If you are really contemplating giving poker a really serious go then how much of a bankroll do you need to turn pro? Well that really isn’t an easy question to answer because much depends on your attitude to risk, how much you want to earn, how much you are making in your current job and how much risk of ruin you are prepared to accept. Firstly I will give you some rough data on what a good solid winning player should achieve.

Most players despite this craze about six handed play would be better off playing full ring. The combination of slower paced play and the fact that there are more players on your table meaning that game selection is less important makes it the ideal form of no limit hold’em to play and not six max or heads up which both require exceptional skill sets. I think that with sign up bonuses and rakeback that a good solid winning player could make 10bb/100 hands at full ring NLHE play. I think that the $50 games are a level where professional play then becomes possible. If you can make $5/100 hands at this level then your next step is to play as many hands as you possibly can.

 A typical full ring game can see around 75 hands per hour and so if you played six tables then you would see 450 hands per hour and so your hourly rate would be $22.50/hour once you maxed out at six tables. If you played forty hours per week at this rate then you would make $900/week and $3600/month. You would have to play slightly more than forty hours of course to get forty full six tabling hours for the following reasons. This is because games break up and you will not be able to reach six tables straight away. So a fifty hour week could push your monthly figure up to around $4000 which is almost $1000/week.

If you have this earn rate and $1000/week exceeds your current income then you have the opportunity to give poker a shot. If you can play more than six tables or make more than 10bb/100 when everything is considered or even play more hours then you should in theory make more money. Because the variance is far lower in full ring then you will rarely encounter a losing run of ten buy-ins and so having $1000 will be more than adequate if your style is tight and you play full ring. In fact I have known players kick start a professional poker career on as little as $500. It may seem staggering to think that $500 could generate $4000/month but it is true in a game like no limit hold’em but there is one very important proviso……you have to be good enough. If you can limit your goals to more mundane levels of play then your chances of making it as a pro will go through the roof.

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