I joined Pokermentors.com because I love to teach almost as much as I love to play poker.  Teaching is very gratifying when you see that something you wrote or said had an immediate impact on a student.  At the very beginning of the site I received this email and I prepared a response to it.  Since that original response, my play routine has changed and I have updated the response to reflect the changes.  The content of the response should prove helpful for anyone who wonders what life is like as a ‘pro' grinder.  Enjoy.

Hey Brian – thanks for responding, I appreciate it. I noticed your reply on pocketfives to someone who asked about what “pro grinders” make, and that's mostly what I wanted to ask about – how you work and what you've found works for you.

I'm going to try playing full time for awhile and see how I do. I've always played part-time around a job, but circumstances right now are right where I can at least try playing full time.

Basic information: I've been playing (off and on) for about three years, mostly NL hold'em. The past couple of months I've been working on MTT play more – and have logged some sessions with David “seal” Eisenstein coaching me. 

As I said, I was hoping you could describe how you work, maybe elaborate a little on your P5 post. It seemed you were saying you multi-table $1/2 no-limit for 8-10 hours a day?  Where are playing? Same site all the time or rotate?

Have you had any coaching or used any of the training sites? Do you feel there is a particular “style” that is optimal for multi-tabling? To be honest, I've never had much luck multi-tabling but then again I just haven't done it very much.

I seem to do best when I find a particular type of action going on at a table that I can exploit – but that kind of action is hard to find. I'm going to have to experiment a little and see if do better multi-tabling a lower stake or playing single at a higher buy-in. Certainly won't make a living playing a single $1/2.

Do you play certain hours – day, night, same or vary?
Basically it would be really great since I'm new to this full time thing to have someone with experience I could carry on a dialogue with. If you'd be willing that would be great. Actually I'm really nervous about it, but we'll see how it goes.

By the way, right now I play the nightly 30+3 on UB and I've been playing some cash there too, but I swear to God, UB hates me in cash games. Rigged! Lol. I also play cash at Doylesroom (which P5'rs hate) – there's some good action there and I've done well. But I've played a little just about everywhere – so I'm not “married” to any one site.
I know it's a lot to ask, but I sure would appreciate any info/advice. Thanks

My response:
Hi!
Quite a detailed missive that you have sent....I will do my best to answer your questions and try to guide you to the resources that I have found useful.   We have both been playing a similar amount of time and I also have focused on NL hold em almost exclusively during that time.  

I must tell you that this is the second time that I have gone 'pro' and relied on poker as my sole source of income.  The first time my bankroll was not big enough to support the amount of play I needed to cover the amount of bills I had to support. 

SO even though I still won consistently, it was not enough money to support myself and I had to continue to draw down my bankroll to pay bills till I was unable to withstand the inevitable small losing streak that knocked out my bankroll.  A sad but cautionary tale that....I have become a bit of a bankroll management fanatic as a result.   (I wrote an article detailing my ‘fanatical' bankroll rules that P5s will also publish in the future.)

My experience also convinced me that I was good enough to do this for a living...given a sufficient bankroll.  Essentially I had a $3k bankroll to play 1/2 NL and MTTs from $10-$50 buy ins.   I was earning around $3k/mos on average which just covered my bills.   After 6 months of grinding I had to get a 'real' job once again and rebuild my bankroll.  Thus I went back to work and played in most of my spare time till I had amassed a bankroll of nearly $10k.  

This same bankroll supports me today although it has grown substantially since my bills are even less than the $3k/mos that I had previously and I make a lot more from the larger bankroll.   When I started playing for a living a second time I was averaging 8 hours per day, playing 4 or 5 1/2 NL tables 5 days a week or more.  I would also average  one MTT and 2 SNGs per day completed while multi-tabling.  I played primarily on UB, although I also play often on Bodog, Prima and FTP.   Since the beginning of 2006 I have moved much of my play to Bodog where I am 3 tabling 3/6 and 5/10 NL most of the time with occasional other tables on other sites thrown in from time to time.

I have a theory that evenings are the best time for ring games as the drunk and inexperienced come to try their 'luck'.  Thus I often play Prima during my daytime which is the European evening because the players there are primarily European.  After 4 hours there I break for dinner and come to Bodog for my evening session.  If I have evening plans then I try to play Prima in my morning and Bodog in the afternoon.   UB or other sites get played primarily in the evenings. 

I also try to play the big Sunday MTTs on UB when I am home for the weekend.   These tourneys give me a break from the ‘grind' and force me to play a few TEC SNGs during the week to ‘win' my way into them.  I will also play satellite MTTs to win my way into them.  (Why spend $200 or $500 when you can satellite in for considerably less!  My TEC win rate gets me in both tourneys for about half the cost!)

