Thats the way I live....however I do overpay into my mortgage and overpay into my pension just incase!!!

You never know!! The ones that spend all their money will be the ones that die at 100 but the ones that invest all their lives are the ones that die at 60!!

Actually it's £34,600 next year - taken from HM Revenue & Customs: Rates and Allowances - Income Tax

my little brother pays £310 a month for his car and hes 18 :thumb:

When I first got my VTS all those years ago I took out a personal loan for £231. I've had various cars over that time and have always done some jiggery-pokery with that loan. It's now £331 a month and I've never been free of it for all these years. I was on £18k then and £28k now so I'd say on £45k you could probably afford it unless you spew money elsewhere in your life (like up against a wall ;))

But including your personal allowance, you dont actually pay 40% tax unless you are earning over £39,825 (2007-8)

The only outgoings i've got is a £1000 a month mortgage and bills apart from that i'm pretty sorted. Fiancee helps me pay that anyway. I think i've been persuaded to purchase one. I really want a white STi hawk eye. Shame there isn't many about.

I earnt £42k last month so it reaffirms why i quit playing poker for a living ;)

That is VERY rare though - I don't have the qualifications or experience to ever allow me earn that much in the 'real earning' world. What the hell do you do btw? (oh, and how much did you get taxed on it!)

Oh and sbrubgy, cts and some of the other top online boys win more than that in an evenings session ;):p

You must have a very sore bottom...

lol - but how much do they loose? There are VERY few decent players making a good living on a regular basis......i have played with some big names who arrived for their games in £2k cars - shattered the illusion for me pretty quick.....the only way i would do it is the way Phil Gordon did i.e...with £$96 million already in the bank!

T

PS - i sell investements, few GCSE's and away you go.....not too hard.

Tax.....lots, but as i say to clients ....... "better to pay too much tax on a lot than no tax on a little"

Saying stuff like that I wonder if you ever actually played poker at all? ;) Obviously these guys have big losing days; sbrugby recently had a $1.2M downswing but on balance they are loaded. CTS just bought a Continental GT and sbrugby (brain townsend) made a fortune at live games at the Bellagio last week.

If you are referring to some of the big named live players then you are correct. A lot of them are pretty broke. I have no idea why they choose to do the circuit scene when there is so little money in it. I presume its because being on TV and being known means more to them than money. There are MANY more completely unknown internet players that are making 6 figure sums a year with ease and you wouldn't know them from adam.

The game is not a business - it doesnt generate money except that which is held by those in the game. Therefore its like a giant pyramid scheme with a few peopel at the top who just pass the money bewteen themselves while the IRS and casiono rake dip into it.

If you try and make a living at it you WILL go broke at some point, just get a good job then play for laugh :D

In theory what you say is correct. Even a player that wins at 10bb/100 hands will, in the case of infinate time and assuming he/she does not have infinate bankroll, suffer a downswing that would take them to zero. That is hypothetical maths scenario and can never be applicable to the 'real' world.

In the real word a player can never have infinate bankroll but also cannot play over infinate time. So whilst risk of ruin can never theoretically reach zero, for a solid winning player with sound bankroll and money management skills it is 'highly unlikely' they will go broke in their playing lifetime.

What remains a fact, as you allude to, is that most so-called 'pro' players are LIKELY to go broke within their playing lifetime. That, IMHO, is because there are far too many players that just jump at pro play and think they are invincible because the first few months/years go well. This is the reason that I've discussed the concept of playing for a living for well over 2 years but haven't actually taken the plunge yet. That's about to change though ;)

Its not a good sign of the time though I think when 45k nets 2.5k per month, and you consider how much you now have to pay for mortgages and such... things just don't add up... i used to think45k was a huge amount of money but in real terms you need 60k now to be doing ok... or at least 4k a month...

That is wildly optimistic.

I disagree - there are many players that go broke because they have too much gamble in then, tilt easily, start playing bad, don't have good bankroll management, etc, etc.

If you genuinely are a solid grinder with super-safe bankroll skills and a proven win rate over many hundreds of thousands of hands then your risk of ruin is low. In fact, over that large a sample you'd have the data you need to calculate it with a very high degree of certainty.

Where I think you are coming from is that most players have a weakness - even some of the big guys. Maybe its tilt? Maybe they can't help but push the bankroll too far up the levels or maybe they get wild drunk once a month and start doing silly stuff at high stakes.

If you've seen Rounders then think about guys like Knish - they don't go broke generally. Worms go broke all the time and Mike goes broke from time-to-time but Knish, as he says, "his family eats"

^^^ I've already got a premium account with them. Costs me £50 a month and they lay me 4:1 on my money that they can get me to stop gambling by the end of the year ;)

Lol ... :D

Taken in the spirit it was intended :thumb:

lol......if you watch Rounders and conclude that Kinesh is your hero you are very sensible......it should also be enough to put you off for life!

Knish is old school though - one man sitting griding at a smokey, dirty table. Online guys are new school; one boy, in his boxer shorts with three monitors, 8 tables and stroking to porn on the other monitor. Win rate per table is less usually but $ per hour much more :D

For this too; Id recommend a Mossberg...

;)

its £34,600 this year. We are currently in the 2007/08 tax year.

It is supposed to increase significantly for 2008/09 tax year which starts in April 08.

Hope you're right :thumb:

:wonder: I think I remember seing some pictures you posted of you doing this job a while back, I wouldn't do it even if you added another zero to the end, you've got balls! (Any chance you can re-post them?)

How come you've changed direction and given it up? How did the job come about?

tell me about it. 75k and roughly a 1/3rd goes to tax :mad:

.75k ? :wonder: Sounds about right for someone with your intelligence :cuckoo:

Best tip I can give you. Working for others is a mugs game ;)

I decide how much I want to pay me and I dont ever have to worry about getting sacked :D

Bank on it costing more like 600 a month if you include insurance/fuel and the depreciation when you want to move on in a year or so :Whatever_

best tip for you is get a better accountant, i have earnt your annual salary this tax year already and dont pay 33% in income tax.