It definitely looks glamourous walking into Las Vegas like a VIP or participating in tournaments like the World Series of Poker. But behind the scene, the long hours of training and practising, plus managing your lifestyle as a career can be daunting.
Therefore, if you want to be a professional poker player, you definitely have to work very hard to make it happen. So, before you make the jump and get started with this, 96ACE Casino‘s experts suggest you a few things you should consider first:
Poker is a high-risk high-reward game, you need a lot of money to gamble comfortably. So, make sure that you have a sizable bankroll before you enter the game. A proper poker bankroll is one that allows you to risk only what you can afford to lose.
Without a solid bankroll, you will be playing with scared money. Money that you are too scared to lose. That will affect your performance. So, you need to build your poker bankroll first to act as your safety net. Ideally, do that before you even quit your day job and start playing full-time.
You might be good at some of the aspects of poker. But if you want to get to the professional level, you need to have good bankroll management skill too.
Ideally, keep a separate bank account so that you have clear visibility on the amount you can gamble with. This also helps to prevent you from accidentally gambling away money that’s meant to sustain yourself.
Lastly, play according to your bankroll. Don’t move to the high-stakes game until your bankroll allows it. You can make some risky play every now and then, but ensure you do not go overboard.
It is fine if you do not have a lot to play with. Just play in low stakes game and do not make a big mistake or take big risks. It’s better to have a small bankroll than to be broke and unable to play at all.
Being a pro player does not mean you can conveniently neglect the management aspect of work. If you are playing poker for a living, you need to treat it as a proper job.
Like any job, you have to set goals and directions. Then, plan how you would achieve them. Ideally on an annual basis too like most companies. From there, you have to track your results and measure your win rate. That is how you access your performance periodically.
Take necessary action when you are underperforming. Reward yourself when you achieve your goals.
Since there are multiple variants of poker games, it is best that you pick one and be a master at it. But do not neglect the other variants entirely. You never know when the trend will shift and a new variant becomes popular.
Currently, the top 3 are Texas Hold’em, Omaha and 7 Studs. Pick one to master first while casually keeping an eye open for the others. As and when another variant grows in popularity, it will be easy for you to adapt.
Good players need to be on top of their strategies and tactic. Therefore, it is worth investing in yourself. Many of the best players shared that their real progress started after investing in their first coach or mentor. Then big results came soon after that.
A great coach can do so much to save you trial and error time and even money. It is better to go through a thorough course and learn from a veteran. That will bring you from an average player to a winning player faster than you trying to figure things out on your own.
Very often, success boils down to practice. Practice will raise your skill level. Thus, the more you put into practice what you have learned, the better your chances of success. You get to familiarize yourself with a variety of poker hands and situations. From there, you can learn how to handle them effectively.
It’s like what many athletes, high performers, and even top poker players can tell you – it takes constant training and improvement to be the best in whatever field you compete in.
So, if you are planning to kick off your poker career, begin your practice with online casinos first such as SG Online Casino and 96Ace. They make an amazing training site for aspiring players.
In a game as tricky as poker, it pays to get as much knowledge and information as possible. You would want to subscribe to various poker sites for the latest news and information. Plus, consider subscribing to pro poker players’ YouTube and Twitch channels as well.
You have to keep learning to keep up with the latest tactic and players. Poker strategies are constantly changing. Those failed to adapt will lose eventually.
When playing or watching others play, always try to figure out what the other players are doing to win. Then, incorporate those things into your game plan so you can keep up with them.
The game of poker has an enormous mental component. The ability to maintain focus, think quickly and make decisions are all part of being a successful poker player. You cannot play well without first having a great diet, great overall health and good stress management. Poker is a game of concentration, and all of these things are key for a healthy mind and body.
As a pro poker player, your entire life will become one big emotional roller coaster. That is one of the main reasons why many did not make it over the long run. It does not matter how good you are, the roller coaster ride will always exist.
It is very difficult to just mentally remove these results from your mind each day, carry on as if nothing happened and still perform well on the poker table. One moment you can be at top of the world but the next moment, down in the dumps. This cycle of steep emotional ups and downs will never end.
Every year, thousands of players take to the tables in hopes of making it big like poker pro Daniel Negreanu. However, for every player that does well enough to do something else with their lives, there are thousands that don’t. Thus. it’s absolutely unrealistic if you expect not to fail.
That’s why it’s important to prepare a contingency plan. There are still various paths you can take based on your skill and experience as a professional poker player.
You can be a poker journalist, sharing the news, insight and latest happenings in the poker industry. Being a coach or a teacher is also a viable path, share your journey to budding poker players. Lastly, playing poker should help you develop the skill to be a good salesperson.
Having a contingency plan is also very important so that you do not play in fear. A do or die approach may work for some. But, playing poker under such pressure may work against you. Therefore, if you have a contingency plan in place, you can play with more confidence.
Here we have discussed 5 tips to become a professional poker player. You need to treat it like any other profession. That’s why you need to be organized, have systems and goals. Exactly like a company.
With these, hopefully you have better insight into what it takes to become a professional player.
