How Can I Make Money Playing Online Poker

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  1. How Can I Make Money Playing Online Poker Games
  2. How Do You Make Money Playing Online Poker
  3. How Can I Make Money Playing Online Poker Tournaments

Learn the Fundamentals. My first tip is to learn the fundamentals. For example, when I started. Like most online gaming sites, gamers will need to sign up and create an account. After that, they can deposit and use real money to wager bets.

  • (Of course, if you want to earn money playing poker online, you’d do well to use the following tips in your games.) One of the biggest and most effective ways in which you can improve your earnings, is to refine your game and iron-out any flaws you regularly.
  • If you want to earn money by playing online poker, using a good poker analysis software is a start. It’s the tool that’s most adapted to the platform you’re using as opposed to live poker. I’m not gonna lie — it.
PokerNews Staff

Many different paths carry first-timers to the poker table. Some come to poker via other card games, while others find poker after having sampled other gambling games in the casino such as blackjack, craps, or roulette. Sports bettors also sometimes wander from the sportsbook over to the poker room and find themselves in a game — and perhaps find poker intriguing thanks to the sports-resembling competition the game provides.

Those who stick with the game do so for many reasons as well, although most are motivated by the prospect of making a profit at poker. Especially those who win at first — which happens quite a lot — will keep playing to try to win more, with some even being encouraged to think about winning a lot more and perhaps even to become professional poker players.

But while poker is a game that rewards skill, luck plays a role, too. Those who initially win at poker likely do so in part because of getting dealt good cards, hitting draws when they need to and avoiding others' hitting theirs. Only those who take some time to learn poker strategy and gain experience are usually able to sustain that success over longer periods.

In other words, the short answer to the question 'Can I make money playing poker?' is obviously that you can, but you also need to be willing to put in the work to increase your skills and have an advantage over your opponents. The fact is, while it's certainly possible to win at a single cash game session or go deep and win a lot in a single tournament, only a small percentage of players remain profitable long term, and invariably those players are better skilled than those who do not.

Let's look a little more closely at the question, however, by asking a few other questions addressing factors that will affect the likelihood of your being able to make money at poker as well as how much money you can make.

1. What is your win rate?

The generic term 'win rate' is used to refer to how much someone is winning at poker over a given period of time or hands played, although in truth the term is also used when referring to how much a player is losing, too. A player with a positive win rate is profiting at poker while a player with a negative win rate is not. Calculating your win rate is done differently in cash games and in tournaments.

In cash games, a win rate is usually expressed as the amount won per hour or 100 hands. In no-limit hold'em or pot-limit Omaha, the unit of measurement is often converted to big blinds — e.g., in a $1/$2 NLHE game, making a profit of $10 = winning 5 big blinds.

How Can I Make Money Playing Online Poker Games

Meanwhile in limit hold'em, stud games, and others with fixed-limit betting the amount won is usually measured by the number of 'big bets' it represents. For instance, in a limit hold'em game where the small bet is $2 (preflop and flop) and the big bet is $4 (turn and river), a player who makes $100 is said to have won 25 'big bets.' (Somewhat confusingly, both 'big blinds' and 'big bets' are often abbreviated as 'BB.')

Meanwhile in tournaments a win rate is usually expressed as a player's 'return on investment' or 'ROI.' Divide your profits by your expenses and multiply by 100, and you get a percentage representing your ROI. For instance, if you spend $200 in buy-ins and cash for $220 total, your ROI is $20 (the profit) / $200 = 0.1 * 100 = 10%.

Obviously if your win rate or ROI is negative, you aren't making money playing poker. But even if you enjoy a positive win rate or ROI, you need to consider other expenses related to playing poker and look at whether or not your winnings are exceeding them. If it costs you $10 in gas every night to get to and from a poker room and you're only averaging winning $5 per session, your win rate is positive but you aren't making money. Or if you spend $10,000 over the course of a year traveling to poker tournaments but only have an ROI good enough to earn you $8,000 worth of cashes during that time, you're technically 'winning at poker' but losing money overall.

How Can I Make Money Playing Online Poker

The biggest point to take away here is that if you are interested in making money at poker and don't keep track of your wins and losses, start doing so right now. Find out what your win rate or ROI is, take into account other possible expenses associated with playing poker, then you'll see whether or not you are making money at poker. You'll also likely be encouraged to sharpen your study of the game in order to try to increase your profit if you're winning (or to become profitable if you're losing).

