Becoming A Poker Pro
One of the first things you have to do when getting into poker is decide which game you’re going to play. Many people figure that poker pros are players that excel in every single version of the game but very few can pull that off. What usually happens is players specialize in different version of the game. If successful, being a poker pro gives you the chance to work when you want, travel the world and earn some serious cash. But approaching poker as a career with a level head is the first step to a lucrative profession. See which poker legal sites accept credit cards. Do not fool yourself: becoming a professional poker player in today’s competitive environment is not easy, but if you take it seriously, it can be well worth the efforts. I had many ups and downs.
Table Of Contents
Be honest, how many of you reading this article have wanted to be an online poker pro at some point since discovering such a thing was possible?
I know I have — and on more than one occasion.
Being able to play poker for a living seems like the perfect job — for someone who loves poker at least. But it's harder than you would like to believe.
How to be an online poker pro? We have a few quick poker tips for you to set you on your way to your dream job.
How to become a professional online poker player in one easy step would be to quit your job and use poker as your sole source of income.
While this instantly makes you a poker pro, it is not advised, not even a tiny amount, for reasons that we'll cover shortly.
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1. Study all aspects of the game
Studying the game of poker is crucial if you want to learn how to succeed as a professional online poker player.
When you think you have learned all there is to learn about poker, you need to study and research even more.
In fact, you should never stop learning because standing still in this game means you're going to be left behind.
Read articles on PokerNews, check out the 10 most important poker strategy books ever written, join a poker training site, or hire a coach. Any edge you can create for yourself will eventually lead to profits.
You can also practice Texas holdem and pot limit Omaha cash games and tournaments for free on the WSOP Poker app.
The games are completely free to play, meaning you can play poker for fun, try new things, play online poker with friends and never risk any of your bankroll.
2. Prove you're a winning 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.
Wrong!
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.
3. Be realistic
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.
Here's where many people fail.
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.
Are you really going to sit grinding for 60 hours every week?
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?
You may have aspirations of making $150,000 a year, and that may be possible. 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 think you can make enough money at $0.25/$0.50 to warrant giving up your job?
Do you know how many online poker pros are there who wake up at 12:00 p.m., play online poker for two hours, and then swan off enjoying life to the max?
The answer is not many. And those who do generally don't succeed as professional online poker players for any meaningful length of time.
4. Give playing poker professionally a trial run
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 four hours grinding you suddenly lose all concentration.
Or how after losing 15 buy-ins during the first three days you no longer want to get out of bed at 7:00 a.m.
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.
5. Build a big bankroll and liferoll
You have gone through all the previous steps but still think you know how to be an online poker pro. That's fine, but do you have a bankroll and your other finances in order?
Most poker pros like to have at least six months' worth of life expenses tucked away in a separate bank account in case things go pear-shaped.
Dipping into your poker bankroll to cover your bills is a big no-no.
Your bankroll should be larger than a recreational player would have because you never want to drop down in stakes.
Doing so, dropping down that is, makes it harder to reach your monetary goals — much harder. It's better to be a bankroll nit than it is going broke.
6. Act professionally
Professional poker players often cite the freedom it gives them for playing for a living, but that's not to say you shouldn't have a professional attitude towards the job.
Some of the best poker players in the world are extremely disciplined and in their approach every single day.
You wouldn't rock up to work and put your feet on the desk or lounge around on the sofa with your laptop, so don't do it as a poker pro. How to become a professional poker player?
Starting acting like one, a professional that is.
Additional Readings
This article was originally published on Jul. 5, 2017. Last update: May 7, 2020.
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So you want to become a professional poker player?
It’s hard, but it’s possible.
You just need to put in your number of hours (and reasonable amounts of cash) to become more adept with the game you love.
A fair warning though: accordingly to poker experts, only an estimated 10 percent of poker players are considered long-term earners of the game.
That means there’s a load of poker players who think they’re good, but they’re not.
They often overrate their skill and once faced with sleek opponents, they often get up from their seats empty-handed.
It’s a tough and grueling sport and lifestyle.
So, are you still up to it?
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Do you win consistently?
Are you a winner?
The first thing you need to consider before you turn professional is your skill level.
While it’s true you could kill every home game in your backyard, the big league – the casinos, the professional card rooms, the office that is open 24/7 – is a different ball game.
