There is a lot of information out there these days on how to learn poker. Some of it is good, but honestly, most of it is bad. The best way to learn poker is to study from the best. I am a 10+ year poker pro and one of the winningest poker players in online poker history at the lower stakes (BlackRain79).
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 six 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.
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 training site, or hire a coach. Any edge you can create for yourself will eventually lead to profits.
You can also practice playing no limit hold'em and pot limit Omaha cash games and tournaments for free at WSOP Social Poker. The games are completely free to play, meaning you can play poker for fun, try new things 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 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.
Is This Your First Step To Becoming a Poker Pro?They say practise makes perfect and what better way to improve your online poker skills than by doing so without any risk at all to your poker bankroll? This is possible at WSOP Social Poker because it is a free-to-play online poker site that has cash games and tournaments running around the clock.
Try out new strategies completely free at WSOP Social Poker and set yourself on the way to becoming a professional poker player.
Play Now3. Be realistic
Once you’ve ascertained that you’re a winning poker player, it’s time to begin trying to figure out how many hands or tournament 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?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 haven’t 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.
This article was originally published on Jul. 5, 2017. Last update: Jun. 20, 2019.
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Digging deep into the PokerNews strategy archives can lead to a buried treasure, so we'll be unearthing a few gems for your viewing pleasure. In this edition of the Strategy Vault series, we're resurfacing a piece from Andrew Robl, first published on Feb. 5, 2010.
Robl worked his way up the ranks in poker at a young age, and now plays in some of the largest games in the world, whether that be cash games or tournaments. Robl boasts a career live tournament record of nearly $3.5 million earnings, having most recently scored the first major win of his career at the 2013 Aussie Millions where he took down the AU$100,000 Challenge for AU$1,000,000. The second and third largest scores of Robl's live career came in World Poker Tour events. At the 2012 WPT World Championship, Robl took second place for $822,375. In 2010, he finished runner-up to Antonio Esfandiari in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $549,003.
In this article, Robl took the time to discuss what makes a great poker player, outlining six key characteristics:
First off, I’d like to say that I don't think I'm a great poker player. I have been outplayed thousands of times, and some of my opponents constantly outplay me. I tilt, play in bad games, gamble too much, drink too much, and make countless other bad decisions, but I am blessed to know some great poker players. Here are traits they all share.
6 characteristics of a great poker player
Experience
This is by far the most important attribute in becoming a great poker player. It is impossible to become a great poker player without putting in thousands of hours at the table and seeing millions of hands. Due to the nature of online poker, with the ability to play hundreds of hands an hour, it’s possible to get experience faster than ever before. You have to play at least 10,000 hours of poker before you have a shot at becoming a great player. The best way to get started is by downloading an online poker room, and playing small stakes.
Intelligence
At the highest levels, everyone’s experience level and knowledge of the game will be near equal. Whoever can adjust to an opponent faster and out-guess what adjustments the opponents are making will come out on top. This is sometimes referred to as 'leveling.'
Desire and Willingness to Learn
No matter how much you play, you will not improve unless you actively think about what your opponents are doing. Beyond this, you also need to seek other poker strategies from players better than you are. This can be done several ways through books, training videos, one-on-one coaching or discussing hands with friends. You may also want to check out the PokerNews strategy pages.
How To Get Good At Poker
Ability to Control Emotions
In poker, it is always important to have a logical, analytical reason for what you are doing. Our emotions are not equipped to deal with probability and randomness, which are two defining elements of poker. The ability to control your emotions in order to make the correct logical play time after time is one of the hardest things to do in poker.
Social and Networking Skills
Having a strong poker network is key to becoming a great poker player, as referenced above in the desire and willingness to learn. It will allow you to get into the best games and allow you to make friends with the strongest players who can help you further improve. You can begin the process by liking PokerNews on Facebook, and keeping an eye out for tips and tricks.
Having a 'Sick' Amount of Gamble
To be a truly great player, you have to have a lot of gamble in you. You have to be willing to take on players better than you at stakes higher than you're used to. At some point, it is the only way to improve. But be warned, it's also a good way to go broke.
Want to know where to get started? Check out more poker strategy articles here
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