In fact, there are thousands of professionals who play online poker on a daily basis and earn good money from it. Therefore, to answer the topic question right away — yes, you can make a living.

1. People Who Make A Living Playing Poker
2. Playing Poker For Living

1. I would guess that, all in all, there were probably 600 people who play poker for a living and who made $50,000 or more last year. 'But this is a highly unscientific guess. As you suggested, there.
2. But see, it isn’t a question of whether or not you can make a living playing poker. Because the short answer is yes, you can. And a decent minority of professional poker players already do.
3. Any person can be able to play poker for a living if they practice enough for it. This means they play more games to acquire new skills that may make them earn more. You can play poker games that don’t require risking any money, especially when you are a beginner as.

Casinos don’t offer you many opportunities to beat them. Most of the opportunities that are available involve techniques like card counting or hole carding, which can get you kicked out of gambling venues. Video poker is an exception to the norm, because this is a beatable game that the casino readily offers. Using optimal strategy on the right variations can lead to long-term profits.

Some gamblers have actually managed to become professional video poker players. It’s worth noting, though, that pros were far more common two decades ago. The professional video poker scene today presents a much grimmer prospect due to the lack of quality opportunities. But is it possible to still make the same kind of profits that were available two decades ago?

I’m going to compare the modern and past video poker eras to determine whether it’s still possible to win as big as in the past. But first, I’m going to discuss the basics on how you make money through this game.

Video poker is one of the best casino games with regard to your chances of winning. Multiple variations offer return to player (RTP) worth over 99%. Jacks or Better is one common variation that gives you an excellent shot to win. The “full-pay” version delivers 99.54% RTP.

A full-pay video poker machine is the top pay table for a given variation. The 9/6 pay table is the best in Jacks or Better, with a full house delivering nine coins and a flush paying six. The only problem is that Jacks or Better and games with similar payback don’t give you a long-term advantage. This leaves you needing to find variations that feature over 100% RTP.

The three main variants that offer positive expected value (+EV) include Deuces Wild, Double Bonus, and Double Double Bonus.

Here’s the highest-possible payback for each of these games:

• Full-pay Deuces Wild = 100.76% RTP
• 10/7/5 Double Bonus = 100.17%
• 10/6 Double Double Bonus = 100.07%

Double Bonus and Double Double Bonus barely give you a chance to earn +EV. Deuces Wild is your best bet among these games due to the fact that it can give you a 0.76% edge.

The next step is to actually find these machines. Your best tool for doing so is a website called vpFREE2.com, which allows you to look up various casino destinations to see what kinds of video poker games are available. Doing so reveals that Nevada is the only state with full-pay versions of Deuces Wild, Double Bonus, and Double Double Bonus. Getting more specific, the vast majority of these games are found in Las Vegas.

The only problem is that free online trainers don’t cover full-pay Deuces Wild. But you can purchase programs like Video Poker for Winners and WinPoker (on Amazon) to practice your skills. Once you have a strong grasp of strategy, you should start improving your play rate. Playing more hands in a shorter time frame maximizes your profits.

Video poker isn’t like blackjack card counting, where there are many tales of legendary feats. Instead, professional video poker is a lowkey affair. This means that there’s not much info on how video poker pros operated decades ago. One of the few resources is an interview that American Casino Guide’s Steve Bourie did with a pro back in 1998. The pro went by the alias “Johnny Chung” for the interview. This player revealed a number of interesting details about the life of a professional video poker player.

Here are some of the best takeaways from what it was like being a skilled player in the late 1990s.

Pros Could Win over $100,000

Pouring quarters into a machine may not seem like it would’ve offered impressive returns. But Chung made a very good salary from being a full-time video poker player. “The first year I made about $80,000 and the next two years about the same,” he told Bourie. “Last year was the best: about $135,000.”

Video poker is typically known as a volatile game. What’s interesting, though, is that Chung said he never had a losing month — let alone a losing year. Another good thing about Chung’s job is that he only had to put in a normal 40-hour schedule each week. He could also vary his hours as he saw fit.

Few Video Poker Pros Back Then

Being a video poker pro has never been easy, even when there were more-lucrative opportunities two decades ago. Chung estimated that there were only 25 people playing video poker full-time and “maybe another couple hundred” part-time players.