Objectively assessing your skill level is crucial to ensure that your chosen path is worth pursuing.
Going professional means being able to pay for bills relaying only on the money you make from playing poker.
So if your skill level isn’t high enough you might run into some financial problems if playing poker is your only income stream.
So in here lies a much needed reality check: How good are you at poker?
I mean really. There’s a difference in “knowing” if you’re really good at poker and “believing” you’re good at it. I used to “believe” that I look better than Brad Pitt, but my friends “know” it isn’t true.
You need to know in your heart of hearts that you’re not kidding yourself because the mind is a prison and it’s quite an expert in deception to make us believe what we want to believe
Keep a record book
What you should do is to keep tabs of your poker performance on a regular basis.
If you want to become a No-Limit Hold’em professional poker player, you need to treat it just like any other job – professionally.
In your day job, your employer keeps score of your performance and you get that (dreaded) monthly employment appraisal.
Why not do the same with your game?
You need to have a baseline of data to compare the number of your wins to the number of your losses. According to poker experts, you need a minimum of two thousand hours to play poker and use the results of those games, win or lose, in order to make a sound case
Target Monetary Gains
Money, money, money…
Picture this: you’ve had enough professional work experience and you’re vying for a position in a new company.
You aced the qualifying exam, the interview went well, and it seems that you blew your competition away.
The CEO of the company was pretty impressed with your answers and he’s dying to have you on board.
But there’s one problem.
The salary range is not what you expect.
Sure there are benefits, but you feel the monetary offer won’t cut it.
Do you think the offer is an insult to your capabilities and sense of worth?
If your answer is “no” then you should treat your decision to turn poker pro the same way.
Of course, you’d say “poker is different.”
Yes, poker is different. As opposed to your regular job that pays you a regular monthly wage, winning at poker on a regular basis is not easy as you think.
You need to consider the target amount of cash that you need to pay your mortgage, your tuition, your credit card, etc. (and if you’re like Joey Knish in Rounders, alimony).
Get your record book that we’ve suggested above.
Go to the page of your wins and losses, and compute how much you’ve won and lost each given night, each week, and each month as per the number of hours you played.
You’ll be your own manager and employee, founder and accountant.
It’s a tall order if you ask me.
Poker is fun if you’re winning when you’re losing a little bit during your spare time.
The story takes on a new face when it becomes the main source of your survival and lifestyle.
What separates men from boys: Pros versus Newbies and your bankroll
The harsh reality is that poker is not easy.
Growing up, we’ve heard old folks say you have to grind and work really hard, day-in, day-out.
You subject yourself to harsh boredom of doing repetitive and monotonous things in life.
How to become a No-Limit Hold’em professional poker player is no easy task and requires commitment more than you can possibly imagine and the most important thing you need to consider is your poker bankroll.
Your bankroll
Poker bankroll management.
How much money do you have or need to support your playing time and your life away from the tables?
Do you have enough to keep you afloat when you’re game is moving downstream?
Sooner or later you’ll suffer a big loss as is the case of most professional No-Limit players.
No one is exempted.
Some even disappeared from the poker universe radar after going “bust” big time. Others have sunk so deeply in debt they couldn’t get back up.
Determining your bankroll is a continuation of the importance of keeping an honest record of your game’s performance and your financial targets.
Your bankroll ultimately determines the stakes you’ll be playing. It will help you identify the blinds you’re most likely to find yourself playing and the maximum buy-ins you’d allow yourself to have.
The bankroll that you will set must be pegged with the persistent probability of you getting badly hit by variance and losses.
Preparing to become a professional poker player is no different from an entrepreneur who’s starting a business – there must be capital involved that you’re willing to risk.
Do you know how and when to walk away?
I remember watching a cash game poker in one of the local clubs and there was one player whose stack was so short and yet would continue to soldier on.
From what I’ve heard, this player asked money from other poker players there.
Seeing this made me question myself,“is this the kind of pro poker player that I want to be?” “How could he allow himself to be put in that situation?” “How could he be so square?”
I know this sounds a bit discriminating, but you have to agree I have a point here. There’s a difference between a professional poker player and a gambling addict.
This is what separates the men from the boys, the pros from the amateurs.
The pros know when to quit, while the amateurs get stuck.
The pros know when to get up from the poker table and leave while they’re on the winning side. The losers will continue playing and sometimes embarrassingly leave the table without any cash left and with their chins down.
