Making money playing poker

So I decided to buy SSH by Sklansky and I just started my second reading of it. I have only used it for two home games and for play money online but I found it very useful. As I started my second reading I read a strange claim to the effect that someone could make 50,000 dollars a year playing small stakes poker online. I found this a little hard to believe.

I have now read quite a few of the FTR threads and my holdem knowledge is increasing rapidly. I am going to start playing for real money online soon after a little bit more study.

What I don't understand is whether anybody makes any money playing. I have read many threads that seem to contradict each other about this.

Can an excellent holdem player actually make a living playing online poker?

What can an excellent player expect to make per hour playing small stakes poker as a side job/hobby?

Well the rule of thumb is that a good player can make about 1 big bet per hour. And there are definitely people on FTR doing that. So if you're playing 2/4 limit, then thats $4/hour. Or if you're playing 5/10 limit, then thats $10/hour!

How much you can make per year all depends on what stakes you are playing at and how many hours you can squeeze in per year.

Making money online is fun isnt it? 8-)

Johnny, you also have to account for being able to multi table.
Also i think that 1BB/HR rule doesn't apply as much to online poker. Online you are playing an average of 50 hands an hour where as in a casion your pushing 40.

A very good player can sustain 3bb/100 hands..
Online you are dealt an average of around 50 hands an hour.
You would be making 1.5 BB/ ever hour. ( 50 hand an hour, would take 2 hours to play 100 hands)

So lets take that 1.5 BB's and put it across 4 tables.
1.5BBs x 4 tables = 6bb / hour
6BB's @ 3/6 = $36 an hour.


So could you make a living off of $36 an hour?

Yes, an excellent player can make a living from online poker. And many people do make money from online poker.

Most of the regular posters do make money through online poker, but not enough money to replace a day job. Though I'm sure that there are people who could live off of online winnings, they are just too shakey, and never guaranteed. So online poker becomes more like a profitable hobby.

So far this month I have made about $200 in poker. Playing mostly .50/1, 1/2 and a little 2/4 limit holdem. I'm not planing on withdrawing any of this money. I would rather keep it in my account. Sorta re-investing. That way I can stop playing the .50/1 and try more on playing the 2/4 and soon the 3/6. Moving up is always my goal.

But because I am not a focused person, I'm sure that someday soon I will lose it all in a 2/4 Crazy pineapple room.

Can you make money, yes. Last week I made 2k playing poker. There are some people on this site that have cleared 100k in a year playing poker.

A little old cleche can apply here.

You get out of it what you put into it.

The people who are winning, have done a lot of homework, practice, ect. in order to win.

Mike is right. The "rule of thumb" is too low for online poker because of multi-tabling and more hands dealt per hour.

If 1BB/hr is for limit, I wonder what the standard rate for no limit is. 20% of the buyin/hr? That'd be my guess.

I think that is too high for NL, If you take what you said and multi tabled 3 tables @ 100nl you would be making $60hr, I don think that is sustainable by even the best.

Originally Posted by Iconoclastic

If 1BB/hr is for limit, I wonder what the standard rate for no limit is. 20% of the buyin/hr? That'd be my guess.

Icon, I know of a guy playing $25NL on party and sustaining $25 HR 4 tabling..

http://www.livejournal.com/users/player_xyz/

Practice
Study
Seek out the advice of those who are succesful.
Play a lot!!!
Play some more!!!
Remeber to stop when you are losing and come back another time never chase the money

YOU NEVER STOP LEARNING POKER

Just to throw my .02 in - My wife and I will be eating Thanksgiving Dinner off our new dining room set paid for by online poker. I am nowhere near being abole to do this as a full time job....don't know that I would ever want to (lots of pressure to perform can't help your game) But as a hobby it is profitable so far $600-$1000/mo. (most of my other hobbies cost me money) My wife has been very suportive of my intrest in online poker...she wants me to do well in MTTs more than I do - she has her eye on a new Mini convertible

Originally Posted by DavSimon

My wife and I will be eating Thanksgiving Dinner off our new dining room set paid for by online poker.

My wife has been very suportive of my intrest in online poker...she wants me to do well in MTTs more than I do - she has her eye on a new Mini convertible

HAHA!!