He also said that he’d never heard of anybody outside of Las Vegas being a full-time professional. When the subject of being a pro in Reno was brought up, he said that there probably weren’t “enough machines there to sustain them full time.”

Some Machines Offered Incredible Payback

High payback is the major reason why Chung and a few dozen other players made such good money with video poker. Select machines offered 103.2% RTP, plus cashback.

Chung could find these games in three Vegas casinos, which is where he spent the bulk of his time playing. He was able to make “$35 to $40 an hour” playing these games with quarter bets.

A Fast Play Rate Was Still Necessary

Earlier I mentioned how it’s important to play at a fast rate when you have an edge. Chung was especially adept at playing quickly, logging around 1,000 hands per hour on a single machine and 1,400 on two machines.

“You have to hit the keys immediately,” he told Bourie. “You can’t have any time to think about what you’re going to do. It has to be automatic.”

Quarter Games Were the Best for Bankroll Management

Vegas used to feature $1 and $5 machines that offered over 100% payback. These games seem like they would’ve been the best route for making profits. But Chung stuck with quarter machines for two reasons.

He said that $1 ($5 max bet) and $5 ($25 max bet) games feature too much volatility in terms of bankroll management. “Plus you won’t find nearly as many games offering the higher payback percentages,” he added. Chung also noted that earning a royal flush on a $1 or $5 machine subjects you to filling out more tax forms and reporting more to the IRS. “[A big payout] is something you get frequent tax forms on and you have to wait about a half-hour for each one,” he said.

Promotions Were Still Important

Double and triple point promotions are very helpful with regard to earning more video poker profits. After all, these promos help increase the amount of cashback you receive. Promotions are especially crucial today given that the payback is lower than when Chung played. But even back then, promos still helped a pro’s bottom line.

The only catch is that players couldn’t simply follow casino social media accounts to find out about the latest offers. They instead relied on each other. “We have a message beeper network where we leave messages for each other about what the best plays are and everything,” said Chung.

Traveling Was Sometimes Important

Chung hadn’t heard of any full-time video poker professionals in other states. But he himself made trips to other states when they offered better opportunities.

People Who Make A Living Playing Poker

“Right now [1998] Bettendorf, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri are the only places that have enough to make it worth traveling to. […] You could probably make about $40 to $50 an hour, but you could do the same thing here, so there’s no reason to travel right now.” Chung found himself traveling outside of Vegas quite a bit in 1997 to take advantage of high-paying machines. However, he didn’t need to travel in 1998 when Sin City casinos got more games with high RTP.

Casinos Didn’t Do Much about Advantage Players

Earlier I mentioned how casinos kick out many advantage gamblers. But video poker has always been an exception due to how casinos don’t place limits on +EV games.

Chung said one reason why casinos are willing to offer games with over 100% payback is because the average player still loses. But he said that gambling establishments eventually catch on when pros start taking advantage of the high-paying dollar games.

The Reality of Being a Video Poker Pro Today

Video poker sounds like it was a lucrative activity back in the late 1990s. Johnny Chung professed to making between $80,000 and $135,000 per year through 40 hours per week.

But what’s the scene like today? Can you make anywhere near what was possible two decades ago? Truthfully, no, and you can read about the reasons why below.

The Top Video Poker Games Don’t Pay Enough Today

Chung’s favorite games were those that paid 103.2% RTP. This gives you a tremendous advantage over the house and can lead to serious profits, even when the coin denomination is only a quarter.

Here’s how much you’d stand to earn with this variation:

Here’s how much you can expect to make with these games per hour:
• RTP is 103.2%, giving you a 3.2% edge.
• You’re making $1.25 max bets (five quarters).
• You play 1,000 hands per hour.
• 1,000 x 1.25 = $1,250 bet per hour
• 1,250 x 0.032 = 40
• You make $40 per hour.

The biggest problem with trying to be a video poker pro today is that you won’t find any games that offer 103% payback. Deuces Wild is the best available game according to vpFREE2.

Here’s how much you’d stand to earn with this variation:

• RTP is 100.76%, giving you a 0.76% edge.
• You’re making $1.25 max bets (five quarters).
• You play 1,000 hands per hour.
• 1,000 x 1.25 = $1,250 bet per hour
• 1,250 x 0.0076 (edge) = 9.5
• You make $9.50 per hour.