Do you know that feeling?
Both are difficult to do. That is, it’s difficult to leave the game when you’re still winning big. I’m sure you’ve experienced the same.
It’ sooooo hard to leave the table when you’re still winning and you continue only to realize you’ve lost more than half of what you’ve earned in the last 8-hour grind. How much more if you’re losing?
If you don’t know how or when, or should I say if you “can’t” walk away from the poker table, then you’re not a No-Limit Hold’em professional poker player yet.
The mindset of a No-Limit Hold’em professional poker player
Holdem wisdom for all player
In “Hold’em Wisdom for All Players“, Daniel Negreanusaid that if you can’t forget and let go of a previous bad play, you’re not yet a professional poker player.
If you’re the type who keeps talking about your bad beats or you can’t believe your made Flush on the Turn got outdrawn by your opponent on the River and kept complaining about it, then you’re not yet a pro.
Trust me. You’re not yet a pro.
Dealing with sharp emotional swings
I’m not saying you can’t feel bad about it.
You should.
But you also need to learn to let go.
Here’s an example. I was in a big local tournament with championship prize money worth US$60,000. It was time for the “In The Money” situation and I was mid-stack at the time. It was a heads-up match between me and a known aggressive player.
My hand was among the last plays and I had J♠,10♠. The board was showing 4♣,9♥,Q♥. I hit my nuts when the Turn came. It was an 8♠. The aggressive player hit his two-pair 9♣,8♣. He was first to act and went all-in.
I called.
The River was 8♦. I was outdrawn. Out of shock, I couldn’t get up from my seat. And I couldn’t sleep for days.
Variance and Psychology
Psychology of poker
However, I got an epiphany from that game.
There are two crucial things in poker: Probability (some call it lady luck) and psychology. If you don’t understand any of the two, then you’re in trouble.
You’re in bad shape if you can’t accept that variance plays a big role in poker.
Time and again you’ll hit a brick wall.
You seem to be capable of fairly calculating the odds and expected value of a hand you’re playing, but you can’t predict what’s going to happen next. That’s right. You can’t predict what the next card will be. All you can do is estimate what will come next.
The other thing is psychology.
“It’s not the cards you’re holding. It’s about the man.”
I bet you’ve heard this. if you’re in the game in a long time. It’s a grain of salt.
You need to learn to read other players’ tell – see their betting patterns, how they played in the previous hours, sessions, or last week.
Most important of all, it’s about controlling your emotions. I’m not sure how you do it, but when I’m in the zone, I could easily change gears and often tell myself not to tilt (which, by the way, still happens).
The Big Picture: Amassing A Lifetime Bankroll
We couldn’t stress further why your bankroll (management) is the be-all and end-all of a professional poker career.
Think of it this way: you should treat your dream of winning millions of dollars at the World Series of Poker a windfall, not a cash flow.
Unless you live off playing tournaments on a regular basis, the true source of professional poker income is in cash games.
The idea is to beat the game fairly and squarely, one big hand at a time. You don’t rush things. You wait for that big hand or play at the right moment and move strong to win enormously.
Your strategy should be to never give up what you’ve worked hard for and to get as much as you can in each game.
You need to build your bankroll, manage it, and protect it at all cost because everything depends on it. It’s your profession – you don’t want to get laid off, right?
Sure you wanna do this?
10 000 hours poker
In summary, you need to show up day-in, day-out. T
hat’s what the grind really means.
Professionals, in all fields of expertise and not only in poker, are those people who show up and carry on with what they do even if sometimes what they do already feels like a drag.
You need to put your heart out in every game and you can’t slack-off because it’s your chosen profession.
Try slacking-off in your work environment and you get a memo. Worst, you can get fired, right?
That’s the same thing with playing poker professionally.
Learn Poker Pro
In the non-poker book, Outliers: The Story of Success, author Malcolm Gladwell posed a theory called 10,000-hour rule.
The theory goes that if you keep doing the same thing over and over and amounts to 10,000 hours then you’ll be very good at that chosen activity.
I think that applies to poker as well.
How Long Does It Take To Become A Poker Pro
The 10,000 hours is roughly equivalent to three years if you’re playing poker eight hours a day.
That means making sacrifices.
Becoming A Pro Poker Player
Now let’s see a pro in action in this video. Will this be you one day? Start playing today and find out.