$100,000 and there’s no amount of money that can be spent to enter this tournament. The monthly Turbo Takedown is proof that you can make some serious money with those Frequent Player Points (FPPs). If getting the 5,000 FPPs while playing cash games and SnGs is too much, consider hitting up the many satellites to enter this tournament. The 4,000 people who cashed tonight for at least $90.00 were happy they did. Even happier are the final nine who will play for that $100,000 first prize.

Here’s how they stacked up going into final table play:

Seat 1: mement_mori 2,506,964
Seat 2: uh_oh64 2,155,690
Seat 3: tpir90036 4,713,694
Seat 4: R|P(URL 5,952,016
Seat 5: wellin.171 2,694,798
Seat 6: Atika 1,463,184
Seat 7: PanTangTyger 1,143,860
Seat 8: pokerMJ 11,790,124
Seat 9: Pikhouweel 1,689,670

Wow, first hand of the final table and blood was already being spilt. R|P(URL raised two off the button with the second biggest stack at the table for 248,000. With blinds at 50,000/100,000 ante 10,000, PanTangTyger shoved from the small blind for 1,143,860 as the chip leader pokerMJ got out of the way in the big blind. R|P(URL made the call leaving 4,758,156 behind and saw his Ah-Jd far behind the Ad-Qc for PanTangTyger. But, a solid heart flop of 4h-Jh-8h not only turned the tide in R|P(URL’s direction it left PanTangTyger with just two outs due to the flush redraw. The Ks and Kh on the turn and river gave R|P(URL the nut flush and bounce PanTangTyger quickly from the final table with $5,500.00 in ninth place.

Twenty hands later the short stack of wellin.171 went into the pot versus tpir90036. After wellin.171 opened the betting UTG for 360,000 with blinds at 50,000/100,000 ante 10,000, tpir90036 repopped from the small blind for 960,000. wellin.171 then shoved his remaining 1,684,798 which prompted a lightning quick call by tpir90036 who covered and left 2,428,896 behind. The suited big slick (Ah-Kh) for wellin.171 looked good, but the pocket kings (Kc-Ks) of tpir90036 outshone the suited slick. The board of Tc-5h-7d-4d-7s did not overcome the huge pre-flop deficit and wellin.171 will have to settle for gellin with the $10,000.00 he received in eighth place.

Three hands later when the blinds rose to 60,000/120,000 ante 12,000 the table folded around to the chip leader pokerMJ and he decided to play some big stack poker and press Pikhouweel all-in preflop. But, Pikhouweel saw thru the chip leader’s guise and made the call with his remaining 1,953,670 chips. The As-Jh for Pikhouweel was ahead of pokerMJ’s 9h-8s for the moment. A flop of Qs-9c-Td hit both players as Pikhouweel fell slightly behind with an open ended straight draw and two overcards versus pokerMJ’s pair of nines. No love came on the 5d turn or the 9d river giving pokerMJ trips and rolling Pikhouweel home in seventh place, good for $15,000.00

It’s not called the Turbo Takedown for nothing, as just four hands later our sixth place finisher was named. As with the last elimination, the hand folded around to R|P(URL still second in chips with 7,119,876 in the small blind as he raised to 360,000 with blinds still at 60,000/120,000 ante 12,000 into Atika. Only having a little over ten big blinds left, Atika shoved his remaining 1,361,184 chips into the middle and was quickly called by R|P(URL holding Ad-Qh. Atika’s attempt to re-steal with Qc-9h was exposed and the board changed nothing, running out: 5s-6s-Kd-As-9c sending Atika home to Budapest with a lot of something for nothing, $20,000 to be exact for sixth place.

