Problem

[Wyte22]

There is a poll attached and if you answer, plz reply and say why you chose that.

Starting in Early July, I gotten way more serious about making money with poker, set my BR guidelines, my calling/raise sheet, tracking profit/losses....etc.

During July, I made 4 final tables in MTTs. 3 of those 4, I took first place, the 4th one, I went out in 4th for almost 1.9K in cash.

Today, after playing 5 1/2 hours, I was 3nd in Chips after donking off some chips but still had 140K left. I could have very easily made a final table but with 19 players left, I had to leave for work to work a short shift (like 2-3.5 hours). The first final table payout spot was $400 and 1st place was just shy of 6 grand. I had to knock myself out of the tourney. I ended up making $100 profit for the day. Which isn't bad but here's the problem

I went to work for 2.5 hours, Made $25. Sometimes I don't know if it is even worth it anymore. I cashed out $2,300 over the past week. Which is more than I make in 6 weeks at work.

IF you were me, would you have called in sick to play the tourney or donk out of the tourney and go to a place where the money is more consistent but very bad and not nearly as much as you make playing poker but you don't have enough consistentcy yet playing poker to prove you can make it.

which do you do? Now mind you, calling in sick and them finding out I was playing poker and wasn't sick, could very possible mean that I am getting fired but on the other hand, Most of the shifts I work are horribly slow and I don't make alot of money, just barely liveable.

[Huskers314]

Why "donk out"? Why not just sit out and get blinded off...at least then you'll move up a few spots. If you were third in chips and just 19 left, you may have even made final table before blinding out.

To answer your question, go to work....But pursue a job that doesn't schedule you for stupid 2 hour shifts.

[RiverstarsVictim]

Call in sick. They pay me poor wages so they dont really deserve my services. Having said that, I'm not playing a tournament I dont have time to finish.

[Wyte22]

Call in sick. They pay me poor wages so they dont really deserve my services. Having said that, I'm not playing a tournament I dont have time to finish.

That's the thing, I've played tourneys with over 1K players that lasted 4-5 hours, this one was lasting ALOT longer.

[liladypokerpro]

Sorry, but for 2 lousy hours, I think they'd live if you called in. You'd make a lot more cashing in that tourney than you did in that 2 chincy hours at "work." If it were 6 hours or more, then I'd consider going to work, but 2 hours to me is just not worth the bother...I mean hell, you can't even pump a tank of gas for the pay of 2 hours work

[rakmupagain]

First off, good point, u coulda blinded out and made alot more money. 2nd off, your saying u have won 3 tournaments and 4 final tables recently. Great, but two of them were 18 man sng's (not a MTT, despite defenition) and the other was a $3 230 man. These 2 18 man's were in march, by the way your total roi is -9% with a big cash recently. I'm sure your improving your game, but despite outside or short term fluctuations, your not even breaking even.
Sounds like u need a new job, but even as it stands ur current job is infininely more profitable than poker for you right now. Keep your nose to the grindstone, and improve but step back and look at your overall earnings to see if this is potentially better than working.

[Wyte22]

First off, good point, u coulda blinded out and made alot more money. 2nd off, your saying u have won 3 tournaments and 4 final tables recently. Great, but two of them were 18 man sng's (not a MTT, despite defenition) and the other was a $3 230 man. These 2 18 man's were in march, by the way your total roi is -9% with a big cash recently. I'm sure your improving your game, but despite outside or short term fluctuations, your not even breaking even.
Sounds like u need a new job, but even as it stands ur current job is infininely more profitable than poker for you right now. Keep your nose to the grindstone, and improve but step back and look at your overall earnings to see if this is potentially better than working.

did you look at Wyteman's (full tilt) stats for July? +26% RoI and above 1.5K profit that's when I got really serious about this.

I am not looking at my total over the course but tracking month by month right now. I spent the past several months recovering that taking out my personal life anger on my BR, I've been working hard on rebuilding and setting things right again in my game. Before January, I never took poker any bit seriously, just a hobby. But after then, I began to get more and more serious about it. My life made a dramatic change in May and that's when all my problems started.

Right now my overall is like -9 or -10% RoI over the full tracking but a month ago it was around -17% RoI, So I think I am slowly improving

Also, I think your looking at my pokerstars account =P

[rakmupagain]

Yes, I was only look at fulltilt stats for my information. Yes you have made money this month, which is great, and I congratulate you for this, looks like you are making great strides. Your profit for the month is less than your one big cash, so without this one tournament, you'd still be in the negative. If you can keep a 25% in mtt's for a few months straight, then you are a profitable player. Until then, its just a high point of your variance.
I'm just tryin to give you an objective view, I hope it helps. I play cash games full time, and make more than I do working a normal job. I'm working on my tournament game as well. You can look up my stats (9ondabr8k, fulltilt). I have a pretty succesful record ( top 1% rating) but I'm still not able to eek a living out of mtt's alone. It takes consistent success at higher buy ins to do so.

If you would like some help in any area of your game, I might be able to help. Find me on fulltilt and we can discuss tournament, cash, or sng strategy, and I would enjoy sharing any strategies with you. Keep up the good work. Maybe we can play some 45 man sng's together so I can see your style of play, etc. These are good and profitable practice sessions for mtt's I've found,

[Arielstorm]

I would call in sick, but that is because I am addicted to poker.........lol

[RiverstarsVictim]

Definately agree with rackmupagain. You have had good results over a 1 month period where variance went your way, but be realistic. How many all-ins did you survive along the way to your success?

I doubt anymore needs to be said at this moment in time.