How much does a poker pro earn?
If your goal is to become one of the best poker pros in the world, you probably want to know how much a poker pro earns. Here you can enter your current salary and find out how long you would have to work in your job to earn as much as the best poker pros.
The way to becoming an online poker pro: The 7 most important tips
First of all, you should realise that the dream of earning money with online poker can quickly vanish into thin air. Only after you have been a successful hobby player for several months or even years and have been able to gain experience is it worth putting all your eggs in one basket and taking the step to becoming an online poker pro. Almost all players who can live from their poker earnings are former hobby players who had already earned a decent bankroll and could therefore venture the attempt at a poker career relatively safely. We advise you to only take the risk if you are financially secure and have a bankroll that will allow you to overcome setbacks and get through a week-long lean period without any problems.
Below we have listed the most important tips from real professional players and experts that you should definitely consider before taking the step to becoming a poker pro.
Top Poker Tips
Poker Tips 1. Don’t give up a good job to become a poker pro
Although the life of an online poker pro may sound like a life of fun and no boredom at first, there is also a flip side to the coin. Even as a professional poker player you don’t enjoy more free time than in a normal job, rather the opposite, and it takes a lot of self-discipline to organise yourself and to stay on the ball even when you don’t feel like it. If you have a good job that is difficult for you from time to time, but you can still make a good living from it, we generally advise you not to quit it with the goal of becoming a poker pro.
Poker Tip 2. Gain enough experience
Only if you have enough experience in online poker rooms, your poker career will be under a good star. You should have played at least 200,000 hands and made a decent profit before you can even consider becoming a poker pro. Just a few successful weeks or months does not mean that you are an exceptionally gifted player who can handle life as a professional poker ace with ease. Only when you have made sufficient winnings over a period of at least 10 to 12 months of daily play to live on, can you consider making poker your profession.
Poker Tip 3. Build up reserves for downswings
Even the best players suffer downswings that can last for weeks or even months. Ask yourself the question: Can I bridge several months without income in an emergency? Only if you can answer yes to this question are you ready for an online poker career.
Poker Tip 4. Calculate whether you can finance your living expenses
Before you start your professional career, you should calculate exactly how high your living costs are. Add up food, insurance, rent, utilities and any other expenses you have each month and add another 15-20% to this amount to calculate how much money you need to make from online poker to live well. If you have already been active as a regular hobby player, you can roughly calculate whether your poker career has a future or not.
Poker Tip 5. Match your bets to your bankroll
Bankroll management is the most important aspect of managing your finances and making money playing online poker. It is not necessarily the size of your bankroll that matters, but rather that you choose your stakes to match your bankroll. As a cash game player, a table buy-in should generally not exceed 1% of your total budget. Only when you have increased your bankroll after several successful weeks can you venture to tables with higher blinds. So, for example, if you buy in with 10 dollars at 0.05/0.10 tables, your bankroll should be at least 1,000 dollars.
Poker Tip 6. The rakeback factor: Choose a generous poker room
Poker rooms finance themselves through rakes, which can usually amount to 5% per pot or up to 10% of a tournament buy-in. Players who play a lot of hands receive rakeback offers from the poker rooms, which can be up to 30% of the rake paid. So once a month you get a refund of part of the rake you paid to the poker site. Pick a site that offers you a good rakeback programme. You can find out more about this in our online poker reviews. In addition, you can secure additional money for your bankroll at the best poker rooms through generous VIP offers.
Poker Tip 7. Treat Your Poker Like a Business
As a professional poker player, you are not just someone who plays a card game for money for a living. Realise that you are running a small one-man business. This means that you need to organise your own working hours, carefully plan your free time and holidays, and have plenty of self-discipline to make your small business a success. It is not enough to make a lucky strike and then lie down on your lazy skin. Only if you constantly improve, stay disciplined and generate profits in the long run, your business and thus your project as a poker pro will have a future. The book “Treat Your Poker Like a Business” by Dusty Schmidt offers a good guide.
Conclusion: Profession as a poker player
In summary, you should be aware that as a professional poker player you have to overcome many more hurdles than it might seem at first. You also have to let go of the idea that working as a professional means fun, games and excitement every day. You will only succeed with this project if you are serious about it, consider poker as your real job and have already laid the necessary foundations beforehand. No matter what you ultimately decide, we wish you good luck and success in earning money with online poker.