Your earnings are about four times less on Deuces Wild versus the games that Chung had access to. Even when factoring in cashback, which I’ll discuss later, full-pay Deuces Wild doesn’t give you a chance to earn a good living.

You’ll make the same at McDonald’s or Burger King than you would playing Deuces Wild full time. The only way that you can overcome the small wages is by playing well over 40 hours per week, which would be better invested in a regular job.

Not Enough High Paying Video Poker Machines

Even if you’re willing to try and make a living on Deuces Wild games, you also have to consider that there are fewer of these machines available. Many players who want to make video poker profits are fully aware of Deuces Wild and look for these games whenever possible.

Video poker strategy is more prevalent these days than it was two decades ago. This allows any amateur to practice Deuces Wild and jump on these games to earn profits. I’m not saying that it’s impossible to find empty full-pay Deuces Wild machines around Vegas. But doing so is more difficult than it was in the past.

Video Poker Comps Aren’t as Good

Casinos used to be more generous with their comps, even when it came to high-paying video poker machines. You could look forward to anywhere from a 0.1% to 0.3% comp rate through video poker.

Here’s a look at how many profits you could expect to earn back in Chung’s prime years when factoring in the cashback rate:

• You make $40 per hour (covered in previous example).
• You bet $1,250 per hour.
• Comp rate is 0.2%.
• 1,250 x 0.002 = $2.50 in comps
• 40 + 2.5 = 42.5
• You earn $42.50 total per hour.

The problem today is that casinos have slashed their comps across the board. They’re especially leery about giving out rewards to those who take advantage of +EV video poker. Casinos can use rewards cards to track when gamblers only play on certain machines that offer over 100% payback. They then reduce these players’ cashback rate to a point where they’re earning next to nothing in terms of rewards.

Even when this isn’t the case, the 0.1% cashback rate doesn’t do much to supplement your income. Here’s how many comps you could expect to earn per hour combined with Deuces Wild winnings:

• You make $9.50 per hour (covered in previous example).
• You’re betting $1,250 per hour.
• Comp rate is 0.1%.
• 1,250 x 0.001 = $1.25 in comps
• 9.5 + 1.25 = 10.75
• You earn $10.75 total per hour.

More Competition for Quality Machines During Promotions

Land-based casinos run promotions around the holidays to bring in more gamblers. These promos can consist of double or triple rewards points, which is perfect if you’re a serious player. But you also have to consider that you’re not the only one who’s looking to take advantage of these deals. Other serious players will be aware of how much they can earn on full-pay Deuces Wild machines with double and triple points.

Here’s an example:

• You make $9.50 per hour.
• You’re betting $1,250 per hour.
• Normal comp rate is 0.1%.
• Triple points increase the rate to 0.3%.
• 1,250 x 0.003 = $3.75 in comps
• 9.5 + 3.75 = 13.25
• You earn $13.25 total per hour.

You can see that your hourly winnings only go up by a few dollars in this case. This will make you question if it’s worth showing up to the casino early to get a good game for slightly higher winnings.

Video poker was once a good way for professional gamblers to make money. However, it’s obvious that this isn’t the case today. You only stand to earn $10.50 an hour with perfect conditions, including optimal strategy and a really fast play rate. But is there a chance that video poker can ever become lucrative again? No, the days when Chung made big profits are long gone and not coming back. Most Vegas casinos these days focus on using a variety of means to attract players. Fine dining, nightclubs, shopping, and shows are more important to casino resorts than ever before.

Another problem with casinos diversifying their revenue streams is that they don’t give out as many comps. Ideally, you’re looking at a 0.1% cashback rate combined with full-pay Deuces Wild. Even if you play 1,000 hands per hour, you’re only going to add a little over a dollar to your hourly winnings. The lower cashback rate and the absence of high-paying video poker machines means that becoming a professional player is no longer feasible.

The world of advantage gambling moves quickly. Successful gamblers often move on when they find out that a certain game or technique no longer brings them significant profits. The same is true of video poker, where I doubt that there’s a single player making a good living from the game today. Players with aspirations of being a professional gambler are either counting cards, hole carding, shuffle tracking, or playing a skill-based game like poker or daily fantasy sports.

