A friend is wondering about the potential in online poker

Hey everyone,

My friend and I have been discussing this every single time we meet, which is the potential of making good money and/or going professional with online poker. Perhaps this is the wrong section but it is still somewhat of a beginners question in the sense that I am asking mostly on behalf of my friend. I am obviously also wondering about this.

Has there ever been any rough estimate on the amount of professional players in online poker? Is there room for more or does the quota seem to be filled?

Hello , in my oppinion in the online poker there is a wide variety of places where you can play with many different people. Also there are many freerolls from which you can win money wihtout giving a cent

^^ He's talking about becoming pro though, you aren't going to live off freeroll winnings

Not much chance, unless you have a lot of talent.

everythingspear said:

Hey everyone,

My friend and I have been discussing this every single time we meet, which is the potential of making good money and/or going professional with online poker. Perhaps this is the wrong section but it is still somewhat of a beginners question in the sense that I am asking mostly on behalf of my friend. I am obviously also wondering about this.

Has there ever been any rough estimate on the amount of professional players in online poker? Is there room for more or does the quota seem to be filled?

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Current estimates suggest that only about 6% of online poker players are long-term winners, and only a tiny fraction of those players could win enough to play for a living. Perhaps one person in 1000 playing online.

Having the skill to play online, though, is only half the battle. You also need to have a big bankroll and a full year's expense coverage saved because even long-term winners have prolonged losing streaks.

The odds are significantly against either you or your friend making it as an online pro. If you have other skills, I'd recommend using them to get a reliable job.

Good luck.

-HooDooKoo

What's been said already about going pro is true. Odds are heavily against you.

That said, you can certainly get to a point where you can work a day job and still make decent side money playing poker part-time. I'd never quit my day job because frankly I'd have to play a crap-ton of volume and/or at such high stakes to cover my salary and monthly nut. My job is very secure by comparison, I have a family depending on me, and it's a job I enjoy. The stress of maintaining a similar lifestyle by playing poker would be be so high that I wouldn't enjoy it anymore. So I'm content to just earn a few thousand a year playing poker to fund vacations or special purchases.

dmorris68 said:

What's been said already about going pro is true. Odds are heavily against you.

That said, you can certainly get to a point where you can work a day job and still make decent side money playing poker part-time. I'd never quit my day job because frankly I'd have to play a crap-ton of volume and/or at such high stakes to cover my salary and monthly nut. My job is very secure by comparison, I have a family depending on me, and it's a job I enjoy. The stress of maintaining a similar lifestyle by playing poker would be be so high that I wouldn't enjoy it anymore. So I'm content to just earn a few thousand a year playing poker to fund vacations or special purchases.

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DITTO what David says.

Not only do you have to be able to play really well (over long hours), have a sizable bankroll to start, and have a lot of discipline, but, most importantly, have the 'mental discipline' to cope with these long hours, poker variance, stress, and losing streaks.

It can be done, but (and that's a big BUT) you gotta be good and grind (with discipline) likely 10-12 hours a day (no alcohol or drugs).

If just starting out, you have a long way to go and many decisions to make along the way. Do you have what it takes? Good luck.

Im at the similar position as you David, i also have a really nice day job, which is, sadly, really rare in my country, i know that i probably never be that god at poker to turn my life around but i would love to get to the point where i can make few hundreds a month by playing poker in my free time...

I hope that this is achievable...

people are turning a profit....if you have living money 6 months or more and bankroll....with skill you can profit but you need bankroll and be a winning player...cash game would at least need to be 2/4 online

for usa player it will be harder cause not alot offering monster tourneys anymore really. definatley possible to make a living but you would need a rather large br to get going

It's definitely doable, but if you live in the US it's a lot harder than it was before black friday. As mentioned above, if you have access to the huge tournament pools (i.e., outside of the US) it's possible. Read some theory books and maybe sign up for a training site and you'll be well on your way.

wonderful speech
first all, you need money, tactics, skill and A LOT OF TIME!
Good Luck man!
- Joe

HooDooKoo said:

Current estimates suggest that only about 6% of online poker players are long-term winners, and only a tiny fraction of those players could win enough to play for a living. Perhaps one person in 1000 playing online.

Having the skill to play online, though, is only half the battle. You also need to have a big bankroll and a full year's expense coverage saved because even long-term winners have prolonged losing streaks.

The odds are significantly against either you or your friend making it as an online pro. If you have other skills, I'd recommend using them to get a reliable job.

Good luck.

-HooDooKoo

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IMO, for a relative beginner to be thinking about making a living from poker is getting waaaay ahead of yourself. Simply play and work on your game. Over time, you'll find out if you have what it takes in terms of talent, emotional make-up, dedication, etc.

To become pro you will in nearly all cases need to be very aggressive and have inside out knowledge of the game.

to be succussful with aggression you need to be able to represent hands well when you dont have them and understand your own image in every hand and understand betting patterns and position in order too represent hand ranges
and to read hand ranges
(this will continuously change) so their is no quick fix you have to have the ability as reading a book wont last forever.

you also need an understanding of which players are capable of advanced exploits and which players are purely their to pay you off when you have a hand.

you need a solid ABC background, in which you understand position , equity, odds and statistics in order to meassure your ranges,

and you will need to most importantly comitt 100% into training and learning the game as in any proffessional game you cant expect to just learn one way of playing and make a career from that,

it involves creativity and alot of skill and everything you learn on here is just the basics you need to create an edge for yourself if you want to be better than the average cards chat / poker forum grinder

If you look at winning players, you will see they get into the money approximately 15% of the time. That means, YOU LOSE 85% of the time.

Bankroll is probably the biggest obstacle for a beginner, and most others.

Trying to become pro in the US is nearly impossible at this time. I know 2 "pros" who, in order to stay successful, moved out of the US into canada.

Play the games and enjoy yourself without all that pressure.

It would be way too much work to be worth it for anyone except the best few thousand in the world. However, I think it would be much easier to become a "semi-pro" which for me means you make some money on top of your regular income.

jcdagenius said:

...cash game would at least need to be 2/4 online

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Not sure how you arrive at this ^


$3,000/mth.
hypothetically if a guy is grinding 3,000 hands per day, 20days/month at 50nl with a winrate of 5bb/100
(playing <5days/wk. ~6hrs/day)

If your crushing 50nl for that much should move up to 100nl, but you definitely do not need to play at least 2-4, you could potentially live off of 50nl, but it would be a just getting by method, unless you put tons of hours in.