Since its launch in the 1990s, online poker has grown from being an underground network of casual players to a global phenomenon worth billions. The vast majority of people who deposit and play at poker sites are ‘casual players’, people who play poker because they enjoy it. For every hundred or so casual players, you’ll find a ‘serious player’. There are a lot of names for serious players – poker pros, sharks and bandits are terms often thrown around. What’s the difference between the casual players and the poker pro? Poker pros know how to make money playing online poker, and the massive amounts of casual players provide an almost limitless amount of cash on-tap for them to squeeze dry. A lot of amateur poker players think there’s a ‘big secret’ or ‘secret strategy’ that makes someone a professional player. This isn’t true, all you need to start making money from online poker is a desire to learn, and discipline to stick to the simple rules detailed in this article.
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Is it Possible to Play Online Poker for a Living?
In one word: yes. Plenty of people make a living from playing poker on platforms like judi bola online – the reason people think it’s so hard is the massive amount of casual players who don’t follow the basics of poker. Because so many people make bad decisions, play poker while drunk or allow themselves to be distracted while playing poker – it seems like it’s impossible to make any real money. Before we go into the basics that will allow you to start making money from poker, we need to cover 2 points which are an absolute necessity if you want to succeed in playing online poker for a living.
Desire
You need to find a burning desire to win at poker, it needs to become an obsession when you’re playing. Having this desire will keep your mind alert, and you’ll put all your energy into playing the best possible poker you can. Everyone who’s played internet poker before will recall countless times where you’ve made a call, knowing it’s a bad decision – and you just think ‘whatever’ or ‘I feel lucky’. That can’t be allowed to happen.
Discipline
Once you’ve read, absorbed, and learned the key components of poker (listed below), you need to have the discipline to stick to them. You’ll never be able to make money from online poker if you’re not disciplined enough to stick to the basics. You also need the discipline to keep yourself free from distractions while you’re playing, so you can invest all your energy into winning the poker tournament/cash game.
Now we’ve covered whether it’s possible to play online poker for a living, we can move to the meat of the article – the fundamental poker skills which you need to make money from poker.
How to Win Money at Online Poker
There are 4 key concepts that you must etch into your mind if you want to play poker online for a living. Let’s have a look at what they are.
Choosing the right tournament
There are 3 main types of tournaments available at most online poker sites, they are:
- Cash games (otherwise known as Ring games)
cash games are the most profitable form of poker in the long run. While Multi-Table Tournaments can give massive one-off payments, cash tables provide a constant stream of income.
- Multi-Table Tournaments
MTTs can be great fun, and really profitable. They boast some of the biggest one-off prizes available in the world – with the World Series Of Poker being the most famous MTT.
- Sit N Go Tournaments
SnGs don’t return as much money as either cash games or MTTs, but if you’re on a tight schedule they can be great, as they don’t last long and they’re instantly available.
Hand selection
We created a great infographic about hand selection, called the poker betting strategy – check it out, it’s a great ‘rule of thumb’ for deciding whether to play a hand or not. The basic principles are:
• Only get involved in hands when you have premium cards
• The later your position, the wider hand selection you can use
There’s not really much else to be said here, check out the infographic for more info.
Play aggressively
Because we’re playing with such a tight hand selection, when we enter a hand we need to play aggressively. Playing aggressively means making bets and raises, rather than checks and calls. When you check or call (which is known as playing passively) you rely on having the best cards to win the pot, but if you bet or raise you’ve got the extra possibility of your opponents folding. Check out the gap concept strategy for more info on playing aggressively.
Play to win
In SNGs and MTTs, 1st place normally gets around 50% of the whole prize pool – so it’s worth taking a few risks once you get to the final table. The worst thing you can do is get ‘blinded out’, if you’re low on chips just wait until you’ve got the odds to make a move, and shove all in. Don’t half-heartedly make a medium-sized bet, your opponents will sense weakness. Stand strong, and make a bold move. The final table is where the men are separated from the boys (or Women separated from the girls!).
Bankroll management
Once you’ve started making money from online poker you’ll need to watch your bankroll – and decide when you need to move up the buy-in / blind levels to bigger tables. Make sure you use some of your winnings to enjoy yourself, making a living from online poker isn’t easy – so when you’ve built a bankroll make sure you benefit from it!
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Making Money From Online Poker
There you have it, the basic poker concepts that separate casual poker players from the players who make money from playing online poker! If you’re about to start your journey to becoming a poker pro, Profit from Poker would like to wish you the best of luck
