[Closed] Making money in poker

Originally posted by Avatars91
However, I must be realistic and ask the question - is it worth it? Is it worth playing 10+ hours a day basically sitting at home and wasting my life on something that I think will make me happy?

No, nothing is worth that.

Is it worth it or not is a personal choice which you alone can make. Nobody can come and tell you "Yeah it's ok, go do it!".
Write down pros and cons on a sheet of paper and compare them.

For me it's not worth doing anything for 10+ hrs a day cause I enjoy being with my wife and daughter too much. I mean - even if I earn like 10000 euro/month but I am required to work 11 hrs/day or I earn like 2000 euro and work 6-7 hrs/day I'd still pick the second offer.

As for money in poker - there's cash to be done but it's much harder than it seems. Don't watch Boku, don't watch durrr. You just have to grind your way and that's all there is.

If you're unhappy doing it and dont like it, I don't think you're going to end up becoming a good player. Gotta like it to do it well

long story short, if you live in a country where the average salary is around 200-400$ then its worth doing it, otherwise its not coz u won't get rich just by grinding all day.

You don't need to spend so much time on poker to earn ~couple thousands/month. But if you want to make smth like 10k/month you gonna have to put in the hours.

And srsly, do things outside of poker or you will burn out/get depressed etc.

i think you'd be better off doing it part time, like 2 hours/day until you're making $X/hour that is satisfactory. then way up the options

Thanks a lot for the answers!

You don't need to spend so much time on poker to earn ~couple thousands/month. But if you want to make smth like 10k/month you gonna have to put in the hours.

Which limits and how much time for a couple thousands/month for example?

Also, why can't I take Boku as a good example? I mean, if I raise myself up to his level and am able to grind like that, then I would become very rich ultrafast, no?

NL100, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week... you dont have to grind at all, just playing 6 tables and if you're good, you'll have few k's a month.

^social life, healthy lifestyle... grinding 12+ hours a day, 20 tables is not why the most people go professional way imo

Yea, nl100 and the volume you need to put in depends on your winrate and how much u want to earn as well as how steady income you want. Never played 6h/day 5days a week for whole month, but it's a good thing to do id you are serious about poker imo.

I was thinking the same thing, but I am with the thought process of playing a large amount every day.

The truth is, whatever happens you are gonna spend atleast 7-10 hours a day working anyway....So if you look at poker like work you will see its not so bad...Then it just comes down to what makes you more money? work or poker and what you enjoy more. You can't really say is it worth spending that amount of hours when you are replacing work can you..

As far as wasting life goes, b4 poker I didn't really have any cash to go out too often so I wasn't exactly living life too much, but now I am starting properly and am actually starting to enjoy life more..Cause in London no money no honey.

It sounds to me like OP is approaching this the wong way? I mean, to make serious money playing poker you have to be very good which means making pretty much no mistakes every hand you play... Especially at high limits where any edge you have is tiny... If you lost like 1 stack per 10k hands through doing something silly that could well be the difference between being incredibly rich or incredibly poor.

I don't see how anybody can get that good at anything that they don't enjoy doing.

Originally posted by Wurble
It sounds to me like OP is approaching this the wong way? I mean, to make serious money playing poker you have to be very good which means making pretty much no mistakes every hand you play... Especially at high limits where any edge you have is tiny... If you lost like 1 stack per 10k hands through doing something silly that could well be the difference between being incredibly rich or incredibly poor.

I don't see how anybody can get that good at anything that they don't enjoy doing.

+1

I don't think it's possible, or advisable, to make that amount of money in something like poker when you don't even enjoy it. I honestly don't think any of the pros who play poker for a living don't like the game.

I perfectly understand and it makes sense to doubt one's ability to improve if he is not enjoying the process. It's just that I can't stand staring at the monitor for x hours and clicking the mouse for some bucks on the one hand and I am perfectly willing to do it and not even feel bored if it really improves my financial situation on the other hand. I just can't decide how high my earnings should be to make that sacrifice worth it.

