Poker isn’t a hard game and you don’t need years of experience to become good at it. You don’t even need to play that well to make a lot of money. You just need to understand what the winning players are doing and thinking.
A winning limit players should average about 1 big bet per 100 hands (about an hour playing 6max). With this basic formula, an average $5/10 grinder should be able to make more then $5000 per month, providing that they put in the hours. Let’s say you play four tables at a time, 8 hours per day, 5 days a week. Every month you’ll be averaging $6400… playing low to mid limit stakes.
Winning no limit players should average 8 big blinds per 100 hands. Let’s say you play $1/2NL stakes and put in that same 8 hour work day 5 days per week. Playing four tables at once you will make $64 an hour which equates to $10,000 per month.
To good to be true? Not at all. I know a lot of players who’s monthly numbers have looked like this for years. Usually it’s the humble ones that don’t brag about their winnings. And don’t get me started at how much some of the kids playing $10/20 to $50/100NL make…
Here’s the secret held by all of the top winning players – poker skills, Bankroll management, self control, and dedication. That’s all! Players who can master these aspects of poker (often the former chess geeks and gamers) will be able to make a killing playing poker.
You are going to experience swings worse then you’ve ever imagined. You can’t avoid them, but you can protect yourself by keeping a large bankroll. When you have the padding to take a hit you won’t be effected as bad and you can stay focused on the long term upward slope.
Self control means knowing when to quit and knowing your place. You can be the 3rd best poker player in the world, but if you’re playing #1 and #2, then you’re going to lose money. Play only at tables where you can spot players making mistakes and you’ll come out ahead in the long run. If you feel yourself having the urge to win back lost money or just tilt in general, quit the game. This is how most players go broke.
Dedication of course means having the drive to put in the hours through the good and the bad. Play each hand the best you can, ignore the short term variance, and just keep playing. Before you know it, you’ll be cashing out more then $5,000 every month from your poker account.
With that said, this article is obviously an over simplification. Not everyone is going to have what it takes to consistently play winning poker day in and day out. But if you do have the patience and motivation to learn everything you can about poker, you’ll see results.
This is the stupidest article that you’ve written so far. They just keep getting worse and worse. What’s wrong? Can’t you think of something to write about anymore? Can you prove to us that the writer of this article can even make as much as they boast a person can make? If they were, why would they waste their time writing the article?
Sorry I offended you with my writing skills, but thanks for the criticism (really).
What I wrote in this article is how I feel about poker. It’s easy to make money if you have patience and focus on the long term results. A lot of players do – just read through the twoplustwo forums.
I made over $30,000 playing part time (No more then a few hours per day a few days a week) in college starting from a free $5. I only play for fun now though mainly because I lost interest in grinding.
As for proof, here’s a screenshot of an old withdrawl report I recieved from pokerstars support.
Well done mike. That’s impressive, I just wish that I can do as well. First tho’, I’ll have to hone my skills.
I would take those statistics with a grain of salt. How do we know that those aren’t funds you’ve made from being a Pokerstars affiliate?
But nice job on that regardless. You certainly are doing well with your involvement in poker, and I’ll continue to read your website.
I am a 2/4 player I have started winning consistently every month but found that I am averging about 8-12 thousand a month putting in about 30 hours a week on average. I was wondering if you wanted to talk about money management, game selection, and other topics I am concerned about becuase I am starting to take poker very seriously and I want to be associated with people who I can help and vice versa.
Thanks
Jake: Those stats were from before I started this site and unfortunately I don’t make that much as a Pokerstars affiliate 😕 . I can’t think of a way to offer solid proof that I’m a winning player, so I guess you’ll have to take my word for it.
Michael: Congrats on your success. That’s an awesome win rate for 2/4NL. I’ll try to write more advanced articles on these topics in the future. Also, have you looked into the medium stakes and high stakes NL forums on 2+2? You can find a lot of great info digging through those topics.
Ive been playing online for a long time now , but the amount of cheating that goes on while online is outrageous ! There are a plethora of ways to cheat and every one knows it is true. So why even bother playing if you know u going to be cheated , you could lose to a robot , colluding players , hackers with rng software , and the worst is when you see 6 to 7 of the same players at 5 different 9 person tables . Its a proven fact that they are banking in the money according to SHARKSCOPE . Why does this cheating go unnoticed ??????????
Hi Jake! Great job with your acomplishments but can you set me clear on this?
If you are playing 100 hands an hour in a 6max 1/2 nl game and taking down 8 BB/hour, how do you account for the 8 BB that you incurr in that hour? If you are playing 6max there are 16 orbits. I’m sorry for being dense, but I’m just not understanding. I have read similar claims on other sites. Could you email me possibly and explain?
Thx
GregL
Hey Greg.
8BB’s (4ptbb’s) is considered a standard win rate for smart winning poker players in NL. Very good players can make 16bb’s (8ptbb’s) per 100 hands over the long run. These numbers based on stats from various players and they’re generally agreed upon in the poker community.
The only way you can figure out your true bb/100 is by playing a lot of hands and tracking your results with a program like pokertracker. You’d need a sample size of about 30,000 hands to get a fairly good idea of what your winrate is.
Here’s a thread on twoplustwo.com discussing winrates for $100nl players http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Number=9677559 .
Thank you, Jake, for such an informative article. I’m a go-go dancer working my way through college, but have recently broken my leg. I’ve always had a curiosity about poker, but never the time. Of course, until now !!! To my question . . . . I’m interested in reading some poker books to learn to play well on-line, but there are so many out there that I don’t know where to start. Would you be able to recommend any that are worth reading? Also, I’ve seen some starting hands charts on-line that seem pretty logical. Are you familiar with any of them? Your recommendations/advise are greatly appreciated!
My apologies !!! My post above was intended for Mike (not Jake).
Hi,
Michael Abitbol: you are doing great. What would you recommend for newbies. Any reading, tips, sources would be appreciated.
Also like GREG says, there is alot of cheating going on, hackers, robots, etc… Any chance of making an income off this? and any trusted online poker sites?
Any info will be appreciated.
Thanks
please send me about ur com pany work profile & details of making money by email.