About once a month or so I take out $75 and take my fiancee out to a decent dinner with poker money. It's really the only expendable income we have.

About a month ago I had some unexpected expenses, I hated taking out most of my BR to cover it, but I'm glad the money was there. I also believe Karma kicked in because i'm on one HELL of a rush this week.

There was a thread going about a month ago "what do you do with yoru poker winnings". Talked about what people had bought from other peoples money


Can you make a living playing small stakes? I fully believe it is possible.

I have a very cool wife, she has been on board with every hobby, pursuit and toy I have ever wanted. But the best way to prevent the nagging: "oh you planning on playing poker again tonight" is to take some of the winnings and buy them whatever they want....win/win situation.
She does not know it, but I was really wanting that new table anyway...with the leaf in it is the perfect size for 8 people to play poker on

Originally Posted by DavSimon

My wife and I will be eating Thanksgiving Dinner off our new dining room set paid for by online poker.

What a rewarding feeling this must be!

I just told my wife a couple of days ago that the best reward from playing poker will be the first time I write a check from my poker only checking account to pay the credit card bill. I haven't quite got to that point, as I'm still building bankroll. I started with $50 playing the .05 & .10 NL games. I've just about got enough to cover any swings playing .25 & .50 NL. I'll probably stay at this level for a bit and just cash out the extra to pay down debts.

As for making a living at it, as with almost anything, it's possible with enough will to make it happen. But I don't think it's the right choice for me personally.

Way back in May we had a bad hail storm in my area. My old home insurance company sent me a letter about 1 1/2 months prior to my insurance renewal for this year saying that they were dropping my home insurance because they weren't going to carry that line of business anymore. No big deal, I just found another insurance company.

However, I figured that perhaps as a nice parting gift, perhaps I could get a new roof out of the deal because of that hail storm. Thought it might be a long-shot because the roof is original (27 years old) and in bad shape and in dire need of replacement. Had a contractor and the insurance adjuster come out the week before my old insurance was going to lapse. They looked it over and decided they would pay for a new roof (minus my $500 deductible, of course).

Point of the story, I paid for the deductible with my poker earnings so I essentially got a badly needed brand new roof for FREE!

Thank God for online poker because it wasn't like I had $500 laying around for just such an occasion. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to share my story of what I did with some of my poker earnings.

Originally Posted by mike4066

Originally Posted by Iconoclastic

If 1BB/hr is for limit, I wonder what the standard rate for no limit is. 20% of the buyin/hr? That'd be my guess.

Icon, I know of a guy playing $25NL on party and sustaining $25 HR 4 tabling..

http://www.livejournal.com/users/player_xyz/

That is not unreasonable considering the fact that I average 13 dollars an hour playing 4 nl25s on party...and I am not even very good.

It's very doable at online limit, especially at Party where the games are good. There's something to be said for 0 variance EV, though. Plus, the games aren't as good during normal working hours.

If you could earn 2BB/100 playing $15/$30, you could easily make 6 figures a year playing about 4 hours a day.

I'm not sure how much I've made (don't have detailed records) but I have gotten to the point where I consider my poker playing as a second job that helps pay the bills. This past Sunday I put $600 into the bank after a good week. It helps.

Just a note: most of my winnings have been in offline games, either my regular 3/6 game close to home or in AC playing 4/8. I've only played 0.25/0.50 for the past few days on PS. Anyway, I've been keeping records for about a month now and will post my results to give some idea of what I've been making. (Even I'm not sure of my own win rate.)

I was considering getting a second job recently. But after dedicating myself for about 1 month and coming to find out that I can earn more than $10 hour from the confort of my own home I put my part time job hunt on hold.

Part time job @ $6.50 an hour, working for someone else. Or part time job making $10 + from the confort of my own home, doing somehting I enjoy, setting my own hours.

Do I think I could do this as a full time job? I doubt it, but it sure as hell will add extra money to my pocket

I think the number one thing you need to make money is discipline. I have been this forum for a while and the thing I noticed is those that dedicate themselves to poker become successful. This year I have made about 400 dollars from online poker, but because of the way I play and the severe lack of discipline I have an hourly rate of less than a dollar an hour. So if you really decide to do this figure out first why you are doing it. To have fun or to make money; because as much fun as making money is you have to enjoy what you do. Sorry for the long winded post.