2. How much do you play?

Another question to ask when addressing the larger question of whether or not you can make money playing poker is to consider just how much poker you're playing.

If you're strictly a recreational player who only joins a home game once per week or who plays online poker for an hour or two here and there, you can still win at poker but only a limited amount. Also, those who play poker only sparingly aren't necessarily gaining experience and knowledge that will help them build their skills and win more consistently.

A number of serious players who put in a lot of 'volume' at the tables are able to increase their profit steadily even if their win rates are somewhat low. Most tend to consider cash games a more reliable way to make money at poker given the higher variance of poker tournaments.

If you think about it, in most poker tournaments only the top 10 or 15 percent of finishers enjoy any profit at all, so it logically follows that the majority of players finish out of the money most of the time they play. Really only the most successful tournament players are able to cash enough to sustain an ROI as high as 10 or 20 percent (or more), with most who are profitable sitting in the 5-10 percent range.

That means when playing tournaments even good players lose money more often than they win money. But when they win they win enough to more than make up for the losses, sometimes hitting especially big scores when finishing at a final table or winning the entire tournament and getting back 10, 20, 50, or even 100 times the buy-in.

Cash games tend to be less volatile that way, although even there good players will frequently have losing sessions. They may even have more losing sessions than winning ones, although they manage to enjoy larger profits than losses, generally speaking, and thus have positive win rates. Even so, if you don't practice sound bankroll management, you can experience one very bad cash game session and lose everything you've won and then some.

Once you've figured out your win rate, you can think about how much you need to play in order to make a desired amount over a given period of time.

You should also try to gauge what is the best amount of time to play poker for you in order to increase your chances of remaining profitable. Some are better of playing, say, only 10-20 hours per week than 40-50 hours per week, or shorter sessions instead of long ones, because they have trouble focusing and thus playing well over longer periods. Meanwhile others can put in those extra hours and not suffer as a result.

3. What stakes are you playing (and are they right for you)?

Probably the most important question to answer when delving more deeply into whether or not you can make money at poker is to look at the stakes for which you are playing. And — importantly — whether you are choosing well when deciding upon your stakes and sitting down in games in which you can win and win consistently.

One common misconception among new players is that the best way to win more money at poker is to play for higher stakes. A player who wins consistently at the $1/$2 NLHE cash game might imagine simply picking up and moving over to the $10/$20 game will result in winning 10 times as much money, but more often than not such ideas turn out to be foolhardy.

Games of different stakes attract differently skilled players. While the lowest stakes games almost always include the least-skilled and least-experienced, they attract strong players sometimes, too. Similarly, many of the best players can be found in the higher stakes games, but there also will inexperienced or poor players sometimes sitting around the table.

On average, though, the higher the stakes the tougher the games. Thus do the profitable players' win rates actually go down as the buy-ins and/or stakes go up. In online cash games (just to cite one example), NLHE players of the lowest stakes including the 'micros' have been known to sustain win rates of as much as 20-40 BB/100 hands over large sample sizes, while the best players in the higher NLHE games online generally top out at around 3-8 BB/100 hands.

That's one reason to be realistic about moving up in stakes in poker — even if you're great and better than most in the games, you aren't going to win at the same rate you did at the lower stakes.

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But you also need to be practical about your own ability as a poker player and recognize when the competition is too tough to beat. As you move around and test out which stakes work for you, continue keeping accurate records and note at which stakes (for cash games) or buy-ins (for tournaments) you are winning most consistently, and where you are winning less or losing.

Sometimes you might find it hard to win in a lower stakes game than in one a notch or two above, simply because of your particular skill set and how well you respond to the styles and tendencies of others. More often, though, there will be a stakes 'threshold' (of sorts) above which you might take shots now and then but probably shouldn't go on a regular basis.

In any case, be honest with yourself and smart with your bankroll, and your chances of making money at poker will increase as a result.

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    cash game strategytournament strategyno-limit hold’embankroll managementwin rateROIgame selectionmixed gameshome gamesvariancerecord-keeping
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HomeCasinoHow Much Money Can You Make Playing Poker Online?