For the next twenty hands only two hands saw any cards even put on the board as uh_oh64’s stack was taking hits from the fast play and increasing blinds to 70,000/140,000 ante 14,000. Facing a 320,000 UTG chip raise from mement_mori, uh-oh64 was next to act and shoved his remaining 1,608,726 chips hoping this was another hand to be decided pre-flop with Ad-Ts. pokerMJ had other plans as the chip leader woke up in the big blind and overshoved for over ten million chips. The original raiser, mement_mori didn’t want to dance and bowed out as pokerMJ flipped up pocket nines (9c-9s) for a race. The turn of 3h-3d-4h-5d gave some more life to uh_oh64 who could add any deuce to a ten or an ace as outs on the river. Sadly, the ten outer did not hit, as the 6h fell and the pocket nines of pokerMJ earned him the 3.6 million chip pot while uh_oh64 had to be consoled with the $25,000 he just won in fifth place.

Mostly pre-flop play occurred over the 90,000/180,000 ante 18,000 level and saw mement_mori surge from four million in chips to nine million. Then with four minutes remaining in the blind level he tangled with chip leader pokerMJ. pokerMJ raised from the button for 360,000 and mement_mori responded with a re-raise from the small blind to 1,250,000. tpir90036 found another things to do in the big blind and folded, while pokerMJ four-bet all-in for 9.5 million, mement_mori quickly called all-in while pokerMJ still had 561,592 behind:

pokerMJ Ts-Th
mement_mori Ah-Kd

Two big hands for the biggest pot of the tournament and big slick fell on the flop for mement_mori as the board read Ad-Ks-3s-5d-8s giving mement_mori two pair and the huge 18 million chip pot while leaving the former chip leader with scraps. Those scraps would be shipped to R|P(URL on the very next hand and pokerMJ who lead most of the final table bowed out in fourth place banking $32,500.00

Sitting between the two big stacks, tpir90036, fought valiantly like his avatar Link from the Zelda series of games. Several raises pre-flop bought another around of blinds, but his 3.7 million in chips compared to the 18 million for mement_mori and 11.5 million of R|P(URL was small and getting smaller. Blinds at 90,000/180,000 ante 18,000 tpir90036 raised from the button for 540,000 and was met by an all-in shove by mement_mori. tpir90036 made the call for his remaining 3.2 million showing Ad-9d building a pot of 7.6 million with pocket deuces (2c-2d) for the chip leader who still had 15 million behind. A huge flop of 3s-7d-6d for tpir90036 gave him the nut flush draw and two overcards for the win, but Princess Zelda’s hero did not get there as the Jh and Qc ran out the remainder of the board. tpir90036 will return to Hyrule (or Baltimore) with $40,000 extra to show in his third place effort.

Deals for the remaining prize money did not pass but a few lines of text, as heads-up play started with the bird avatars pecking for the biggest chunk of the $160,000 left:

mement_mori: 22,797,573
R|P(URL: 11,552,427

R|P(URL would pull even with mement_mori after the blinds hit 100,000/200,000 ante 20,000 and R|P(URL sniffed out a 2.5 million chip bluff by mement_mori on the river of a board showing 5s-6d-Kh-7s-4s. R|P(URL showed the eight high straight as mement_mori flashed the Jc-Tc for air and the two were virtually even in chips.

Several hands later R|P(URL took the lead 19 million to 15 million and the knockout blow came with the following hand as R|P(URL opening the betting from the button with a 600,000 chip raise. mement_mori responded with a re-raise to 1.8 million, which was topped by this Jenga building blocks of re-raises by R|P(URL for 5.4 million. A call for time was made by mement_mori who went all in for 15 million and was quickly called by R|P(URL:

R|P(URL Ah-Kd
mement_mori As-Qd

The board of 9d-6h-Th-3s-Kh gave R|P(URL a pair of kings as his preflop advantage was never questioned and R|P(URL became this month’s Turbo Takedown champion! mement_mori’s strong aggressive play bowed out as the runner-up and received $60,000 for his efforts. With no deal in place, R|P(URL received the entire $100,000

August Turbo Takedown Results

1. R|P(URL $100,000.00
2. mement_mori $60,000.00
3. tpir90036 $40,000.00
4. pokerMJ $32,500.00
5. uh_oh64 $25,000.00
6. Atika $20,000.00
7. Pikhouweel $15,000.00
8. wellin.171 $10,000.00
9. PanTangTyger $5,500.00

467 Sit and Go champions for the past month gathered today for the biggest share of the monthly Battle of the Planets giveaway. The players earned their way to the triple shootout with a $50,000 prizepool by winning a weekly race for points by playing a certain amount of SnG tourneys of ANY amount. No need to be a high roller for the shot at today’s $12,500 top prize, just manage to acquire enough points on your planet for a week and you’re in whether you are playing $3.30 SnGs or $5,000 ones!