Even Chung quickly transitioned from video poker when he spotted better opportunities. Bourie contacted him again in 1999, and found that he’d moved out to the Midwest to play $1 blackjack machines. Chung also told Bourie that he’d “found something much better” in the form of a specific video poker machine with a “programming error.” He was traveling across the Midwest to take advantage of these games wherever possible. It was later revealed that Midwestern casinos lost millions of dollars to players who capitalized on these flaws.

In any case, advantage gamblers look for the biggest edge possible that can be realistically exploited. They don’t, however, spend 80 hours per week grinding out a living on a game that pays $10.50 an hour at best. Professional video poker may have once been a very lucrative pursuit. Today, though, it’s just a good way to make a few bucks from your gambling hobby.

Have you ever thought about quitting your day job and playing poker for a living? Have you spent hours dreaming about how much fun it’d be to play poker every day and the glory of winning a big poker tournament?

Most poker players wish they could play for a living at least once or twice in their life. You see other people doing it, so why can’t you do it? After all, the pros you see on television seem to have it made. They have the money to enter big poker tournaments, sometimes with buy in amounts of $10,000 and more.

If they have this kind of money to enter tournaments, they must be doing pretty good in the money department. You probably also see some lower level professional players if you play in a regular poker room. These players might not be good enough to make millions on television, but they’re able to grind out a profit hour after hour while staying under the radar.

Employment data for professional poker players isn’t available, but you know that many people are able to do it. This means that you might have a realistic opportunity to play poker for a living.

Here are seven steps you need to use if you want to play poker for a living. You need to learn how to play poker well enough to be profitable, but almost anyone can do this if they do enough research and use the tools available to them.

It’s not easy to be a professional poker player, but it can be done if you’re willing to do the work. Sadly, if you’re able to play well enough to quit your regular job, you might find that poker isn’t fun anymore. It’s still better than working for a living, but most people who play for a living are grinding out small profits every day.

Poker is just like most professions in a couple ways. The first way is that a few people are able to reach the top and make huge amounts of money. But most people are somewhere between just barely scrapping by and making a comfortable living.

The other similarity is you have to put in the time and work to have the chance to reach the top. Some winning players are never able to break out of barely surviving on what they make at the poker tables, no matter how long they play and how hard they work.

Playing poker for a living isn’t for everyone, but if you want to give it a try, just follow the seven steps below. Even if you’re not a winning player yet, if you work the steps, you have a good chance of succeeding.

1 – Decide How Much You Need to Make

The first step is to determine how much you need to make. It’s easy to assume that you just need to make the same amount of money that you make in your current job, but this doesn’t always give you an accurate picture of what you need.

Does your current job offer paid time off, health insurance, and retirement benefits? Fewer and fewer jobs offer these benefits, but many still do. If you have to buy your own health insurance it can be a large monthly expense.

The only retirement benefits a poker player has are the ones that they develop themselves. You need to make enough money playing poker to cover your current bills, support your current lifestyle, and have some left over to invest for your retirement.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re just going to play poker until you die. Some players do this, but you can’t predict the future. You might not be able to physically and mentally play at a winning level in your later years. The game also changes over the years, and sometimes players can’t keep up with new strategies and younger players.

Once you figure out how much you need to make playing poker you can get a good idea of how big your bankroll needs to be, how much you have to play, and what levels you need to be able to win at.

Here’s an example:

You currently work a normal job and make $40,000 a year. You’re able to keep the bills paid, but you aren’t getting ahead. You hate your job and decide you want to play poker for a living. Your current job doesn’t have any retirement benefits, but it does offer a basic health insurance plan.

You want to replace your current income, start investing some money for retirement, and you need to find replacement health insurance. After doing some research, you find that you can buy insurance for $500 a month, so you now have to make at least $46,000 a year.

In addition, you want to invest at least $500 a month your first year playing. Your plan is to invest more every year, as your poker results improve, but you know you need to get started now. This is another $6,000 a year for investing, so you need to make $52,000 your first year playing.

They decide that they’re going to play 60 or 80 hours a week. While this is possible, it can be hard to do. You need to keep your mental focus sharp to be a winning player, so you need to make sure you have time to rest both your body and mind.

I recommend using no more than 50 hours a week in your estimates. If you find a couple good games that you don’t want to leave you might play more hours some weeks, but playing poker more than 50 hours a week on a regular basis can take its toll on you.