You know, it's all about setting goals. If my goal is to make a lot of money and poker = a lot of money, then I have no problem enjoying the game. The very fact that I make big +$EV moves would make me even excited. I know I can improve, I just want to know whether or not it makes sense. So basically what I want to learn by starting this thread is how realistic my goal is.

To ask a specific question for a change - if I played for 4 hours a day either SNGs or cash games (which would be better?) for 5 days a week provided that I play excellent poker what could my highest earnings be? (the most profitable limit and amount of tables?)

I hate to be so unspecific regarding this topic and I'm really not that fond at all of the way I have been explaining myself here, but forgive me, because I really am a little bit confused right now and I have difficulty expressing myself, I hope you understand

sounds to me like you don't have what it takes

I understand the point that your goal is to make money and if poker = money then you are happy but please don't underestimate the level you have to get to in order to make that money.

Even beating nl100 consistently for a decent win rate takes some serious work.

The most profit will come from whichever variant you are best at - Some people say cash is most profitable, some sng's. If you want to make the most money in the easiest way then I guess learning ICM inside out and grinding sng's is the best way. If you can grind 20 $16 sng's an hour with a 5% roi then you'll be making $15 per hour. Whether or not that's enough will depend on where you live.

I believe that beyond $16 sng's life gets pretty difficult so then cash would be the best bet. $20 per hour once you've learned to beat nl50+ is easily obtainable I guess.

Life just isn't that simple though. Maybe I'm a dumb ass - I enjoy poker and have grinded a roll from $20 to $300+ 4 or 5 times now but every time a bad patch of variance hits I tilt like the titanic and I'm back to square one...

If you're not as retarded as me each time you hit a downswing and you have the capacity to learn then there is no right or wrong way to go in terms of variant - It's all about where you will feel most comfortable.

If you want to put food on the table, get a part-time job..

If you want to also have a crappy car, get better part time job..

If you want a place to stay(house/apartment), get a full time job..

If you want to have all that plus toys, go to school and get a really good full time job..

If you want all of that plus extremely enjoy what you do for work, then figure out what you enjoy to do for 8+ hours a day and do that for money..

It is really that simple.....

As for making money from poker.....asking specific or unspecific questions about makng a certain amount of $$ at a certian limit at a certian type of poker for a certian amount of hours a week/month is impossible to comment on. Since EVERYONE plays poker differently, so that ever result from it is a different result.

If you are already playing/studying poker 10+ hours a day now(we will say for 3-4 days a week)....and you are not enjoying it, then that is a problem. If you are also not making a steady stream of money no matter how small the stream is, then that is also a problem. THese two problems put together indicate that you are not that proficient at poker and lack the interest to get better.
If you only driving factor to keep playing poker is the "DREAM" of "Making Tons of Cash Playing Poker"....then you should really dial it down a bit, make poker a small hobby that may get bigger over the years(since you sound a tad young) and focus on doing something you enjoy for 10+ hours a day to make your tons of cash.....

Yeah, I've been thinking of a question that is somewhat related to this thread. I'd be glad if some of the professional poker players could give their opinion about this...

I've been playing for about 6 month now and I'm really enyoing the game. 10 hours straight maybe not, but usually I feel really great when I sit down and open the tables. There's lots of standard situations but there are also some really thrilling hands that make your heart pumping.

I've heard that professional players are kind of desenitized about big pots and big hands, meaning they have seen most of the situation in the past. Here's the question - is it still thrilling and fun to play poker after 1 000 000 hands or so? Or is it just a routine to make money? Especially the TAG-play, doesn't it become a bit boring at the end? I'm hoping the answer is no, but please be honest

Thanks for youre feedback,
Fuzzy

I like to look at poker as additional income. I believe that having a job that you enjoy doing with a decent salary to be able to survive is the best thing to do. With poker, you can then pay yourself a vacation, a new car or something... But that is just my opinion. Not everyone has what it takes to be a poker pro. I couldn't handle the downswings and the pressure that my family won't have anything to eat because i'd run bad for a month. Also your social status won't exectly be high as a poker pro and a job has pretty much no downswings but rather a steady, secure way of income :).

Primzi