How to Become a Professional Poker Player in One Year

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It is possible to start making a fair amount of money playing online poker without becoming a master. If you need some ingenious poker strategies on how to become a poker player, it is best to read up on the fundamental theory along with basic poker rules. However, if you look at the most famous poker success stories, you will find out that there are many ways to become a pro. Here, we provide basic instruction on how to play poker, and it’s more than enough to start practicing.

Work Harder

This a simple but true idea about the everyday life of a professional poker player: being a poker player is a difficult, full-time job. Although poker is not physically tiresome, a professional player goes through many more stressful situations than a person who follows the beaten path.

Unfortunately, a poker player has to deal with complicated situations quite often due to the naughty dispersion. For instance, a player can have eight plus months, two zero months, and two minus ones — or even worse results. When compared to a standard job with a regular salary, which does not depend much on effort, playing poker professionally is somewhat horrendous.

It is better to approach poker with the understanding that it is necessary to work hard to reach a certain skill level. Motivation should be based not on the number of winnings but on the experience gained and the efforts made. Indeed, unlike winnings, one can control these things. Hard work can be expressed in the number of hours and hands played, as well as in the total time spent studying and watching hand histories. At the beginning of each year, month, and week, set goals that will motivate you to work. Obviously, the harder one works, the better the results.

Take Care of the Working Climate

Perhaps you have never thought about it, but one of the advantages of working in an office is that employees usually work in a fairly comfortable working environment. A good chair, a modern computer, a coffee machine at hand – everything is arranged so that one can work smart. If you are going to start playing poker and turn it into your primary means of earnings (or play seriously at the amateur level), then it’s better to create a similar atmosphere at home.

Firstly, create a home zone meant exclusively for poker. It may be a table with a computer in the corner of the living room or, even better, a separate room where you can dedicate yourself to the game. If a newbie is playing poker with a laptop while watching TV with one eye, it’s simply not possible to achieve the best result. A specially allocated “poker space” will allow players to start taking the game seriously and focus on their actions.

Furniture also plays a huge role. If one makes their living with the help of poker, then it will be quite normal for them to spend 12 hours sitting in a chair – more than in bed! If you are already making good money, we would recommend that you buy an orthopedic chair that will allow you to keep your neck and back healthy (although do not forget about exercise).

And the last thing about comfort is to make sure your brain is completely relaxed before playing. If a player is concerned about minor unrelated problems, then it is best to deal with them before the game. Complete all your routine tasks in advance: take a shower, send letters, watch the news, eat breakfast. Only then should you start thinking of poker. In this way, players can minimize anxiety and devote themselves completely to the game.

Any professional athlete has a coach. Even if you are doing an excellent job playing against your rivals, working with a coach will still be beneficial. For example, the coach specializes in analyzing statistics from Holdem Manager, with which you always have problems. With their help, you can find out the biggest drains on your game, get rid of the main drawbacks, and improve your results.

No matter how good you may seem to yourself, there is always something to learn. In addition, it will always be much easier for a stranger to analyze your game from an outside perspective and tell you why and how you could improve. As soon as you start playing at high stakes, the results of your training will begin to pay off quickly enough; you will not regret the money spent on the coach at all. If Roger Federer needs a teacher, then chances are good that it won’t hurt you either.

Bonuses

In online poker, there are always many different promotions, rakeback offers, large guaranteed tournaments for VIP users, and so on. Always try to remember to take advantage of bonuses, because the money doesn’t come around every day. At the end of the year, all these promotions can add a good amount to any player’s earnings.

When a player loses value-bet on the river, they get angry, as they could earn more money in this hand. And, in fact, there is no difference between this mistake and ignoring all these additional bonuses offered by poker sites to their customers.

Manage Your Time

Poker earnings depend on many different factors, but one of the most important things is to answer this question: What edge do we get over other players at the poker table? The easiest way to improve your edge at the table is playing when most of the fish and amateur players are online.

Therefore, the best time to play the game is usually between 8 pm and 2 am on weekdays, and the “hottest” time is Friday and Saturday evening and nights when fish want to sit with a bottle of beer and play for fun. Compare such a game with a grind during working hours on weekdays, when regs sit at most tables, against whom one can hardly gain a special edge. There is no need to give up your daily routine or social contacts to seek money – just rearrange your schedule to play more during “fruitful” hours.

Start a Table

Everyone knows that the chances of winning are much higher when playing against weak players. However, finding them has become quite a challenge. If a fish has sat down at some $2/$4 table, then there will almost certainly be a mile-long queue of players who dream of getting their piece of the pie. On the other hand, few people are engaged in opening tables (say 6-max). Just choose several empty tables in each session, since no one knows who will decide to sit down with you.

Do not be afraid of the fact that some strong reg may sit on your left and make you pay through the nose. If this happens, there is always an opportunity to leave the game, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, you may bump into a new amateur player or a fish who has long been known to you. This is a perfect set of circumstances: you not only managed to find a table at which you have a decent edge over your opponent, but you also don’t have to share this player’s money with anyone else as long as there are only two players at the table. Such heads-up games (before others join this table) can be incredibly profitable.

Another advantage of picking empty tables is the experience of playing at a table with a couple of rivals. After all, there is a huge gap between playing at a full 6-max table and playing against 3-4 people. The more you experience yourself in such situations, the more comfortable you will feel in other game sessions. You never know when this experience may be useful. It doesn’t pay to look for filled tables if you don’t see an opportunity to earn money on them; create your game and play by your rules and not by someone’s else.

Remember That You Can Lose

If you have already hit a major downswing, then needless to say you’ll feel as if the end of the world is coming. Losing money every day is really a terrible feeling, and we’re not going to pretend that it’s not.

If you suddenly find yourself falling into a continuous downswing, do not to let it break you – there will always be an upside. You are already lucky that you can play poker and make money from it, and that you don’t have to sit in a boring office to pay your bills. The sooner you accept the idea that loss is inevitable, the better. After all, there is no personal background in the bad beat.Once newcomers understand these nuances of how to play and how to become better at poker, they will be able to go through downswings much more easily.