7/11/2022»»Monday
Living Off Of Online Poker
7/11/2022
It’s not easy making a living playing online poker. It requires focus, patience, mental strength and much dedication to improving your game. If you are interested in becoming a professional poker player, there is something you have to be aware of: For every hour that you play, you need to spend an hour training. Just over a decade ago I quit my job to play poker for a living. At the time of Black Friday I was mostly grinding tournaments, sit-n-goes and cash-game Omaha variants at online American poker sites. Since live poker in Kansas was a little thin on the ground, it was apparent I would have to move.
Life of an Online Gambler
If you’ve ever dreamed about getting away from the drudgery of working all day long to make some other guy rich, poker just might be the answer. But be warned; playing poker for a living isn’t all roses and lollipops. Playing poker for a living needs to be treated like a serious job because your livelihood depends on it. I can speak from experience when I tell you that as nice as it is not answering to a boss, playing poker for a living can be a stressful job. At the same time, it can also be an extremely well-paying job.
In this article, I’m going to tell you a little bit about what it’s like to play poker for a living. This article won’t cover things like expenses, health insurance and rent.
Typical Day as a Professional Poker Player
During my best months (earning more than $10,000 / month), I treated poker like a real job. I woke up early, ate breakfast and took a shower before hitting the tables. It was important for me to approach the tables feeling awake and refreshed.
I would typically play poker for 3 or 4 hours in the morning and then go make something for lunch. In the afternoon, I would find something else to do, like clean the house, meet a friend somewhere or whatever. In the evening, I would start another session to catch all the recreational evening players. I’d play for as long as I could stay alert. If I started to get distracted or groggy, I would log off and call it a day.
That all sounds nice and dandy but not every day went totally according to plan. Sometimes I would start out and immediately hit a downswing and have to spend the rest of the day digging myself back out of that hole. Even though I understood variance and knew downswings happened to everyone, it was frustrating to start the day off like that. What I had to do was learn how to put those hands behind me and continue on playing like normal.
Benefits of Going Pro
The best part about being a professional poker player is the money. The freedom was also nice, but there are few ways for a college student to make ten or twenty thousand a month from home. It was nice having more money than knowing what to do with it all. I got to go on trips, buy anything I wanted and save money for my future. There’s nothing more a young college kid (or anyone else) could ask for.
The freedom was important to me as well because I couldn’t stand working for other people. It sickened me to work for such pitiful wages when I knew the owners of the places I worked at were pulling in several thousand dollars a day off the fruits of our labor. It was also good to be able to take off work on a moment’s notice to attend to any emergencies or check out a fun event.
Drawbacks to Going Pro
As nice as being a professional poker player is, there are several drawbacks that you need to seriously consider. First, the future of the career is unknown. Do you think you’ll be able to play poker for 20 years and retire from it? There are many unknowns there including government regulation and abundance of strategy resources for the fish.
Secondly, if you go pro, you’ll have a major gap in your resume if you ever decide to return to the working world. The general population is astoundingly ignorant when it comes to poker so if you tell a future employer that you were a professional online poker player, the odds are they will assume you were some kind of degenerate. It’s frustrating but that’s how it is.
If you have a family that depends on you to make a living, going pro is even more stressful. Not only do you have to worry about yourself, but you also have to worry about your family. If you have a major downswing, you need to have a back up plan in place to feed your family. Otherwise, you and them will just be out of luck.
Going pro also puts a major strain on your bankroll. When you constantly cash out for living expenses, it makes it harder to keep a steady bankroll. It’s difficult to move up in stakes and improve your winrate because you are constantly taking money out of your bankroll. When you play recreationally, you can keep that money in your bankroll for as long as you need.
Speaking of strain, being a professional is a seriously stressful job at times. No matter how great you are, you will experience the occasional monster downswing. During those downswings, it’s difficult to stay positive. If you hit an exceptionally vicious downswing, it can easily affect other areas in your life. It takes a special mindset to be able to separate your job from your personal life.
Should I Go Pro?
Living Off Of Online Poker Real Money
Only you can answer that. In the vast majority of cases, I recommend players against going pro. Your living expenses will constantly eat away at your bankroll unless you bring in a nice chunk of money every month.
Even if you have a good month or two, it doesn’t mean you should go pro. As a professional, you need to be able to win month in and month out. Every single month everything starts over and you need to win enough money to pay your expenses once again.
By not going pro, you can treat poker as a second income. If you work all day at a job and bring in extra money from poker, it’s like having two jobs at once. You’ll also get benefits from your job like health insurance and retirement. When you play poker for a living, you have to figure those things out on your own.
