There are many ways to make money on the web, and online poker is definitely a legitimate one to do it. In fact, there are thousands of professionals who play online poker on a daily basis and earn good money from it.
Therefore, to answer the topic question right away — yes, you can make a living by playing poker online. However, that’s not the right question to ask at all, so let me make a little correction right away.
The right question should be this – How hard is it to make a living by playing poker on the web?
Now, this is definitely something that you’re not going to like. It’s pretty difficult and requires a lot of practice, dedication, and sacrifice.
Poker player Adrian Sterne from Top10PokerSites.net published a well detailed article on making a living by playing poker online. Feel free to check that out if you want to learn more.
Online Poker Is a Job
One thing you should understand is that making a living by playing online poker means accepting that this type of activity is a job at which you have to perform exceptionally well to earn your wage.
Therefore, if you consider it just an interesting pastime, you might earn some and lose some, but you’ll not be able to make a living out of it. As soon as you understand that you have to devote your time, energy, and money to it, you are on the right track to become a professional poker player.
Understand How to Earn from Online Poker
Earning from playing poker means understanding the way money flows within this game.
The first thing you should take into account is that the majority of people play it for fun. Some might be good at it, but the reality is that many of them are fish. Aiming for fish is something that all professionals do, as that is almost a certain profit. Players who understand how to play against new and inexperienced players have a firm ground from which they can take off and play poker.
However, playing against fish is definitely not your main source of income. Once you have enough capital to invest in the game, you would be able to see higher returns. Simply put, playing low-stake tournaments and cash games is not as lucrative as playing high-stake ones. If you’re good enough to beat opponents at high stakes, you can earn more money.
One of the important things you immediately need to understand if you want to earn money from online poker is that variance shouldn’t affect you. Professional poker players know that they might lose their entire stack and are ready to make such a loss on a short-term basis.
In other words, they accept that the element of luck is an inevitable factor in playing poker and that they will have periods when they lose more than they win.
It’s Often Very Risky
No matter how good they get, every professional player on the web who earns a lot of money this way is ready to risk. When you think of it, the risk is an inevitable part of starting any business. In fact, it’s a part of life and, as such, it’s present in the game of poker.
Imagine starting a business that offers products for professional athletes. You started it in December 2019 and your business began booming right away, as top-rated athletes have been buying your products. Then, all of a sudden, a pandemic kicks in, pulling all sports events to a halt. You’re out of money, but that was the risk you were willing to take.
The same goes for poker. Although pandemic might not really affect it, there are many ways that can make you hit the rail before you even start. The good news is that the more you practice and the more you study, the element of luck would have a lesser impact on your game.
You’ll Have a Lot of Studying to Do
Being a successful online poker player is something that requires you to watch hundreds of videos and read dozens of books about poker. Poker is a simple game on the surface, and it’s definitely entertaining to play from time to time.
However, there’s a lot of theoretical knowledge that you have to acquire before you can call yourself a professional player. Many great poker players, such as The Godfather of Poker himself, have "written useful books ":https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16572.Doyle_Brunson_s_Super_Systemthat are often regarded as obligatory reads for all players who want to go pro.
What the majority of these books deal with is mathematics, and the sooner you accept that fact, the better you’ll become. Playing poker on the web as a professional means dealing with a lot of numbers, stats, odds, and whatnot. It means being able to calculate the best possible outcome of your hand and make the mathematically most accurate decision.
It takes time to master that. I’m not talking about days or weeks — I’m talking about years and years of experience. You don’t really have to be a talented mathematician to do it, you just need to understand these processes right away and apply them to your online poker sessions.
Final Thoughts: Professional Poker Is NOT for Everybody
Like it or not — we’re born with certain talents. Although I agree that the talent is 2% and hard work 98%, I also understand that those without that 2% of talent would never be able to perform at 100%. Sadly, earning in online poker to make a living requires being at the top 10% or at least the top 20% players on the platform you’re using. To do that, you need to have at least some talent.
But what exactly is a poker talent? It’s the skill of being able to read people and their actions. It’s sometimes more like intuition than a skill. This can be learned with time, but some people would require much more time to master it than others. Sadly, some players never master it.
Therefore, the best approach to playing online poker is to accept the fact that it’s not for everybody. It requires a specific combination of talent and hard work that only some people have.