Everyone who won their first table received $195.00; the final nine are assured $775.00. roo_400 won his table early on and has some very impressive MTT wins at the $55 level, also taking down a $215 tournament here last year good for $13,824. slip_18_ and Action Wub stretched the search for the final seat out for nearly 20 minutes past the rest of the table, and Action Wub came out on top after several all-ins by both players.

Here’s how the final table started out as all players start with the same amounts on the third leg of the triple shootout:

(click for larger display)

da itchy 84 (Steinbach)
doucheburger (Hidden Hills)
Einoeloclee (Tiel)
Mell15 (Viljandi)
natefive (Oakville)
roo_400 (Rosemere)
superbrian5 (Twickenham)
tron42 (Charlotte)
Action Wub (New Milford)

Just like last month, talks of a $4,000 split between the nine players began as soon as they were congratulated for reaching the final table. This time the talks were shut down before they really gained any ground as we continued to play towards the $12,500 first prize.

The first few blind levels saw some chip poking but true to a formula seen in the past few months for these events, the action simply shipped the smaller chips from side-to-side with no clear cut chip leader heading from 10/20 blinds to 15/30 blind levels.

At the first break tron42 started out to a small chip lead at 2,060 chips with 25/50 blinds coming up 12 minutes after the break, followed by Mell15 at 1,760 and Einoeloclee at 1,550 from the starting chip stack of 1,500.

Mid-way thru the 50/100 blinds level the final nine continue with the gnat bites at each other’s ankles with pre flop raises taking down the blinds or a quick three-bet making the original raiser duck for cover. tron42 has added to his lead chipping up to 3,305 and only Mell15 with 700 in chips felt any pressure from the increasing blinds.

Mell15’s tiny stack was the first to go from our final nine. The SpongeBob avatar could not soak up a win in a race with roo_400 for his last 500 chips. Blinds sitting at 50/100 and only five big blinds, Mell15 shoved from UTG with Ad-Qc and roo_400 got everyone else out of the way from one off the button by over-shoving for 1,775 in chips with 8h 8c. The board on the turn offered some counterfeiting outs while showing Jh-5c-Jd-9d but the 3h on the river gave the pot to roo_400. Mell15 returned to the pineapple under the sea with his newly acquired $775.00 in ninth place.

da ItchY 84 took a big blow while shoving for 1,090 in chips UTG with the blinds at 75/150. The table turbo folded as fast as Action Wub in the big blind called. As-9s for da ItchY 84 and pocket queens Qc-Qh for Action Wub. A flush draw nor an ace came on the board and da ItchY 84 was crippled with just 175 chips and facing the big blind of 150 on the next hand. Jack Straus won the World Series of Poker with his famous chip-and-a-chair and in the following two hands da Itchy 84 managed to climb back into contention by winning back-to-back all-ins and chipping up to 925 chips.

natefive saw an opening for some free chips as the table folded around to his small blind with blinds at 100/200 while holding just 1,080 after paying his blind dues. Open shoving into Einoeloclee who was sitting with 1,425 in chips. The rhino avatar woke up with some big horns and called immediately with pocket queens (Qh-Qd). Meekly natefive turned over his bluff of 8s-2h, the flop showed no love: Ks-Jh-4d but the turn gave natefive some outs with the 8c. But, no trips or deuce on the river meant natefive’s time was up in eighth place, taking home $1,200.00

The next victim of da ItchY 84’s comeback was superbrian5. With the blinds still at 100/200 da ItchY 84 shoved his suddenly relevant chip stack of 1,250 while open shoving from the button. roo_400 left his small blind, but superbrian5 called with only 690 chips after paying the big blind with pocket sevens (7s-7h). da ItchY 84’s Jd-Th was behind for exactly two seconds as the flop showed 8c-6d-Jc to give da ItchY 84 a big lead in the race. The 6h and Kc on the turn and river left the super one with nothing but air and $1,700.00 in seventh place.

