What would you play to make a decent wage? Starting with 10,000 as a bank roll !!!!

If I were good enough to play at that level, I'd say $20/$40 would be the minimum. And I'd want at least twice that bankroll to attempt it.

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- Low-limit limit poker @ Artichoke Joe's ($6/$12) & 101 Casino ($4/$8 w/ 1/2 kill)
- Poker blog, good writing, OK poker: http://chuck.martin.name/poker/
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Thats what I was thinking grind in Chicago area then make the move

I don't know, but it wouldn't be in Las Vegas. There's only one casino that dependably gets LHE at 10/20+ every night, and there you're looking at only one or two tables at each of the stakes above red-chip level, so if the table's lousy the options for the night may sometimes come down to: fuggedaboudit. Someplace like LA's Commerce, where they regularly have 50-60 LHE games spanning all conceivable stakes, perhaps? I don't know, I've never spent a moment thinking of doing anything of the kind, but I don't see how in Las Vegas; not unless I radically changed my definition of "decent wage" and my initials to TBC. I agree with bumping the bankroll threshold to 20k, and that's dedicated separate poker bankroll, not "everything I (you) have to survive in the world."

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Life is six to five against.
-Damon Runyon

I dunno. If I were good enough to play at that level keep repeating that "if" word for very good reason), Vegas would have some big positives and negatives. The biggest negative is as Mr. Rock so eloquently pointed out: the dearth of regularly running games at that level. (To be fair, Roy Cooke regularly writes about a $30/$60 game that I assume runs often enough.) But middle limit is really a "donut hole": you can get low-limit limit games until the cows come home, and you can jump to nosebleed stakes where the pros regularly hang out, but the in-between has been sucked dry, largely, I think, by no limit.

That said, the biggest positive is that living in Vegas is cheap, cheap, cheap. During my nealry two-year unemployment nightmare, my savior was that every-two-weeks unemployment check. Mind you, here in the Bay Area, $450/week barely covers monthly rent. But in Vegas, from what I've seen, I could get a relatively decent place for one week's check. The economy has taken such a toll there that the cost of living, at least for housing, is at rock bottom.

I think the biggest issue in trying to get into mid-limit games elsewhere, such as in LA, is that while the pool of players at those levels is bigger, the number of sharks is not trivially higher. I've taken shots a couple of times at the $15/$30 game at one card room here in the Bay Area, and the level of play is very challenging. (To be fair, I'd also say that the game is more loose-aggressive, with emphasis on the loose side. It turns out to be a high-variance game too. The $10/$20 game I played at the Mirage a couple of years ago before it died was a much tougher game, with demonstrably tougher aggressive play--aggression with a purpose rather than aggression just to gamble. Selective aggression back at them was a successful tactic there, where it often isn't in California card rooms, where players will 4-bet and cap "just because."

_________________
- Low-limit limit poker @ Artichoke Joe's ($6/$12) & 101 Casino ($4/$8 w/ 1/2 kill)
- Poker blog, good writing, OK poker: http://chuck.martin.name/poker/
- Tweets from the felt: twitter.com/chuckspoker

I didn't mean to imply that there weren't games at 20/40 & 40/80. There are, with one or two of each running nightly. So you can get a game, but you can't get the opportunity to cherry-pick among games.

_________________
Life is six to five against.
-Damon Runyon

I wouldn't for the reasons mentioned above. You're going to have a tough time finding good games at high enough levels.

But honestly, I'd start at 4/8 kill and play until I could crush that game consistently. Then move up to 8/16 or 10/20 and beat that game consistently. And then I'd think about playing 20/40 to make a living.

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Don't tap the glass!

I'd pass on the idea entirely, but that's just me. I grinded for a time while I was in grad school and law school and it was just too hard. Hopefully you have better luck.

I actually started out at $1/$2. Limit. Yes, you read that right. One of the local card rooms here in the Bay Area (the Oaks, in Emeryville) spreads a $1/$2 limit game played with 50-cent chips. (they also take a smaller rake on that game. Or at least they used to.) And while I never crushed that (or any) game, I became a long-term winner, moved up to $2/$4, $3/$6, and now (primarily) $6/$12.

I've taken a couple of shots at the $15/$30 game when I've grown a big enough bankroll, and both experienced were not good. I found a regularly good $8/$16 game (with a half kill, no less) in San Jose, but when that room kicked up to a flat $5 rake, I left and never went back. I had some (tough) success the few times I played $10/$20 at the Mirage a few years back.

But my bankroll has taken a bit of a hit in recent months, so I can't (objectively) go higher than $6/$12 right now. And Vegas basically has too big of a gap from it highest low-limit games ($4/$8) to it's lower middle limit games. would not mind at all finding a $4/$8 game with a half kill in Vegas like I play in at one cardroom here.) So when I come to Vegas, I (mostly) just grind away at the $3/$6 tables where the rakes are more reasonable. I'm not going to make a living there, but it is a generally contented place to be.

_________________
- Low-limit limit poker @ Artichoke Joe's ($6/$12) & 101 Casino ($4/$8 w/ 1/2 kill)
- Poker blog, good writing, OK poker: http://chuck.martin.name/poker/
- Tweets from the felt: twitter.com/chuckspoker

10k is not a good enough bank roll for that limit. It is about right for 4/8 limit but 15/hr in a 4/8 is pretty tough. I would consider going to california or washington and finding a prop job if that is your bankroll.