I use Poker Tracker extensively on all sites except Bodog.  Its use is key to helping me to play more than 3 tables at a time, which is about all I can manage to effectively monitor if I am not using PT (like on Bodog). 

I have begun to write extensively about how I play in order to assist my classes on the pokermentors.com site.    Attached you will find a rough draft of my article about how to play 1/2 NL while multi tabling to achieve 10bb/100 hands which is entirely doable.   (Article sent to this student, not attached here.)

I will be sending this article to every student of mine that I train through the site.  I don't know if I include enough information in the article to adequately explain what I do and am continuing to add to it.   I recently added a hand matrix that shows what hands to play in what positions depending on the opponents actions preceding your turn.  This hand matrix is also sent to all my paying students.

I believe very much in training and reading to constantly try to improve my game.   I am in daily contact with a colleague who multi- tabled 1/2 NL for 18 months averaging $10k/mos during that time.  His high month was $13K and $7k was his low month.  He is also very conservative bankroll wise and plays 2/4 and 3/6 now even though his bankroll would support MUCH higher play. 

I learned a lot from him and he plays a slightly looser aggressive style similar to mine.  He likes full tables better, but I have found the short handed tables to be more lucrative since fewer people know how to play them.   I used to often watch him play a table and talk to him about what he is doing in IM on AIM.  
 

However all of my success was built on the vast number of poker books I read at the start of my poker career and the ones that I continue to read.  That reading was then cemented with MANY hours of practice putting the ideas I read into play.  I am constantly perusing sites like P5s for ideas and check out new books as they come out.  For instance, I just read ‘Mastering No Limit Hold'Em' by Harker and Fox and P5s will be posting my review of that book.  The short verdict is that it is a good, ‘basic' guide to playing NLHE, but it is most definitively NOT a ‘Master's' course!  I have read much of the ‘literature' out there on poker and a short list of my recommendations lies below:

Ring game recommendations:

Ken Warren teaches Texas Hold em is a good introductory text.  He also focuses on the ‘numbers' and does a good job of explaining pot odds and implied odds.

Sklansky & Malmuth--Hold Em Poker for Advanced Players-- Good but focus is on limit.

Doyle Brunson's, Supersystem 2 is better than 1 although both are very similar.   (2 does nott add a great deal of information on NL.)  Doyle is great when discussing high level NL but there seems to be a hole in the literature as far as normal, low limit NL is concerned and I think someone will seek to cover this hole with a more comprehensive treatment.  Going to write it myself if I don't see something outstanding come out soon!  If anyone comes across a book devoted to how to play NLHE, please refer me to it!

MTTs AND RING!
Harrington on Hold Em 1 and 2  -- These two books far surpass anything else out there I have read.   Many of his ideas have cross over value in ring play in addition to being the bible for MTT play!

Miscellaneous:
Mark Blades- Professional Poker is full of tips on how to play poker for a living.  I would recommend you read it first since I expect you probably have read the titles above or books of similar value and this book addresses many of your questions in far more detail than I can cover. 

EVERY poker book I read initially recommends that any serious player MUST keep detailed stats to analyze his play and I heartily agree.  I keep stats on all my ring and tourney play. 

I think two things are fundamental to success in playing for a  living.  The first is bankroll management and the second is to surround yourself/ talk to others who are successful.  Emulate the success you see and talk to the successful players to get insights. 

I find myself learning and advancing along with other successful players.   I have maintained a close relationship with the guy who made $10k/mos because he is doing what I am trying to emulate and his insight is invaluable because he is in the same trenches I am in.  

Unfortunately for some of my more negative colleagues, they seem to be plagued with bad luck and doubts. Regardless of how I counsel them, they revert to old habits and get the same old results which keep them from learning and advancing.  Many of their mistakes come from bankroll mismanagement or reverting to bad strategies despite counsel against it. 
 
I also find a steady dose of negativity to be a negative EV play and try to avoid it.   Successful people are positive, upbeat and much more fun to be around.

I am sure you have more questions and I probably missed some you already asked...feel free to write back.  I sincerely want feedback on the article that you will find is as yet unfinished.  Places to expand on or ideas you think I should discuss are appreciated as well as any disagreements that you find with what I wrote.  (I firmly believe that there is no 'one' successful style of play, but many, which is part of the beauty of this game. 

My goal is simply to play the best game I know how.)  
speak to you soon,