Everyone at this final table is probably scratching from the da ItchY 84’s continued comeback as he collected yet another pelt. This time doucheburger found himself in desperate need of chips as the antes kicked in with blinds at 125/250 ante 25 and only holding 345 behind after paying the big blind and ante. da ItchY 84 raised to 545 UTG and folded around to doucheburger who called leaving himself 50 chips behind. On the flop of 7h-7s-4d doucheburger pushed all-in for his remaining 50 chips, and da ItchY 84 getting some decent pot odds, decided to make the call with his overpair pocket eights (8d-8s) versus doucheburger’s Qd-8c. The 5d on the turn gave doucheburger more outs to a split but the Js on the river sent the all-beef patty home in sixth place, banking $2,200.00 for his efforts.

tron42 was not knocked out by da ItchY 84, but took an exit in fifth place nonetheless. The blinds still at 125/250 antes 25, tron42 found Ad-9d UTG and shoved for 1,700 chips. Einoeloclee found a pair of ladies (Qh-Qs) right ahead of him and made the call leaving 510 chips behind. The rhino’s love for the ladies held up once again on a board of Jc-7c-5h-9s-8c and Einoeloclee finally held the chip lead with 4,485 in chips over the long time chip leader roo_400 who amassed his 4,070 in chips from steals and good flop play. The fifth place finisher, tron42, was deleted from the contest but his hard drive now contains an extra $2,735.00

roo_400’s roar was heard again moments later with blinds moving up to 150/300 ante 25 Action Wub made the call of roo_400’s push from the button while holding 1,310 in chips after putting his blinds and ante in to the middle. Action Wub’s pocket sevens (7d-7s) were well ahead of roo_400’s pocket deuces (2h-2s) but the flop of Ad-9c-2d gave roo_400 a set of deuces to put him in the lead. A 5d on the turn opened up some flush possibilities, but the Ah on the river gave the roaring lion roo_400 the chip lead with 6,280 and wubbed Action Wub out of the tourney with $3,350.00 in fourth place.

There would be no new chip-and-a-chair comeback story for da ItchY 84 this evening, as a big hand came down three handed when he open shoved from the button with 3,560 in chips with pocket jacks (Jd-Jh). roo_400 went back to his cave for this round, but Einoeloclee made the call with blinds at 150/300 ante 25 with Ad-Qc while leaving 1,100 behind. The race started poorly for the comeback kid as the flop showed Th-Ah-4c giving Einoeloclee the lead with a pair of aces. The 9s and 3h on the turn and river shipped to da ItchY 84 the $4,500.00 for third place while scratching his way up the pay scale.

The start of heads-up play saw the rhino versus the lion with the following chip counts:

Einoeloclee: 7,570
roo_400: 5,930

Heads up would last just ten hands, as roo_400 was crippled on the following hand: after roo_400 completed the small blind on the button with blinds at 150/300 ante 25, Einoeloclee checked in the big blind to see a monotone flop of 2s-Js-Qs. Check-check said the pair and the turn paired the board with the Jc and a check by Einoeloclee prompted roo_400 to bet 400 and Einoeloclee responded with a min raise to 800 which was called by roo_400. The Ts on the river completed a plethora of draws but didn’t phase Einoeloclee as he lead out for 1,800 into a pot of 4,050 and was called by roo_400 who left 1,905 behind. Jacks full of deuces for the rhino prompted a quick muck from roo_400 as he opted not to show.

The crippled roo_400 was able to survive one all-in, but the second one found himself all-in after a flop of 5s-7c-4d and his pair of fives with a gutshot draw (8c-5h) versus the flopped straight for Einoeloclee holding 8c-6d. Needing runner-runner for a boat or a six to chop the Qd and 8h did not provide and roo_400 added another big cash at PokerStars for $7,000.00 in second place.

