Online poker seems like an everyday nuisance to most people: something as unavoidable and addictive like “Farmville”, for example, but ultimately just as pointless. Also, the number of places on the World Wide Web where you can play poker is growing larger each day, and that may seem like a sign that online poker is simply another browser-based game, probably thought up to just take away the stress of modern life and office work. Yet, you have probably asked yourself why so many people in the world seem to be wasting their time on it. Maybe you even know someone who’s decided that they don’t need an actual job and just stays at home, glued to their computer screen, playing online poker. Could they actually be on to something?
Well, I can testify, from my personal account and even more so from what my friends experienced that playing online poker can be a full-time job. There is, logically, money to be made there, and all it takes is a moderate amount of dedication and the will to learn. You should, of course, first start off by playing against your computer, to get a bit of practice, but should not linger on it for too long, because the real fun (and the actual learning) starts when you begin playing against human opponents. Again, take things easy and slow. Go to the lowest tier of competition, where no actual money is being bet, and try your hand at beating actual humans. While you’re playing, you must also remember to keep track of the statistics of each game you played, for the purpose of realizing what your tendencies are when playing, and which one of your strategies worked best. It is implied that you must have a strategy, and that you should get used to doing a lot of math, because that is the only way to improve and be successful at online poker. Also, be patient and don’t despair when you lose (and that will happen, no matter how much you’d like to avoid it), because you will soon learn that losing individual games is irrelevant compared to your take at the end of the day.
And how much money can you make? The first sums will be ridiculous, in the area of 10 to 50 bucks, but let me tell you: those first payouts will be the sweetest. Of course, I’m not trying to take anything away from the joy of winning thousands of dollars – that can be pretty sweet, too. While I never really did get up the courage to quit my day job, many of my friends have literally made careers out of playing poker online, and are living it up while doing what they love. Some have even gotten so good at it that they are competing in actual pro circuit poker tournaments and facing off against some very famous competition. Think that it can’t happen for you? Don’t knock it ‘till you’ve tried it.