Is it possible to become a professional poker player

Remember how we said that handing in your notice and jumping straight into being a professional poker player isn't a good idea? This is one of the main reasons why: you need to prove to yourself you know how to be a profitable online poker player first. Many people bag a big score in a poker tournament , or win the equivalent of two months' wages at the cash tables and start thinking that this game is an easy way to make a living.

You need tens of thousands of cash game hands and tournaments if not hundreds of thousands to prove you're a winning player. If you're not a winning poker player over the long term, you'll soon be heading back to your old boss cap-in-hand hoping to be reemployed.

Once you've ascertained that you're a winning poker player, it's time to begin trying to figure out how many poker hands or tournaments you'll need to play in order at least to match your previous salary. When you have a salaried job, you are usually paid on the same date every month regardless of how productive your week or month is within reason. You're almost certainly paid while on vacation, or if you're sick.

The fact you have to go to work five days per week is probably enough to make you get out of bed and go to your job. But what if none of that was true? But make sure you factor in at least three full weeks "holiday.

You should also plan for being sick and unable to play for a couple of weeks per year. Also, ask yourself — are you really going to sit grinding for 60 hours every week? Do you know how many online poker pros are there who wake up at p. The answer is not many.

And those who do generally don't succeed as professional online poker players for any meaningful length of time. Even if you have done all of the above, you should at least give playing for a living a trial run, so you have experience of how to play online poker professionally. Take a week's holiday from your job and spend the next five working days doing nothing but playing poker at least you'll be getting paid even if you have a bad week!

You may surprise yourself at how difficult it is to motivate yourself to play poker non-stop for a week. Or how after losing 15 buy-ins during the first three days you no longer want to get out of bed at a.

It's best to find out you're not cut out for the life of a poker pro before you take the plunge into playing for a living.

The modern poker professionals are young, fit and focused on being in a sharp condition both mentally and physically. To get an extra edge in poker, you should ditch the poor diet and stop neglecting your emotional life. Yes they do! Yet, poker has become harder over the years and you have to be willing to work a lot on your game constantly if you want to make big money in poker.

But once those with the right abilities do, they can make a lot more money than would be possible in a typical job. If you have been playing for some time and are wondering how long it will take before you start winning money from poker, we can only give you a rough estimate of between 6 months to 3 years. If you play in soft games and study the game every day you might be able to make it in 6 months, but in case you have a full-time job and are playing only on the weekends it might take a few years.

Luckily there are numerous things you can do to speed up the process of becoming a winning poker player:. The poker is definitely not for everyone. Most professional players survive in the game for years, and some very good players for years. If you are exceptional, you can play for a living for over a decade. The people who might regret turning pro are those who realize at some point they had a massive opportunity cost to them becoming a professional player, meaning they would have been much better off having a traditional career or starting a business.

The good thing about becoming a poker pro is that you can transfer into a business owner through utilizing the money won in poker for something else, if at some point poker is no longer the thing you want to do full-time. You can read inspirational biographies of top crushers in poker from our article The Best Poker Players in Recently many great female players have taken their place in the poker scene that used to be very masculine.

Henri is a Pot-Limit Omaha specialist and an expert in all aspects of poker tracking software. Henri has played poker professionally since and regularly plays the highest cash games available online. He is a two-time title winner in World Championships of Online Poker.

Rules of Poker Poker is a name for a group of different exciting card games. In all poker games, the pot can be won either. In this in-depth article you can find a brief history of the poker boom and how it developed, and learn some basic concepts to help. While the rules of poker are quite easy to grasp, if you. Perhaps the most common question people ask poker players is can you make money playing poker online or at the casino. If you remember your. Beasts of Poker is an online poker guide created by industry veterans, offering the best poker bonuses and rakeback deals, expert site reviews and free in-depth poker articles.

Besides helping you to crush poker, we want to bring a bit of the flash of the golden era of poker. Any information and advice provided by Beastsofpoker. Beasts Discord. Become a Poker Pro in 8 Steps. March 4, Poker Basics. What Will I Learn? Step 1. Make sure playing poker is something you love doing. Step 2. Only call with marginal hands when in late position, but also pay attention to your opponents. And if you are a tournament player looking to get into the money, use a Push Fold chart.

This will display a range of hands you should be moving all-in with based on your position and stack size. To maximize your profits, you need to learn to steal the blinds and be more aggressive pre-flop.

Knowing how to make a living by playing poker is all about making the most of any situation. Build up an image at the table and prey on weaker opponents.

By targeting weak players who are prone to bluffs, you can be more successful. For recreational players, learning how to become a pro poker player is about looking after yourself as much as it is about understanding pot odds.

By going pro, poker is going to be your sole pursuit every single working day. You may be sitting at a computer monitor for 16 hours straight.

Eat sensibly and get plenty of exercise so that you can stay sharp at the tables. You will need a big enough bankroll to cope with the buy-ins. These can offer good value and are a great way of earning a tourney entry for a small outlay.

Professional poker players in the US are liable for income tax on winnings, so keep good records whether you win or lose. Work out what you want to play before you start. But grinding cash games needs discipline and a big bankroll. If you prefer the chance of a slice of the guaranteed prizepool, tournaments might be for you.

Every pro will want to take a shot at the biggest events, so learn how to get into the World Series of Poker. Understand how satellites work and do some forward planning so you can target the softest side games when you arrive in Las Vegas. Poker players need to put in the legwork and have targets. This is the percentage you are earning in winnings minus your tournament buy-ins. Anything higher is very good.