Einoeloclee got the “lion’s share” as this month’s Battle of the Planets triple shootout freeroll champion netted $12,500! A congratulation to all that cashed, and be sure to start qualifying for next month’s competition starting today!

August Battle of the Planets Results

1. Einoeloclee (Tiel) $12,500.00
2. roo_400 (Rosemere) $7,000.00
3. da ItchY 84 (Steinebach) $4,500.00
4. Action Wub (New Milford) $3,350.00
5. tron42 (Charlotte) $2,735.00
6. doucheburger (Hidden Hills) $2,200.00
7. superbrian5 (Twickenham) $1,700.00
8. natefive (Oakville) $1,200.00
9. Mell15 (Viljandi) $775.00

By Steve Paul-Ambrose

WCOOP is coming and I'm already getting excited. I've had a month now to forget about the disappointment of the WSOP and now have another to get ready for this year's new and improved version of WCOOP, featuring a few new games and several higher buyin tournaments. The addition of the 10k NL and 25k Heads-Up should definitely make for some very tough fields and interesting final tables. And with the current size of the Pokerstars Sunday tournaments, I'm sure we'll see plenty of record-breaking fields in the smaller buy-in events.

As for myself, despite having my share of cashes the last 2 years of WCOOP, final tables, and more importantly bracelets, have eluded me. But I have high hopes for this year. I've really started to put some effort into learning the other games; playing more PLO and starting to do some stud and split games studying. Despite being a bit of a novice in the non-holdem games last year, I was able to make a couple deep runs in the relatively smaller fields and look forward to a shot at a final table this time around. I missed this year's chance at a WSOP bracelet, but a WCOOP bracelet would be a pretty nice consolation prize.

Good luck to everyone at the tables, and hopefully I'll see some of you at a WCOOP final table!

The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker begins this Friday, September 5 at PokerStars.com. Steve Paul-Ambrose is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.

Macau is often called as the “Las Vegas of the East”, and for good reason. More gambling dollars flow through the doors of Macau’s 28 casinos (approximately USD $6 billion each year) than any other gaming destination on the planet, including Vegas.

Despite the role that the casino industry plays in both cities, the similarities between Macau and Las Vegas just about end there. Situated about 60 kilometres south-west of Hong Kong, Macau (or the Special Administrative Region of Macau as it is officially known) consists of a small portion of the Macau Peninsula plus the islands of Taipa and Coloane.

More than 500,000 people live in an area of less than 30 sq km, making Macau the most densely populated territory in the world.

Most visitors to Vegas arrive via air or across the Nevada Desert by road. In contrast, the majority of Macau’s tourists journey via high-speed ferry (or helicopter for the lucky few). The outline of the bridges that link the mainland with Taipa, the soaring Macau Tower and the remarkable lotus-flower shape of the Grand Lisboa Hotel slowly emerge from the haze to create a spectacular vista for travellers arriving via water.

Macau also provides visitors with a unique blend of Eastern and Western cultures, as it was China’s first and last European colony. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on December 20, 1999.

The Central People's Government is responsible for the Macau’s defence and foreign affairs, but Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system and culture.

The blend of east and west isn’t hard to spot. It’s there in buildings like the Portuguese influenced Real Senado (the Loyal Senate) and the 16th century A-Ma Temple, the Chinese temple from which the city’s name was taken. In restaurants and cafes, classic Chinese dishes might be finished with a Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese egg custard tart).

And there’s one other big difference between Vegas and Macau, where the desert heat is replaced by energy sapping, T-shirt sticking humidity (now we know how the athletes in Beijing felt during the 2008 Olympic Games).

In the past 12 months, Macau has started to embrace another element of Western culture: poker. In November 2007, the first No Limit Hold’em poker tournament ever played in the People’s Republic of China was held as part of the first season of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT).

Given the success of that inaugural event, it’s appropriate that season two of the APPT opens at the venue that has quickly established a reputation as the hub of poker in Macau: the Grand Waldo Hotel and Casino.

The five-star Grand Waldo Hotel opened in 2006 and was the first one-stop hotel and entertainment resort in Macau. Overlooking the Pearl River, the People’s Republic of China lies not much more than a nine-iron away.

