Can I Make Money Playing Online Poker?

Can a person really make money playing online poker? The answer is a resounding "yes". However, you should be aware that, out of the millions who play online poker, a small percentage will consistently win in the long term and a smaller percentage will be making a living out of it.

The main reason for this is that most people are simply too...human. They let their emotions get in the way. Poker is a game on a knife edge and there is very little in it between winning and losing. This is why discipline is essential if you want to make money. If you can't keep discipline then you may as well look for other ways of making money now.

Logic Over Emotions

Humans are emotional beings. It is what has kept us alive for 200,000 years. Emotions are reliable when used for survival but notoriously unreliable when trying to make a precise judgement of a situation involving probabilities and variable outcomes such as playing poker and trading currencies.

If you want to make money playing online poker then one of the first things that you must do is to only use logic in your poker playing decisions. Never, ever rely on gut feeling. Gut feeling and "instinct" often work well but it is when they go disastrously wrong that you will regret ignoring logic.

Always have a reason for every decision that you make in poker. Never go on "feeling". There are a finite number of cards and they all get played eventually so you cannot ignore the probabilities in poker.

The Winning Playing Style: Tight-Aggressive

If you want to consistently make money with poker then you should probably try to develop your playing style in the direction of what is considered to be the "best" style: tight-aggressive.

Playing tight means that you are on the frugal side with your chips. You are careful with your money and you don't lose it all in chase of showdowns. This is a very, very common poker mistake.

Aggressive means that you are not afraid to throw some chips in and raise regularly. You may have seen other poker players regularly raise and gotten angry at being "forced" out of hands. Really, you should see that this person is smart because aggressive raising will narrow down the competition and increase the size of the pot quickly.

Poker Room Bonus Codes

I strongly suggest that you take advantage of the bonuses offered by poker rooms. Typically, you can double your starting deposit.

Withdrawal Options

When it comes to withdrawing your money you have a few options. Bank wire is a common one.

These days you can often also withdraw money using a debit card that is issued to you for this purpose that is not linked to any bank account.

Depending on where you live, gambling earnings may also be tax free.