Playing Poker For A Living
Make Sure You Have a Deep Love for the Game. I’ve seen a lot of players come and go in the poker.
One of the most frequent questions raised by beginner poker players is if they can play poker for a living or not. Well, the answer is simple, it depends. It depends on how good you are at poker and how seriously you take it.
Today, poker has gained popularity worldwide and the number of people making a living by the game has increased too. It is no more a taboo in society like the times when it was merely considered as gambling with malicious intent.
One of the most fundamental reasons for the players to succeed in making poker a full-fledged career opportunity for them is their passion for the game and never-dying desire for learning.
How Can You Start?
Here are some points that most poker experts had kept in mind to be a bona fide poker player who earns and lives by playing poker.
Let us take a look at how you can make a start at making poker your career:
- Every player who thinks of playing poker for a living or who thinks of playing poker live for a living, online, knows everything about hand combinations and what they mean. The information that sets a player apart is the knowledge of the game, the ins and outs of it.
- Decide How Much You Need to Make. The first step is to determine how much you need to make.
- I feel the same way. But consider this. Making a basic living at poker is difficult, and making a lucrative one requires the highest levels of self-motivation, study, emotional control, and probably some innate ability at the game.
Keep a regular track of your win-rate
As a poker player, you must have felt an ample number of times that you are a fine poker player. You just need to have some luck by your side and you are good to make poker your career.
But, have you ever tried checking your win-rate? To actually switch from playing poker for your passion to playing it for a living, it is important and recommended that you keep a regular track of your win-rate.
This is considered essential by the poker professionals as analyzing your win-rate gives you true insights into your poker journey. That is, what is your rate of winning, is it consistent, or keeps fluctuating often. If it is fluctuating, you perhaps require more learning.
Analysis of win-rate helps you take the appropriate steps required to improve your game.
Keep learning to wager the winning bets
Being the best is the process of continuous improvement. If you have a fluctuating or downfalling win-rate, you might not be ready to make poker your career. However, you must not think you can never opt for it.
It might be that you have the skills in you but you still need to master your skills. Hence, it is essential that you start learning and polishing your poker skills. This will help you improve your game faster.
Poker has changed a lot in the past few years. It is necessary for every poker player to keep up with their skills. Learn new ones and keep refining the older ones. There are various new poker learning platforms flourishing in the market that help people to acquire new skills. Big Stack Poker University is one of the examples of such platforms.
Be ready to face the bad beats
Variance is inseparable from poker.
Another most crucial point to be considered is to assess whether you are ready to accept the variance or not. Most new poker players can only view the positives of poker but to play poker for a living, it is crucial to accept it with all its flaws. Like every other game, poker too has its own drawback. One of the biggest out of them all is variance.
You must keep in mind that you can never be a regular winner in poker. Even the most successful players, whether you take Phil Ivey or anyone else, they all lose. Then what makes them a successful player? Their losing rate is way lesser than any other player.
Online Poker For A Living
Yes, that is what makes them an expert. And, that should be the aim of every player who is thinking to make poker a living for the rest of their lives.
Playing Video Poker For A Living
If you’re not ready to take the risk, it might just not be the appropriate pick for you. Think it over again.
Manage your finances effectively
Another key thing to consider before finally making a decision is to analyze your finances.
In order to make a successful start, effective bankroll management is crucial. You must know what amount you should invest in poker and how well you must manage it to make the best possible results. Poker is like a business. You have to focus on making the maximum profits with minimum investments.
Daniel Negreanu says, “the best way to build your bankroll is to lower your expenses.”
Many poker players practice the same strategy to build their bankroll and increase their profits. Building a bankroll is as crucial as managing it. The reason being, if you don’t have enough bankroll, you can’t play poker. And, when you can’t play poker, you certainly won’t be able to have enough money to pay your expenses.
Playing Poker For A Living 2018
Consequently, if you want to play poker for a living, having strong bankroll management skills should be primarily considered.
Choosing the right games
Poker involves decision making at every round. Right from the beginning to the very end of the game.
To play poker for a living, it is important to know your strengths and weaknesses. You must know which games are going to benefit you the most. Most elite players succeed in being the best because they know where to hit (what games to play).
For example, if you have a small bankroll, playing cash games will be a profitable pick for you. They have less risk involved. Or, choosing the right table with more average players or fishes playing on it, will automatically increase your chances of winning.
The ultimate goal of a poker player should be to win while playing poker for a living.
The above-listed are some of the crucial pointers that are going to help one decide whether or not they are ready to take up poker as a career.
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