Such was the success of last year’s APPT Macau: Asian Poker Open and High Roller events, the Grand Waldo is now home to PokerStars Macau: the first live poker room to open in the world’s premier gaming locale.

Over the next 10 days, the world’s best players will return to Macau to contest two events – the HKD $25,000 buy-in Main Event and the prestigious High Roller event with a buy-in of HKD $150,000. Both events have a guaranteed prize pool of HKD $10,000,000.

Team PokerStars Pros who have arrived in recent days include 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem, three-time WSOP bracelet winner Barry Greenstein, 2006 Aussie Millions winner Lee “Final Table” Nelson, 2008 PCA champion Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier, Vanessa Rousso and Chad Brown.

Other players who can’t wait to experience poker Macanese-style include dual WSOP main event winner and 10-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan, six-time WSOP bracelet winner Men “The Master” Nguyen, his wife Van Nguyen (the first female to win an open WPT title), 2008 WPT Championship winner David Chiu and WPT Ladies Night IV victor JJ Liu.

Over the next nine days, we look forward to bringing you all the action from the biggest poker tournament ever held in Asia: the PokerStars.net APPT Macau.

If the rock singer Pink was here, she'd be singing "Get this Party Started!" The atmosphere is building in the Grand Waldo casino. The players can almost taste the anticipation in the air as they prepare their poker faces for the biggest ever poker party in Asia... Season 2 of the APPT Macau, sponsored by PokerStars.net.

Yep, everyone who's anyone and anyone who aspires to be someone in poker have descended on Macau, a city where there's so much neon that anyone who lives here and isn't a poker dealer works in the light bulb business. With even more casinos under construction, business forecasts are looking good.

Meantime, back at the Grand Waldo, there's some poker going on. The players have been warming up with some preliminary events. Today we saw the Team PokerStars Pro bounty tournament, where each of Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier; Barry Greenstein; Hevad "RainKhan" Khan; Emad Tahtouh; Chad Brown; and Vanessa Rousso had a $5,000 bounty paid to any player who eliminated them. ElkY, the 2008 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure main event winner, championed the Team PokerStars Pro cause, with a solid effort making it to the final table of the bounty event, but still fell short, as players were much more willing to call the all-ins of bounty pros. Not to worry ElkY, you just got a bit more time to prepare for the PokerStars APPT Macau welcome party tonight...

ElkY - eyeing off an APPT title to go with his PCA championship

Let's not forget the ladies. The Ladies Event also took place today, and as a demonstration of the growth of poker's popularity in Asia, the vast majority of the competitors were of Asian descent. Some of the notable players who took part include Celina Lin, Van Nguyen (Men "The Master" Nguyen's wife), and Jeannie Hachem (Joe Hachem's wife). Although Hachem was eliminated early, both Lin and Nguyen both made it to the final table of the $1,000 buy-in event.

Day 1 of the Main Event begins tomorrow, but all the players are also looking forward to the APPT Macau welcome party tonight, at the Grand Waldo's most popular bar, the Monkey Bar. So although the "big poker dance" is tomorrow, you can bet your last tournament chip that there'll be dancing of another kind taking place this evening. Anyone who has been to a PokerStars party knows they are quality events, so if you couldn't make it this time, don't worry, as the PokerStars blog will be performing the... er... research to keep everyone informed on the APPT Macau social scene. Oh yes, there'll be some poker reported as well if you like that sort of thing.

by Adam "STUDstood" Roberts

In last week’s blog, I began covering the various necessities that you should adhere to in order to have a fighting chance to play poker professionally.

One of those items is bankroll.

To reiterate, as a budding (or even established) pro, you should have at least one full year’s expense money put aside before even thinking about attempting to play for a living.

Then, you will also need a playing bankroll. The amount you will need varies depending on the game limits you decide to play.

