originally Posted by Raiderman

I think this is a horrible idea. To quote the old adage "If it were easy, everybody would do it". You're hoping to win $100K while living in your RV?

It may be but living in the RV is not a problem for a few months (not in the summer in Vegas obviously). I have already checked rates at a few parks around there on line. I am hoping to win whatever a small (like 2 or 3 BR, 1 bath) condo or house cost in a decent part of town. I assume that is more than $100K but who knows what it will be in 7 years.

[Raiderman]

From what I can tell from 2 minutes of online research , approx. 10% of poker players are longterm winners. So as long as you can advance your skills to be better than 90% of everyone who plays in Las Vegas, then come on out!

[Willy702]

Nothing wrong with trying it out and finding out if you enjoy it or not. Thing is understand expectations, win rates of $15-20 per hour are achievable for many players who take it seriously. So do the math to understand how long it will take to build up say $75k. If your other incomes cover your costs then you might do it in 3-5 years. Just know what you see on TV is so different from the regular games and the dollars involved in the daily cash games.

[Coco6163]

The very best website for learning about whether you can make it as a "poker pro" is twoplustwo. Check it out, use the search function liberally, and you will find many hours of reading about how your idea is both nutty and possible, but very difficult to do.

[delgadobb]

Originally Posted by ddrhazy

All the game theory in the world will not help you escape this one fact. Everyone wants to win and only one person can win.

Absolutely wrong.

It's a dog eat dog environment so there's some merit to that sentiment, but there are lots of winning players in Las Vegas making a living at poker. The catch is there are far more losing players with delusions of grandeur.

Originally Posted by aggrofish

If you want to become a bitter, smelly, old regular have a go at it. It's not as easy money as it used to be and you have surprisingly good players playing as low as 2/5. Unless you become one of the few that can make a living at it you're just passing money back and forth.

There are a lot of easier ways to make money without the variance.

+1.

OP has NO idea what he's getting himself into ... you have a lot of surprisingly good players not only at 2/5, there are even some good grinders in 1/2 & 1/3 NLHE (No-limit Hold'Em) games. Granted, over time with some smarts, education & good instincts you ought to be able to beat those games, but 2/5 & above can be very tough. Even if you beat the games, you're not going to get rich short of winning a big tournament & the variance in those is obscene. I see so many jaded, bitter regulars in a dog eat dog environment - many are swapping money with each other while paying rake to the casino & hoping for a drunk or two to wander into the game.

Originally Posted by WmMeeker

I do not want to sell my residence in Georgia because it is also my daughter and grandbabies home and it will go to her when I and my wife die someday. Plus, if I lose, we need a place to come back to. I am not playing it for a living, just enough to buy a small house or condo in a decent area. I will have Social Security, pension and 401 K for living. Then me and my wife can stay in Vegas 9 months and come back to Georgia in the summer I am thinking. I have lived in the south since I was born. Florida and Georgia. I would like to see what life offers somewhere else and California is too expensive. So when I saw the poker tourney in Vegas on ESPN, I got this idea. I know it sounds kind of nutty.

Are you for real? The best advice I can give you (if you are for real) is to have the money for a small house or condo BEFORE you come here. Otherwise, YOU ARE 'playing it for a living'. An accomplished player would need 3-4 YEARS to earn that kind of money & that's assuming (1) You live like a pauper or have no expenses (2) You get very good very quickly & (3) Variance (i.e. short term luck) doesn't bite you in the butt. All it takes is a little misfortune or less than optimal planning for the whole plan to go awry. I have a friend who's an established player & he's befriended a number of hopeful professional players the last several years. 'Number Eleven' as he called him just left town. (1-10 are long gone.) What does that tell you?

[mojavedxer]

Originally Posted by Colorado xxxxx

Serious? Try having a computer running an algo that is looking for card counters based on it's programming getting it's sec by sec updates from RFID signals.

Then show a place here in LV that is actually running an algo at the tables looking for advantage play. If that was really the case, then Roger and Rob over at the Wynn would not be getting paid to conduct skills checks. You watch to much Discovery Channel.

[Teckeeee]

Vegas casino bets on RFID - CNET News

http://singularityhub.com/2011/02/12...to-rfid-chips/

This is what I was referring to. I don't care either way just trying to share what I had heard several years back. Do as you will we are adults.

[ScoopLV]

My index fund pays 15%, and I don't have to do a damned thing. My wife's real estate fund is paying even more. And she doesn't have to do a damned thing either.

There are much easier ways to make a living than playing cards. And short of the collapse of civilization as we know it, our investment funds are sure things. Show me a "sure thing" in Las Vegas. Any "sure thing." Just one. Anything.