Can You Really Make A Living Playing Poker?

There is a saying among professional poker players: “Poker is a tough way to make an easy living!” Most people laugh when they hear this but a real professional will usually just nod in agreement. He knows well the brutal truth behind these words.

Most professional poker players go broke repeatedly. There are three reasons for this to occur. The first and most obvious reason is that the player simply lacks the skills to compete professionally. In most other forms of competition – chess, golf, etc. – a lack of skill is immediately obvious. However, the variance or “luck factor” in poker tends to hide a player’s true skill.

Lady Luck may smile on a player for years at a time. During this period he is “running good” and even a mediocre player may have excellent results over what seems an extended period of time. It is not uncommon for such a player to convince himself that he is an expert and he may then try to play professionally. Eventually, of course, his good fortune runs out, his results finally begin to coincide with his true skills and he goes broke.

Before considering turning pro, a player should ask himself: am I really such a good player or is it possible that I’ve just been enjoying a run of good luck?

However, let’s assume that the aspiring professional player is very skilled. Let’s also assume that he chooses his tables wisely to maximize his profit potential. Such a player can still go broke if he lacks the personal discipline required to put in long hours at the poker tables day after day.

Every player has an average hourly win rate for a given table limit against typical opposition. If a player’s hourly win rate is $15 per hour and he needs to bring in $600 per week to pay his living expenses, he must play at least 40 hours per week to avoid going broke. It may not seem so but 40 hours a week of poker – absolutely without fail every week regardless of sickness or personal distractions - is a grueling schedule.

Poker is fun when a player plays recreationally with money he can afford to lose. To a professional, who relies on his poker winnings to pay his daily living expenses, poker is usually not fun at all. In fact, the stress can be overwhelming. With a player’s bankroll running low and the rent coming due, every bad beat can seem like a body blow. A player often reaches a point where he’d rather be doing anything but playing poker. It becomes a terrible grind with only the player’s personal sense of discipline to keep him at it.

The aspiring professional should (very) conservatively estimate his hourly win rate, calculate the number of hours he will have to play each week to cover his living expenses and then ask himself: do I really have the discipline needed to play poker for that many hours each and every week?

Let's now assume that the aspiring professional is both very skilled and very disciplined. Strangely enough, it would still be wrong to think that such a player must succeed. He most likely will still be pulled down by the inherent variance in the game.

As mentioned earlier, a player can run good or bad at poker for years at a time. If a player plays long enough, the likelihood that he will encounter an extended downswing is great. Of course, he will also encounter upswings of similar magnitude. However, it is unlikely that any player will have the foresight to save enough money during his upswings to carry him through possibly several years of insufficient income during an extended downswing and he will go broke.

There is really no question the aspiring professional can ask himself regarding the possibility of enduring an extended streak of bad luck. If it happens, it happens, and he will almost certainly go broke.

The above remarks apply equally to tournament play and to classic ring game play. The rewards from success in tournaments are greater than success in ring games but the variance in tournaments is also correspondingly greater.

To answer the question: yes, you can make a living playing poker, but expect a roller coaster ride consisting of exhilarating highs and potentially suicidal lows. In addition, expect to drag your friends and family through all this with you.

Poker pros have a saying: "Poker is a tough way to make an easy living!" Most people laugh when they hear this. It's quite true.