I feel that the smallest possible game limit you will have to compete in to give you a chance to earn enough money to support yourself (if you are good enough) will be $15/$30 online, or the live equivalent, $30/$60.
I cannot tell you which actual poker game to choose. That decision would have to be made by your ability to play the different games currently offered at the casino you play at. If you are skilled at split-pot games, I will say that playing these games online give you tremendous value, because the speed that each pot is chopped (by computer as opposed to a live dealer) allows you to play many more hands.

For our discussion today, I will use the $30/$60 limits online. I will also assume $60,000 USD for your yearly expenses – that’s the minimum you need to survive at your chosen status of living, for the purpose of this discussion.

I would say that $30,000 USD would be your minimum needed playing bankroll to try and play $30/$60 limit online poker at the professional level, in addition to the $60,000 USD that you have put aside for expenses.
To calculate your minimum bankroll, I would use a blanket 100x the minimum bet in whatever game and limit you choose to play, i.e., $100,000 for a $100/$200 limit game, and so on. Please remember that this assumes you have the skills to beat the game you are playing. No amount of bankroll is sufficient to survive long-term it you are a losing player, let alone play professionally. It’s essential that you are honest about your profit-making potential; that’s why the 2000-hour test is important before you attempt to play for a living.

To reiterate from my last blog, if you are making a commitment to try and do this, I would recommend playing at least 2000 game hours (approximately one year) in your poker game and limit of choice before making a determination whether you are skilled enough to play for a living.

If over that time you have not earned enough to pay for your expenses, you’re probably not ready to turn pro.
In the old days, articles used to be written with regards to how much you should make per hour in your game and limit of choice. It used to be a rule of thumb that a professional should earn at least one big bet per hour, i.e., $60 per hour in a $30/$60 limit game. Although this theory can be used as a guideline, the reality is that you will need to make enough money to cover your yearly expenses, whether that amount is more or less than whatever “one big bet per hour” is in the game and limit of your choice. This guideline was formulated in the pre-online world, where all games were played in casinos, at a slower pace than online.

In today’s poker world, if you work 2000 hours in a $30/$60 limit game over 2000 hours, and earn $60,000 (enough to cover your expenses) , I would still consider you a professional, even though you earned only $30 per hour.

There should also be strict money management guidelines which must be adhered to for you to have a chance at success. They too apply to all different games and limits. In my opinion, these guidelines can be even more important than actual ability as a poker player. I will cover those next week.

In the meantime, I would like to remind you that you can generally find me in either the $10/$20 or $30/$60 limit games in the Stud high, Stud 8 Hi/Lo, or Razz games on our site, as well as the $215 buy-in weekly Stud Hi/Lo tournament (with a $10k guarantee) that we offer every Saturday at 16:45 pm ET.

If you are interested in reading any of my past blogs, click HERE. If you would like to contact me further with any questions or suggestions, please do so at adamr@pokerstars.com>. Thank you.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.

The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.

While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.

If you need some help getting started, here are the Top 50 players from Season 4 of the EPT.

Ready to make your vote? Click HERE to make your choice.

For more information, visit the EPT Awards homepage.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.

The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.

While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.

If you need some help getting started, here are the Top 50 players from Season 4 of the EPT.

Ready to make your vote? Click HERE to make your choice.

For more information, visit the EPT Awards homepage.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.

The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.

While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.

If you need some help getting started, here are the Top 50 players from Season 4 of the EPT.

Ready to make your vote? Click HERE to make your choice.

For more information, visit the EPT Awards homepage.

The PokerStars European Poker Tour is giving you a chance to pick your favorite player poker on the EPT.

The first-ever EPT Awards are just a couple of weeks away in Barcelona. On September 9, the eve of the Season 5 opening event in Barcelona, some of the best players from around the world will show up and be recognized for all the work they put in during Season 4 of the European Poker Tour.

While several awards will be presented that night, one award stands out: The EPT People's Choice Award. This is your chance to recognize your favorite player's efforts. Use whatever criteria you like: the player's game, contribution to poker, entertainment value, or whatever you think is best.

If you need some help getting started, here are the Top 50 players from Season 4 of the EPT.

Ready to make your vote? Click HERE to make your choice.

For more information, visit the EPT Awards homepage.