How to Become a Professional Poker Player

How to Become a Professional Poker Player

Being a professional poker player is the aspiration of every poker fan. Poker is a fun game that can be played and mastered. But how do you rise to the next level?

Becoming a Professional Poker Player: Top Tips from a Pro

  • Select your poker game at 1xbet and stick to it – Best Poker professionals specialize in one poker variation. Texas Hold 'Em is most popular, but you can make a career out of playing Omaha poker or some other variation.
  • Memorize it back to front – Once you have settled on a game, memorize it back to front so that you can quote pre-flop charts in your street.
  • Put money and time into improving continuously, and take care of your soft skills – Don’t rest on your laurels. Always look for ways to improve your game and focus on your poker soft skills (which we’ll cover in this article).
  • Don't depend solely on tournaments – Sure, big bonuses like the WSOP do contain many pro poker players, but you can make a good living playing poker at an online casino. Online poker, live dealer poker, and video poker are, after all, still poker.

How do You Become a Professional Poker Player

Don't delude yourself: it's not easy to be a professional poker player in today's competitive environment, but if you take it seriously, it can be well worth the effort.

I had many highs and lows over the years, but becoming a professional online poker player was one of the best decisions I ever made in life, and never once did I even consider that I regretted pursuing this career path. But if I were to repeat it, I would do many things differently so I would not waste years of time and so much money lost in the process.

I'm sure that you can just avoid making many of the poker mistakes that I did and speed along your progression. So if you're in a position to take a few minutes to read it over, I'd be glad to share with you how I turned into a pro player and what I learned in the process.

How to Become a Pro Poker Player: Getting My Start

I started playing poker 18 years ago, when I was introduced to it by friends. It was hard to imagine at that time how big the world of poker really was and that it had much more to offer than my backyard games with friends.

But even that was enough for me. I fell in love with this game and never looked back.

Naturally, no need to say that my professional life started not very good. I played random sessions of Sit-and-Go Tournaments (SNGs), Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs), and Progressive Knockout on the Internet, plenty of cash games with my buddies, and was not studying the game at all.

To start with, I liked competing with others and the feeling of winning. In all honesty, it was not about the money. But pretty soon, I realized that I could just easily make a whole lot more playing poker than in any sort of part-time job in my study years, and this fact interested me a great deal.

I was down both financially and emotionally as my dad had just passed away. Poker helped take my mind off things, so I started grinding out days.

Starting Become a Pro Poker Player

The more I played, the more I loved the game. Unlike the "real" world, poker enabled me to have command over everything. I could play when and what I wanted, for as long as I wanted – and I loved it.

In retrospect, I think I was incredibly lucky to discover this game. I am a very competitive person, and getting to play against different pro poker players, adjust my strategy, and win from them was quite gratifying, probably even more so than the money.

Touring the Poker Tournament Circuit

I met Rich, a pro player, and we started going around the world playing live cash games and the occasional tournament.

We played in WSOP in Las Vegas, nearly all European Poker Tour events, and others on poker circuit. Nowadays, I can firmly say: meeting that PRO in the tournament was the best thing ever to happen to me in poker.

I started receiving coaching from one of the best pro poker players in my country, and my progress gained even more speed. We discussed not only the strategy part, but also some talks about focus, controlling emotions when bluffing, and other areas of the mental game, and again made me realize how much I did not know.

How do I Become a Professional Poker Player – Is It For You?

  • Now you can decide for yourself if this is something you want to do as a career.
  • Poker is not for every person, and it is alright to own up to it.
  • But if you do end up going down this path and continue with the game, it can prove to be extremely rewarding.
  • Surely, you have to be so truthful to yourself and understand why you want to do it.
  • Do you want to play because you hate what you are doing now, or because you love playing it and you want to be the best?

These are two such contrasting reactions. If your only goal is to earn money, you will find it quite difficult to be motivated when things do not fall in place for you.