Watching a professional poker player on live TV collecting millions in one hand can seem like easy money. Many ask themselves if they can do it, and the answers are usually “yes, of course, what’s the big deal?”. Well, it is a big deal, and winning the stakes depends on various factors like how much practice do you have, how often, and the stakes you play for. This beats one of the most common misconceptions about playing poker that it all depends on your luck. Not quite. Like any other game, for this one, you also need some skills.

Skills come with experience. You need to play a lot of hands, regularly, to be able to predict your odds to a certain degree and make good decisions. Also, to some degree, you need to be able to anticipate your opponent’s move, so that you know when to bluff, or cut your losses and fold. This, and much more, can give professional players some advantage in the game.

How much do professionals make per year?

Professional tournament players can experience big fluctuations in their income throughout a year. Sometimes they don’t win anything for months, and then that one life-saving game rolls in and they can earn millions. The general rule is that the more you play the more you will win. The world’s top professional players earn from $5 million to… well, the sky is the limit. However, don’t get lost in your mind just yet. There are only a few people in the world that make this kind of money. They are highly experienced players that can read situations, and other people, extraordinarily well. Even the masters of the game like those players have major swings in their winnings. Dan Bilzerian claims he once won $54 million off of one player, but there is no proof for this story. Bryn Kenney tops the charts with winning over $30 in one year of playing poker. This is one guy in over 7 billion people in the world, so cool off your engines and get real. There are years of practice, and mistakes, behind professionals. For them it’s their primary source of income, so they do work hard and invest a lot of money, time, and energy to become one of the best.

What stakes to play?

If you hope to make a living off of playing poker online, you should play higher stakes. Any lower than $100 NL (No Limit bets) is considered a recreational player. Betting several hundred per game makes you join the club of serious online poker players. At this level, you can anticipate some monthly earnings, but don’t quit your day job just yet. Practice makes it perfect and you can gain a lot of experience playing online poker on websites like Poker369. Remember the ups and downs, and don’t get carried away only because you won a couple of thousands this month. This is not considered to be a steady income. The winnings are not consistent particularly if you are a beginner. Do not dive in head first, keep your composure, and just practice your moves. In time you might be able to earn a living.

Bankroll management

Whether you make small or big bets, managing your bankroll is absolutely essential in order to stay in the game. Your success as an online poker player will greatly depend on your ability to efficiently manage your wallet. This can be challenging even for seasoned players. It’s way too easy to fall off the wagon making risky moves. This is why you need to keep control of your emotions, thus keeping tabs on your financials too. Like any other career, if you want to make the name in an online poker game, you need to climb the ladder. Little by little, you can progress from mediocre to the professional player if you give yourself enough time.

How Do You Make Money Playing Online Poker

Stay in control of your money

“Win some, lose some” couldn’t be truer for an online poker game. Players, big and small, win and lose every day, or even several times per day. You can always bet beyond your means, but that’s not going to get you far in the poker world. To become a pro, every player needs to be in control of their financials, and play accordingly. As far as your opponents, the general rule is to play opposite, which means if other players play aggressively, you should stay passive, and vice versa. This is called “adjusting to your opponent” and is considered one of the best strategies in the poker game. Win or lose, stay consistent, and stick to your plan. This means staying on top of your funds.

Practice

How Can I Make Money Playing Online Poker

How Can I Make Money Playing Online Poker Tournaments

This is going to sound conflicting, but we can say that there is only one thing that’s consistent in the poker game and that’s change. Ups and downs, merciless swings in luck, and consequently your earnings. If big wins happen in the begging it can give you a boost in self-confidence that can be deceiving. On the other hand, a major loss can just be a bad stroke of luck. In either way, you need to keep playing and eventually gain skills needed to make some real income. Some days will be glorious, and yet others can be incredibly hard. Do not adjust your game, just keep working hard and the results will come. Also, be aware of the game level of your opponents. You need to play online poker with people that represent a legit competition. Playing with sub-par opponents, or weak players will paint a false picture that you are on the top of your game. It’s much more satisfying to win over an experienced player. Besides, this will make you a better player.

The key to becoming a good player is to constantly work on your game. Do not get overconfident, or stop practicing. Even pros don’t have this luxury. Always question yourself, analyze your game, and search for ways to improve. And here’s one fun fact – nobody ever made millions in their first game.