Hi all,

I’ve started learning and playing poker since September of last year. I immediately fell in love and have either played online or live with friends or at the casino pretty consistently. The game is just too good. I’ve made a post on Reddit asking how to improve and got some good books to read. I’ve watched so many YouTube clip compilations and vlogs, it’s great.

Now, I want to ask the people of this forum (this is my first post) honestly and truthfully. Is the dream to make money through poker still alive? With HUD online and people getting better and better..what does this mean for semi professional or professional play?

Are the gates sealed tight to become a winning player? How long would it take a hard working novice to move up the stakes and build a bankroll. You guys have more experience and I would love some advice. It’s quickly become a dream of mine to have income playing this beautiful game.

I just want someone to be real with me. Do only the top 10% of poker players even make money? How much money is there to be made if you put the work in?

more like top 1 percent. and 1/10 of 1 percent capable of making a (middle class) living.

YIKES that is thin. It will take a long time to become that type of master..

Can you study on your own or will you need to invest in coaching/ books etc?

Thanks

The short answer is the Dream is still alive. It is exponentially harder to "make it" in 2020 than when I started playing in 2006.

There are HUNDREDS of Beginner Question threads that ask the same question. Hundreds... maybe thousands.

Please use the Search function located at the top right of all the thread titles on the main BQ page.

Welcome to BQ

Getting away from Reddit would be a good start.

I think that it's still at least 25% of players that make money. It's just that very few make serious amounts of money, as the average buy-in has fallen every year since the boom. We have a "microstakes economy", where the number of 10NL or lower players dwarfs the number of 100NL+ regs. e.g. There used to be round-the-clock play of games with $100,000+ on a single table, but these days there aren't many games with buy-ins over $500, and even the Sunday Million sometimes has to run at half-price in order to attract enough punters.

You can absolutely beat 1/2 live consistently. But that's $20/hr averaged out with all the variance that comes with live low stakes poker. 1/2 live appears to be the same to me for the past 15 years. These players haven't gotten any better, on average. This assumes a reasonable take of, say $5/pot cap.

2/5 live is probably beatable by the same margin, so once you are properly rolled, that's $50/hr, but again with the variance of poker. I'd probably play poker for a living if I felt I could guarantee $50/hr consistently. You need a really big bankroll to hand the swings though.

As far as being a winning rec player, absolutely possible. Again, depending on location. If your rake is 6bb or more on average, that game is basically unbeatable.

It is easier than ever to make a living playing poker.

Yes if that living is in Estonia or Brazil

severe lol at win rates described above. trolls?

No, I think the winrate described is pretty accurate for an average professional. Were you expecting these numbers to be higher or lower?

It's possible.

That said, I would definitely not recommend it if you're not already at least decent

Off topic trolls have been removed from this thread. Please keep on topic and play nicely.

Yes, but this is coming from a player who is already winning median household income+ annually (which is honestly on the lower side for live poker at the stakes I play) after over two years of play, so my answer is very biased. YMMV.

Play live low stakes at a casino near you as much as possible, AA-KK, sets will be your bread and butter, fold suited connectors and offsuit broadways, they will destroy you otherwise. Start taking shots at 2/5 as soon as bankroll permits ($6k is good), then move up to 2/5 full time. You love the game now but you won't eventually. And then you'll love it again. Enjoy.

You need to be more selective when choosing your games now. You got to pick your seats and your tables more selectively. Ensure you are playing on a loose table and that you have some aggressive players to your right. And don’t play in places where rake is too high.