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If you are an avid poker player or even just an enthusiast, you’ve probably heard about people who consider online poker their daily job. They sometimes even work full-time and earn a decent amount of money.
Therefore, the answer to the topic question is — yes, you can make a living by playing poker. However, there are a couple of things you need to take into account before calling yourself a professional online poker player.
Poker Is Still a Game of Chance
First of all, no matter which poker room you choose, you have to accept the fact that the element of luck will always be there. Although poker is recognized as a game of skill, the chance factor impacts the game, and it can impact you in the long run if you are not lucky.
Naturally, you can decrease the luck factor by practicing, but that will take a lot of time and energy, which we will talk about later.
Poker Is Evolving
Online poker is a subject of continuous improvement. You’ve probably heard about blockchain-based casinos, such as the ones described in this article. Some poker platforms also started experimenting with various new technologies, including blockchain.
What does that mean for you? Well, you need to accept the fact that the evolution process is now rapid, and that players need to adapt to it in order to stay in the game. That includes adjusting your equipment, your style of play, and even the way you think about poker.
Poker Is an Investment
Starting a professional career as a poker player means dedicating your life to it. You will not only devote your time and energy but also significant amounts of money.
Simply put, every online tournament or cash game requires some kind of buy-in. Of course, there are $1 buy-in contests you can apply to, but you will have to move to upper ranks if you want to earn a living from playing poker. Depending on your poker skills and your budget, you need to be able to invest (and lose) anywhere from $100 to $10,000 per tournament.
Let’s focus on other types of investments. What you will probably have to invest the most is time. You cannot expect to become a poker professional just by playing a couple of $100 tournaments. Learning to play poker is a continuous process that never ends. Even the best poker players in the world devote a lot of time to learning new strategies, tactics, moves, and more.
Finally, you need to invest a lot of energy, which basically means you will have to spend hundreds of hours trying to activate every single brain cell to understand some concepts and put them into practice. After all, poker requires studying as well as practicing what you have learned.
Poker Requires Dedication to Improvement
Finally, if you don’t have an entrepreneurial mindset, you should think twice about starting a career as a poker player. When playing this card game on the web, you will have to be your own accountant, lawyer, marketer, and whatnot. Most importantly, you will have to be your own boss and make yourself work hard and smart.
In other words, you need to understand that poker is a game with a never-ending improvement cycle. So once you jump in, there’s no stopping, let alone going back.
Don’t get this article wrong — playing poker occasionally is always fun and you can earn a lot of money from time to time if you are lucky. In fact, if luck is something you like to rely on, you can also try online slots that are becoming increasingly popular in online casinos, according to this article.
However, that’s not what professional poker is about, as it takes away the “continuous improvement” factor that goes hand in hand with professional poker.
Conclusion
To sum up, if you are not ready to devote your life to poker, you shouldn’t become a professional poker player. You will not be able to earn enough to call poker your job. Instead, you should either settle for being a poker enthusiast and consider the game your side hustle or try focusing on other careers that are less demanding.
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