who thinks they can play poker for a living or does?

dude im the same, online is so easy and i dont have to drive miles to go play. i do so much better live than online. but i continue to play and loose online cuz it so easy and quick. at of about 16 live tourneys ive cashed about 8. with 1 win two 2'nd places and the rest top 10. i wish i could play more live. havent played live in over8 months.

I could if I could live off making donations to these million doallar corporations that operate these poker sites without seeing any return on my investment.

I know exactly what your talking about. I think a lot of it is finding a poker site that fits you the best. For instance big tourneys or small tourneys. Fast or slow. The bigger the poker room will help you in table selection as well. You should be able to make money online. The biggest problem is staying even and cool. Because it is to easy to play outside of your bankroll and loose big.

If you want to talk more you can hit me up. Good Luck

online players are better than live players, the online games are tougher than their live counterparts

U did not mention wheather u play cash or tourneys so imma assume u play cash.(live)

I think the diff. is tilting..online no one knows who u are so u can make bad plays without really being emberrased..

live everyone can see you, which makes u play better n confident..

As far as u moving up in stakes this is the formula i seen alot>> u must have atleast 40 times of the max buy in allowed.. lets say u play 100$ no limit then u should have 100$x40=4000$.then when u build ur bankroll to 8000$ should up in limits(assuming the next level is 200$ no limit)

i've been playing semi-professionally ever since i sold my business in late 2004.

You answered your own question..."online poker i have 40% confidence in myself and in a casino i have the full 100%"

I'm a big believer in the power of positive thinking.

I used to go to Atlantic City 2-3 times a week, but only go now if friends are going. I only play live once a week at a friendly nlhe game ($20 buy in) just to get out. I don't see any reason to play live poker, at least for me. I don't play nlhe, so I don't rely on reads as you guys do...i go off of betting patterns and just trust my ability to read my opponent and play back at him/her.

Live is so slow...you have to put up with people's bs (no live mute feature, lol) and you can only play one table at a time...

I think Cooper2005 nailed it right on the head. Find a poker site that works for you. I'm not a professional poker player, but hopefully this advice helps you. I was in the same situation as you about a year ago. I would place in local tournaments but fail to win online. I could sit here and tell you the mistakes I made online for hours, but will simply keep it to a few simple rules. Like Cooper said, find a poker site that works for you. For me, it is pokerstars. Than find the level of stakes that suit your game the best. For instance, you may find there are softer players high limit, than lower limit. But at the same time, do not exceed your bankroll mangement. If you truly are good live, than try sticking with online as well. Keep in mind, all your world class online poker players only place roughly 15%-17% in online tourneys. You will NOT place in every one, nor will you WIN every other one. One of the hardest things to do online when playing multiple tournies at once, is not tilting on all tournaments. Find an outlet, and find it quick! Also try and recognize a mistake, from a good play gone bad. With so many people online, you are going to have to outplay some opponents. There isn't one tournament I've won, where I didn't put my tournament life on the line with a bluff or semi-bluff. Sometimes you've got to play poker, and forget about the buy-in. Like I said, I'm no pro live or online, but I do well online even though my first 6 months of online play are arguably the worst seen, because I was still trying to find a strategy fit for me. I'm sure if you stick with it, you will do just fine. Good Luck, take care, and hope this helps.
Quinn

Great and simple blog. It too is just like my experiexce.

Live is real poker, online is virtual poker, or simulated poker, and live will always be better ! I don't think twice about laying down $300 to $500 to get into a live ring game, but would NEVER Ever think about doing that online !

Live poker is sort of like having a strawberry milkshake made with real strawberries, it tastes the best, and online poker is like having an artifically flavored strawberry milkshake, it tastes ok, but really isn't close in comparison to the real thing !

....play live...Tc....

Good analogy Topcat. What about onlie MTT's though?

thanks for the info and im sorry i play cash and tournys but i have been playing more cash lately

"online players are better than live players, the online games are tougher than their live counterparts"

I totally agree with this statement!!! 110%!! When you're playing an online game (tournament or cash table) you're on there with some very tough opponents from all over the world, many of them being regular grinders who are on there daily (of course you get an assortment of loogans as well obviously).

I took this question up with a neighbor of mine awhile back. Here's a guy in his mid-60's who's been playing poker for all of his life, has run a couple of different cardrooms, was a regular in Vegas, plays in WSOP events and has held a number of tournaments in my local area. He doesn't play too seriously online but does okay, usually multi-tabling in $1/$2 NL & PL Omaha H/L tables and always qualifying for the Ironman $30k each month. Live he plays min.$5/$10. I asked him what he considered the difference to be as far as skill level between online and live. His reply "Big difference,.. no comparison! Online tables are far tougher competition without question."

For myself, when I play live, I find there to be alot of weak/passive type play with many players being not that good and probably not even knowing it.

I played essentially for a living for over a year. I still play live 2 or 3 times a week 15/30 Omaha and 2/5 or 5/5 NLHE. When I played full time number one it was boring as hell most of the time, number two the people involved for the most part made me want to take 5 showers a day and number three you had to sacrafice your personal life because you had to be at the table at those times when most people were asleep and weekends were a must so you could not plan on them for family or friends. I made some excellent money (i was supplementing my retirement, althouth I was making more most weeks than I made in a months retirement check). I doubt that 1 in a thousand people could actually play for a serious living without something to supplement them.

Having said that i long ago stopped trying to figure out why my game online does not fair as well as my live game. When I started I played some of the higher stakes tourneys thinking I would get good play, i have played the rebuys and cash everywhere from 1/2 to 3/6 and I still have the same results, so I have just decided it is what it is. I play to have fun and fill up time and get my satisfaction from my live play. So I am at peace with online poker. It will never be the same and I don't expect it to be.

Sandman being the well balanced human I know you to be your approach to the game is what most people should do. However, they watch TV and begin to think "hey I can do that" when in reality playing as a pro takes so much dicipline and dedication plus you must have a BR that allows you to either go broke and re-load or get close to broke and not lose it mentally.

YOU CANNOT MAKE IT BY ONLY PLAYING TOURNAMENTS. This is a misconception many people have and it is just not realistic. No matter how good you are you won't win consistently enough in tourney only play. Now if you have plenty of money in the bank ,and do not need to win in order to survive, and can afford the buyins with the understanding that the %'s say you won't win and may not get ITM then go for it and stick with tourneys.

For the most part though the average player should do what you are doing with the goal of moving up in stakes to add to, and not be your only income. One of the things I saw a lot of is people who think they are ready to go pro but as they see their BR fluctuate and at times see enough money to buy a small car disappear, they either fail to re-evaluate the limits they are playing and make adjustments or they start playing "scared" and there is no bigger fish in the water than the fish who is playing with scared money.