At this point you start running the numbers. $52,000 a year is $1,000 a week, if you play every week. I recommend taking at least a couple weeks off every year to recharge your batteries, so you need to adjust your numbers a little. $52,000 a year divided by 50 weeks is $1,040 a week.

If you play 50 hours a week, this means that you have to average $20.80 an hour in profit to reach your yearly income goal.

This isn’t outside of the realm of possibilities if you’re a good player. A good player at the 10/20 limit table can do this, and you shouldn’t have a terrible time finding games if you’re close to a big poker room.

A good no limit poker player can do this in no limit cash games at the $500 buy in limit, and some can even do it at the $200 buy in tables.

The math is a little different for tournament players, but the concept is the same. Winning tournament poker players tend to finish in the cash enough to keep them playing until they can break through and finish at the final table or win at a big tournament.

If you’re a tournament poker player, most of your yearly profit may come from just a small handful of tournaments. In this case, you need to stay in the game long enough to make a big score.

You can use the amount you need to win per hour to give you an idea of how big your bankroll needs to be to reach your goals. Even if you’re a winning player, you need enough money behind you to ride out the down swings that you’re going to face.

If you’re a no limit player in this example, you should have at least 20 buy in amounts for your regular game. To be safe, you should have more than 20. I recommend 30 times your normal buy in.

This means that if you play $500 buy in no limit cash games, you need between $10,000 and $15,000. If you’re going to try to play at the $200 buy in tables, you should defiantly go with 30 times your buy in, so you need at least $6,000.

If you’re going to play at the limit tables you should have 200 to 300 times the big bet. This means that if you play 10/20 you should have between $4,000 and $6,000, and if you play 20/40 you need between $8,000 and $12,000.

If you have the bankroll and are a winning player, it’s usually easier to reach your hourly goal at a higher limit table. It’s easier to make $20 an hour on average playing $500 buy in no limit or 20/40 limit in many cases.

But a great deal of the profitability of a game comes from your ability to beat the other players. This means that you might make more profit at a smaller buy in table, so keep an open mind.

What do you do if you don’t have a big enough bankroll to get started at the level you need to play to reach your goals?

Playing Poker For Living

If you’re making $40,000 a year, you probably don’t have an extra $10,000 to dedicate to your bankroll yet. The answer is to start playing part time and grow your bankroll as fast as you can. Don’t quit your job and start playing poker full time until you save enough for a proper bankroll.

2 – Pick a Specialization

If you want to give yourself the best chance to succeed in your quest for a professional poker playing career, you need to start by specializing in one thing. Texas holdem games are the easiest to find, so many players start playing it.

This doesn’t mean that you have to specialize in Texas holdem. If you’re better at stud or Omaha and can find enough games, you should specialize in the game that you play best.

You also should stick to one format. Decide if you want to play cash games, small tournaments like single table ones, or big tournaments. Once you make a decision, stick with it until you surpass your hourly goals on a consistent basis.

While Texas holdem is mostly the same in cash games and tournaments, there are a few differences. A great player can be profitable in both formats, but if you specialize you can maximize your returns.

If you’re a beginning player who’s still learning how to be a consistent winner, I suggest focusing on limit play. If you’re more experienced, no limit games offer higher hourly win rates for most players.

I know that the televised poker you see is usually tournament poker, but I recommend starting at the cash tables. This isn’t because cash games are necessarily more profitable than tournaments. The main reason is because your profit will probably be more consistent in cash games. You might go several tournaments before making a profit, and this can be hard on your bankroll and hard on your mental game.

3 – Segregate a Bankroll

When you work a regular job and play poker on the side, you probably mix your poker bankroll with your regular money. When you start playing poker for a living you need to set aside your poker bankroll and keep it separate at all times.

By keeping your poker bankroll separate, it’s easier to track your progress. It also helps you see if you have a leak in your game that you need to identify and fix.

You can handle your profits in a couple different ways, but here’s a simple system that you can use.

Going back to the example in the first section, you need to make $1,040 a week. Pick a day and take out this amount every week on that day, just like a salary. Leave everything else in your bankroll, and evaluate where you’re at on a regular basis.

If you’re able to reach your goal every week, your bankroll will stay fairly consistent throughout the year. But if you’re able to win more than your goal, this system builds your bankroll with the extra money.