Online gambling is a growing industry, with online gaming transactions rising from $7.4 billion in 2003 to $41.4 billion in 2015. Despite this tremendous boom in interest, many people still question whether or not it’s possible to make a living gambling over the Internet. It isn’t easy, but there are professionals out there that have developed the strategies and systems needed to allow them to make lucrative incomes playing online poker, sports betting and various casino games from home.
How Online Gamblers Have Beaten the House
You’re probably familiar with the old adage “the house always wins,” but this absolutist phrase doesn’t always hold true with online gambling. While gaming providers definitely have an edge with most casino games, it’s still possible for gamblers to make a handsome profit. However, they need to develop the appropriate systems in order to make a sustainable living.
Here are a few of the different ways online gamblers can try to make a full-time living:
Taking Card Games Against Less Experienced Players
Making a killing from online slots can be difficult, as the numbers are randomly generated. For this reason, it’s a lot easier to make money on skill-based card games, such as online poker. Talented players in these games understand the impact of statistics and the elements of game theory, which gives them a strong edge over their less experienced opponents.
Making money playing poker on online gaming sites isn’t usually as difficult as it is in a traditional casino, as these sites tend to attract more amateur players. However, despite this, it still takes time and practice for players who want to “go pro” to develop their skills to the point where they’re able to beat the “noobs” and win regularly.
With practice, though? The very best online poker players can make bank. As an example, Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker earned $6.3 million in 2013 alone from online poker. Tom “durrrr” Dwan played very few hands, but still netted about $750,000 in the same year.
Playing Online Slots
Anyone that’s played slots in a traditional casino is probably skeptical about the fact that anyone can make enough money from online slots to earn a living. The first thing you need to keep in mind while playing online slots, however, is that they operate entirely differently from the slot machines in land-based casinos.
Online slots rely on random number generators, which aren’t actually random. They use complex algorithms to determine the next sequence of numbers, which means that it’s possible to predict outcomes by deciphering them.
Keep in mind that random number generators are extremely complex, so few online gamblers can figure out how to predict future outcomes. However, since the average payout on online slots is usually between 96% and 99%, you only need to be able to predict the outcome slightly better than the average user to walk away with a profit.
Of course, it’s also possible to make great money if you’re lucky enough to win a large jackpot from online slots. A couple years ago, a Scottish woman won £5.4million playing BetVictor’s Hall of Gods (though it’s important to remember that this was the largest win in UK history, and that it was due to sheer luck).
Online slots are really primarily games of luck. While it’s possible to develop a system to make a living from them, you’re still generally more likely to succeed with other forms of online gambling.
Sports Betting
Sports betting is another very popular form of online gambling that many people try to cash in on. According to Deloitte, U.K. citizens spent nearly £1.4 billion pounds on sports betting websites in 2013. They wager more money on sports than any other form of online gambling.
There are a couple of ways to make money from sports betting. The first is through arbitrage. A professional sports better on Reddit did an AMA about three years ago and illustrated how he makes a great living off of sports betting arbitrage. Essentially, he places bets on both teams through two different bookies that offer different payouts.
Here’s an example of some of the bets he may place:
• One bookie is offering lines of +120/-130 • The second bookie is offering +130/-140
What the Redditor would do is to bid $100 on one team and $125 on the other. This means that there are two possible outcomes: he either breaks even or wins $5.
There are other ways that players can make money as well (without rigging the competitions, of course). Betters that have a thorough understanding of the competitions can possibly forecast the odds better than their online bookies, which can help them earn a lot of money.
What Does It Take to Make a Living from Online Gambling?
Most online gamblers are hobbyists that expect to lose money in exchange for a little excitement. Some online gamblers are able to make a great living, but it isn’t easy. Make sure that you have all of the following on your side before trying your luck:
Capital You Can Afford to Burn
It’s going to take time to develop an online gaming strategy that’ll work for you in a regular, profitable manner – and you’ll only reach that point by playing regularly. Of course, this means that you’re going to need to spend (and possibly lose) some money.
Treat your new online gambling career like you would starting a new business by saving up a good share of money you can afford to lose. If your wallet is already stretched thin, this isn’t the time to start trying for a career as a gamer.
A Lot of Perseverance
Even the best online gamblers will have their share of off days (and off weeks). You can’t afford to give up if you think that your system isn’t working anymore; instead, you’ll need to just ride it out until you start to make a profit again. If your system has proven to work, have faith – it’ll work again in the future.
Living Off Of Online Poker Tournaments
Are you a professional online gambler? Do you wish you were, but something’s holding you back? Share your experiences by leaving a comment below: