At number 10 on this list of the richest poker players is Antonio Esfandiari, one of the best-known players on the poker circuit. The former magician managed to win three World Series of Poker. To consistently make money playing online poker, you’ve got to be very, very skilled at the game. Poker experts have estimated that only the top five percent of players are actually consistent, winning players. The gambling industry is mostly made up of sports betting operators, casinos and poker rooms. These are the industry’s big winners, due to how games are stacked against players. Bookmakers make money due to vig, casinos are guaranteed to profit due to the house edge and poker rooms receive rake from every pot. Bovada is a popular poker online location for people from the U.S. It has a lot of opportunities for real online poker options for making money. It started out in 2011, and it has a real email and phone contact info so that you know it’s legit. People love the racebook and sportsbook options along with casino options, all from the same account.

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• Can You Make A Living Off Online Poker
• Can I Make Money From Online Poker
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One of the most common questions we receive, is “how can I make money from online poker”, and while there is certainly no one size fits all answer to this question, in the following post we are going to take a look at some of the myths and fantasies surrounding profitable poker play, alongside looking at ways at which you can improve your chances of winning and ensuring a profit over the long run.

We’re going to begin by taking a look at those who do indeed play poker full-time for a living, and will delve deep into their financial situation so that you have a solid idea of how much professionals and grinders really make.

Playing Poker Full-Time: The Reality

Poker tournaments have – within the last few years – become vastly more popular, and thanks to increased television coverage and prominent use of social media channels like YouTube and Twitter, many players are now able to watch and interact with professional poker players in ways that they never would have been able to before.

Of course, this has been great for the game as it is allowed more players than ever before to enter the playing field – and it has also allowed thousands of people around the world to begin playing poker full-time for a living – so just how much do these professionals make exactly, and what does their day-to-day life look like?

Well, the first thing to note when it comes to looking at how much these professionals actually earn, is the type of games that they play. For example, while you may think that the big tournament winners are the ones raking in all the cash, it’s actually the cash game players – players who are prepared to sit at tables for hours on end – who are the ones making money.

The reason behind this is relatively clear, and it all comes down to the way the game is structured. Tournaments are fast paced, and in almost all situations, players who win a poker tournament enjoy tremendous amounts of luck.

The increasing blind structure means that play gets continually more aggressive as the tournament goes on, and this means that poker skill becomes less important as the tournament draws on, with luck and good timing becoming the two main factors for winning.

Cash games on the other hand allow players to sit there indefinitely, and this means that they can choose their plays wisely – there is no pressure to make plays, and the blind levels do not increase regularly, meaning that it’s quite feasible to fold a few weak hands every now and then, only losing out on the occasional small and big blinds.

The actual amount a player earns also depends on how regularly they play, and how many games they play at once. For example, a professional who played only in Vegas – in a land-based casino – would typically earn a lot less than an Internet poker player, who may play upwards of eight tables and games at any one time.

Of course, if you want to earn money playing poker online, it’s important that you manage to find the type of game that works for you, along with the frequency at which you play.

There’s no point playing for 15 hours a day if it means that you neglect your health and social life – and if you’re not winning, it’s all in vain. So, for this reason, it is vital that you break into the poker world slowly, and find your footing before getting too heavily involved.

How Much Do Professionals Make?

The exact amount that professional poker players earn is often subject to scrutiny, and it should be said that no specific figures exist on exactly how much pros do actually make, largely down to the fact that the information simply isn’t publicly available. For example, in almost all cases when you look at how much players have earnt, you’ll see that charts and graphs show only the players’ earnings from tournaments.

Still, having said that, below, we’ll look at four of the biggest players in the world, and study how much they’ve made from tournament poker play.

Daniel Negreanu

Known as “Kid Poker”, Daniel Negreanu is possibly the best-known poker player on the planet, known for his impeccable reading abilities at the table, and his fun, friendly vibe while playing. He’s also the world’s top tournament player in history, with his earnings from tournament play alone standing at a whopping $32,887,949. Of course, that doesn’t take into account his cash game winnings, which are likely to be equally as high.

Phil Ivey

Known by many as THE greatest poker player on the planet, Phil Ivey is a beast at the table, known for his intimidating stare down, and the way in which he effortlessly bluffs other players out of hands. His tournament earnings stand at $23,856,035 – the fifth best on the planet – but his real forte is at the cash tables, where he frequents the big games in Macau and other Asian countries, often playing for as much as $3 million a hand.

Antonio Esfandiari

Antonio is a player that most of us either love, or hate. His chilled out, laid-back approach to poker has seen him become a popular figurehead in the poker community, and his big claim to fame came when he won the One Drop tournament. His total poker earnings to date stand at around $27,000,000, although it’s hard to know how much of that he actually gets to keep, as rumours state that he had many backers for the One Drop tournament, who all wanted a percentage of his winnings.

Phil Hellmuth

Phil Hellmuth is one of the most recognizable poker players of all time, known for his outlandish outbursts at the table, and his attitude which has seen him get himself into trouble on more than once occasion. While TV shows like High Stakes Poker may portray him as a massively losing player, Phil Hellmuth has an impeccable tournament career, and his earnings are the 7th highest on the planet, with just over $21 million won to date from his poker career.

Tips to Earn Money Playing Poker

If you dream of becoming a full-time player, and want your own professional poker player salary, there are a few things you can do to maximize the amount you win, and we’ll look at these below.

• Choose the Right Games: There’s no shame in admitting that you’re better at a certain game than another. For example, if you know that you’re a solid cash game player – but find it hard to do well in tournaments – then you should absolutely hone in on your abilities at the cash tables, and consider staying away from the tournaments.Of course, that’s not advice that everyone will adhere too – but it’s honestly one of the best pieces of guidance we can share, as – after all – you’re here to make money, so it makes sense that you’d only focus on the type of game you’re best at, right?
• Practice Makes Perfect: It sounds cliché, but there really is no better way to become a professional poker player than actually playing regularly, and getting a sense of how it all works. While no one is saying that you need to spend hours playing every day, it will massively help your game if you’re able to play regularly, and one of the best things about poker today, is that you can play online, meaning you don’t have to make long trips to land-based-casinos.
• Play Against Players You Can Beat: One of the biggest mistakes players make when learning to play poker, is that they try to play in games outside of their comfort zone. For example, many players risk far too much of their bankroll to enter big tournaments – and while the win-potential can appear tempting at first, it’s worth pointing out that there’s no room for pride in poker, if you want to be a successful, winning player.Try to find games where you’re playing against opponents who are worse players than you. Sure, the game’s themselves may be less lucrative, and there might be less money on the table, but by doing so, you’ll stand a much better chance of winning in the long run, and turning a profit.

How to Improve Your Earnings

Now that we’ve had a look at some generic tips to help you earn money as a poker player, we can take a closer look at how to improve, and increase your earnings, once you are managing to turn a profit.

(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 make. For example, many players find that they can’t fold sets. This makes sense, as a 3-of-a-kind hand is so often a winning one, that it can be hard to throw it away – even on a four-flush board – but if you want to stand a chance at really making a good living playing poker, it’s important to work out where you’re losing money, and put a plug in those mistakes as early as possible.

Another thing you should be aware of, is that poker trends are changing – constantly. Aggressiveness is one of the biggest and most notable factors here, and if you compare the playing-style of today, to that of 15 years ago… well, poker is a completely different game.

When you sit down at the table, always try to spend some time analysing your opponents, so you have an idea of whether they’re ultra-aggressive, or under-aggressive. This will, of course, take some time to work out, but doing so will allow you to build a “profile” for each player, giving you vital information on their playing styles, which you can then go ahead and exploit for maximum profit.

Your mind set is also something which you MUST learn to control if you want to become a successful poker player, maximizing your earnings. There’s simply nothing worse than spending a 12-hour session grinding a cash table, and turning a nice profit, only to lose it all in one hand because you’re tilted, tired, or off your game.

There are many ways that you can learn to control your mind, and become a better poker player, and while this varies for all players, one of the best ways is to listen to calming, soothing music while you’re playing. This can help you control your mood – both when faced with difficult decisions, and when things aren’t’ going your way – and finding little things like these are crucial if you want to be able to manage your game.

Can I Make A Living From Online Poker

It’s also wise to know when to walk away from the tables. If you’re on a continual losing streak, it may seem tempting to up the ante and try to win back your losses – but almost all of the time, you’re going to end up in a worse-off financial situation than before, and this is why it’s so important that you set yourself limits, and stick to them.

Thankfully, when you play poker online you can set deposit limits, and play limits, and we highly recommend you do this, as it can help you avoid siphoning off money when you’re tilting.

Conclusion

As you can see, becoming a professional poker player isn’t easy – and certainly nowhere near as easy as it’s made out to be by the masses.

Still, there’s no doubt about it; there IS a LOT of money to be made playing poker online, particularly with the U.S. players slowly integrating back into the scene – so if you want to make a living playing poker, then practice and learning is the best thing you can do.

Remember, it won’t happen overnight – but if you stick to the guidelines we’ve talked about, and work hard to improve your game, you’ll find yourself getting gradually more profitable over time, and before you know it, YOU could be on the all-time money list!

If you still have questions about how to make money at online poker, be sure to check out our other guides.

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Do you get frustrated playing poker tournaments? You play all the time and it seems like you never cash. And even when you do, you cash the minimum. Every once in a while you get teased with a deep run only to run Kings into Aces – resulting in another broken mouse.

Well as you gain experience, you learn that in order to be successful as a poker player you need to get comfortable with running bad. This is even more prevalent if you are a poker tournament specialist. But no matter how experienced you are, these bad runs can test you and make you question your skill level. This is especially true if you are an amateur poker player who only plays a handful of tournaments a week. You can actually go months without cashing and this duration of time in between cashes can skew your view of reality and affect your play.

Now if you read enough poker forums and websites you will hear about all the online tournament pros who are regularly taking down five and six-figure cashes. They paint this picture of guys constantly making final tables and raking in mounds of cash. You may even be a bit jealous and wonder, “what do those guys have that I don’t?” Well, I’m hoping this article will help answer that question and provide some much needed perspective on the topics of volume and variance.

Amateur Poker Players vs. Pros

Amateurs – For the purpose of this article, an amateur player is someone who plays about 1-3 times per week, usually at night. They have a “real job” and may have a family or are in college full time, so they can only put in part-time hours. But make no mistake, this player is serious about the game and spends time on poker forums, watching training videos, etc. Since we’re talking about tournament poker, the amateur in this article plays mostly large field no-limit hold’em tournaments. They may be a winning player, break even or maybe a slight loser in the game thus far in their career.

Pros – A professional is someone who plays online poker for their sole source of income. For this article, we are using those who specialize in large field online poker tournaments.

The Stats

Before reading too deep into these numbers, keep in mind that the purpose of this article is to provide perspective into your own results by comparing them to the results of other players. It is not meant to be a scientific study.

Can You Make A Living Off Online Poker

The numbers below represent an average of 10 players from each category and use results from both Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars from 2010. The pro stats were taken from 1/1/10 until 8/22/10 and the amateur stats were taken from 1/1/10 until 9/20/10. They only include tournaments with over 180 players.

* Pro stats were taken from a ranking of the top 10 online tournament players. Amateur stats were taken from a sample of 10 amateur players who volunteered their screen name for use in this study.

**Avg. Played/Day is based on a 5 day week, but also only includes playing 2 sites. Actual volume per day may be larger for those who play more than 2 sites and less than 5 days a week.

What Do These Stats Mean?

As you can see, the pros are not these mythical beasts who cash all the time and final table every tournament. Media attention can sometimes give off a false reality as it only highlights their wins and never mentions how many losses it took to get there.

The realities are:

• Even the top pros only win tournaments less than 1% of the time. For some it was as low as 0.60%. So this means they are winning only 1 out of every 100 times. Of course variance doesn’t always come on schedule and they can go 200-300 tournaments without a win.
• Top pros only final table around 3% of the time. Some are as low as 2%.
• Top pros are only cashing about 13% of the time. This means they lose money 87% of the time they play! In fact, amateurs cash more often than pros. The difference is that when pros do cash, they cash deep more often.
• Pros have massive downswings like everyone else. In fact, becasue of the volume they play, they have had longer non-cash streaks.

Why have the pros averaged a $400,000 profit this year before September? It is in their ability to close tournaments. There is a reason why their ROI is 58% higher. Let’s look at the stats:

• Pros make 1/3 more final tables than amateur poker players.
• At a 9 person final table, the average of hitting top 3 should be 33%. Pros are hitting this 43.61% of the time.
• Of the times they cash, pros are final tabling almost twice as often as amateurs (23.9% compared to 12.8%).
• Pros finish in the top 3 almost 3x as often as amateurs.
• Volume, volume, volume. Let’s not forget that pros play all day, every day. This is their job. They have a distinct advantage of overcoming bad variance much quicker and also seeing “the long run” of making profitable decisions quicker.

Keep in mind that the group of amateurs used were volunteers from various poker forums. While not all were winning players, the fact that they study the game says they likely have better results than an average amateur. Also, because of their volume size an individual amateur’s skills may be better or worse than their results show.

Improving Your Game

How can you use these stats to improve your game?

Add More Tables

Get outside of your 1-3 tabling comfort zone and simply add a couple more tables. I know the argument is that it’s harder to make reads, but the volume you put in will make up for that. In addition, this extra volume means you are playing more hands and will result in improving your game even faster. This extra experience will more than make up for the short-term loss of a perfect read.

Play More Days

Just try to add 1 more day per week. Don’t be lazy. If you currently play 7 tournaments a day, adding 1 more day x 52 weeks = 364 more tournaments/year. Even at the amateur ROI average above of 20% and average buy-in of $30, that means an extra $2,184 in profit.

Stop Caring About Individual Tournaments

It’s easy to expend emotional energy in any single poker tournament. You’re trying to win of course. But the odds are that you’re not going to. In fact, you’re only going to cash about 15% of the time. All you can do is focus on making good decisions and the variance will work itself out in the end.

Play for the Win

There’s a reason why amateurs cash more than pros. They care more about it and tighten up near the bubble. But you will miss out on valuable opportunities to accumulate chips if you are playing just to cash. In addition, you can’t fear busting or making a mistake when you get deep. In order to make real money playing poker tournaments, you have to trust your instincts and play to win.

If you’ve ever grown frustrated playing poker tournaments, don’t sweat it. Keep in perspective that even the best players in the world don’t win that often. The only way to balance out negative variance is to put in enough volume where your skill can prevail.

Good luck at the tables.

By Donovan Panone

Donovan started playing poker in 2004 and is an experienced tournament and cash game player who has a passion for teaching and helping others improve their game.

Can I Make Money From Online Poker

1. Great, revealing article. Stats like these are very encouraging. Thanks, Donovan

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