As your bankroll grows, you might be able to play at a higher level. But don’t move up too fast. It’s better to have an extra cushion than to start running short.

If you’re going to use this system, it helps if you start with a cushion. If you determine that you need a $10,000 bankroll, if you can start with $12,000 or $15,000 it takes some of the pressure off. When you take regular payments out of your bankroll it can create a great deal of pressure when you’re on a downswing.

Another system is to only take the bare minimum needed for survival out of your bankroll every week, and then evaluate where you’re at when you get to the end of the month. You might only need to take $500 a week out to survive, and then you can take the rest of the profit, or some of it out, once a month.

4 – Start below Your Bankroll

I mentioned a little bit about this in the last section, but you should start playing below your bankroll. This protects your bankroll and helps you learn if you can make what you need to. If you determine that you need $10,000 to $15,000 to play at the $500 buy in no limit tables, start playing at the $200 buy in tables.

Now you have 50 to 75 buy in amounts, so a downswing takes a smaller percentage of your bankroll. You can still reach your hourly goals at this level, but you reduce the pressure a great deal.

If you’re starting out playing part time trying to build your bankroll up so you can quit your job and start playing full time, don’t be ashamed of playing at the smallest tables. Buying in at the $100 level gives you a chance to build your bankroll just as well at higher levels, it just takes more time.

Though it’s dangerous because a downswing can wipe you out, if you’re taking money from your current income to try to build a bankroll, you can play at lower buy in levels with a smaller multiple for your bankroll.

You can play $100 buy in no limit with a $500 bankroll. If you’re good and have just a little bit of luck, you can build your bankroll from this point without busting out. This is even truer as you play at smaller stakes. You can start playing online at the micro limit tables with a buy in of $10 or less.

5 – Identify Profitable Opportunities

Winning poker players know that their profit is tied to how well they play and how poorly their opponents play. Not only do you need to learn how to be the best player you can be, you also need to learn how to find the games that are the most profitable.

When you walk into the poker room, look at the players at the tables below and above you normal game. See if you can find a table that’s more profitable than your normal game. To do this, you need to learn about the other players and what kind of things to look for.

Even when you’re profitable at one level, you might be able to actually make more per hour at a lower level.

Here’s an example:

You usually play $500 buy in no limit and know many of the normal players. You walk into the poker room and see your normal game running and you see a couple $200 games running. One of the $200 tables seems to be a wild game, with lots of betting and raising before the flop, and your normal game looks tighter than usual.

The wild $200 game is probably going to be more profitable than your normal game, so you take a seat. You can always move to your normal table later, but you want to take advantage of the situation while you can.

You need to always look for opportunities for more profitable games. Sometimes you can find a private game that’s more profitable than your normal game. If you can figure out how to find and get invited to a private game filled with lawyers, doctors, business owners, and maybe judges, you might find that it’ more profitable.

6 – Put in the Time

It’s easy to learn how to play poker, but if you want to be the best player possible there’s no substitution for putting in time playing. You need to study, read, and learn as much as possible, but some things can only improve so much without practice and play.

If you want to play poker for a living, it’s best to play on a part time basis for as long as you can. Track all of your play and results, and continuously work on improving your game.

The more you play, the better you play. This might sound simple, but there’s a great deal of truth in it. Realize that you have to put in the time if you want to play poker for a living.

7 – Work Hard

Playing poker for a living sounds like a dream job. But once you start actually doing it, you quickly learn that it’s much more like a job than a dream. It can still be fun, and it’s better than being stuck in a cubicle, but winning poker players have to work hard.

If you want to play poker for a living because you think it’s easy, you should just keep your day job. You have to work hard to be a winning poker player. It’s hard work to reach your goals.

You also need to set higher goals each year. If your goal the first year is to make $52,000, do everything in your power to reach the goal. But set your second year goal higher. Set your second year goal at $60,000 or $75,000. Make a five year goal of $100,000 a year by the end of five years.

Then make a plan of how you’re going to do it and get to work. With the right goal, the right plan, and the right amount of work you can reach your goals playing poker.

Conclusion

If you want to play poker for a living you can get started today by following the seven steps listed above. The most important step is making sure you have a big enough bankroll to safely start. But even if you don’t have enough to quit your job yet, you can still get started today. Start where you are, and use these seven steps to reach your goal.