21 Sep 2024 Beginner This article is for beginner players bankroll mindset moving up stakes studying I know that among the readers of this article, there are those who want to become professional poker players, those who want to keep it as a profitable hobby, and others who are simply interested in improving their game. With these different types of players in mind, I wrote this article. Although it focuses on becoming a professional, the tips will be helpful to everyone. So, let’s get started! 1. Don’t Play Poker for Financial Need You should play poker because you want to make money, not because you need to. This is essential to increase your chances of success. Poker is not for those looking for quick money. It's a long-term investment that requires planning and taking things step by step before you can make a living from poker. Patience is the key to success in the game. When you play under financial pressure, you fall into a trap. Two things can (and probably will) happen: Feeling pressured, you will tilt whenever you lose money, making you more passive and/or aggressive than you should be. During months when you don’t make money (due to normal poker variance), you won’t be able to pay your bills. This will lead to more stress and could potentially end your poker career. As I mentioned before, achieving success in poker requires stability in other areas of life. Only stability will ensure that you make the best decisions at the tables, even if things don’t go your way on a given day. What matters is that you know you made a profitable move. 2. Treat Poker Like a Job Another factor that ends potential poker careers is a lack of commitment and seriousness. Professional poker is a job, and like any other job, it needs to be done every day. Even though in poker you are your own boss and set your routine and schedule (especially in cash games), you’ll have to do things you don’t want to do, but they need to be done. This requires a certain level of maturity and a lot of consistency. Professional poker is tough, but it’s a great opportunity! And I assure you, there are more difficult and stressful jobs that pay much less than what you can earn playing online poker. If you want to go pro, treat poker with the seriousness it deserves. 3. Get a Coach, Course, or Join a Poker Team Honestly, I can’t see anyone going from zero to becoming a professional without some kind of guidance, whether it's from a poker coach, team, mentorship, or course. "Why reinvent the wheel when you can learn to make it spin from someone who's already done it?" In the end, you’ll save time and money (yes – think about how much money you’ll save at the tables by making this investment!), and you’ll actually have a chance to succeed. Remember: education costs money, just like ignorance. So your career deserves a financial investment. I sometimes consider myself stingy, but I was even worse at the start of my career. Maybe I didn’t understand the real importance of investing in my development. But after my first call with Saulo Costa – who was my first coach – I had no choice but to invest half of my bankroll in 12 lessons with him. I have never regretted it for a single day. When I decided to make a financial investment in my career, I started to become profitable in online poker. 4. Specialize in One Format Gone are the days when a player could play four different formats of online poker and be a big winner in all of them. Nowadays, with more regulars, everyone is focusing on specializing in either cash games, tournaments, Sit&Go, or Spin&Go. You should do the same. Within these formats, choose what kind of poker you will play: NLHE, PLO, PLO5, 6+ Hold'em etc. Obviously, since I built everything playing NLHE cash games, that's the format I recommend. But everyone has their own reality, and there’s no shortage of opportunities. 5. Proper Bankroll Management What’s the point of being the best programmer in the world if you don’t have a computer to work on? What’s the point of being the best poker player in the world if you don’t have money to play? In poker, money is your tool. Without it, you can’t work. So, be extremely cautious with your bankroll and manage it correctly — especially if you can’t get money from other sources to replenish your bankroll if you lose it all (like in my case). Here’s what I recommend for online NLHE cash games: NL2 – 75 buy-ins, or $150 NL5 – 75 buy-ins, or $375 NL10 – 90 buy-ins, or $900 NL25 – 100 buy-ins, or $2,500 NL50 – 125 buy-ins, or $6,250 Managing your bankroll also tells you when it’s time to move up in stakes. When to take shots at higher limits? How to do it? How many buy-ins to invest? What to do if it doesn’t work out? What to do if it does? But that’s a topic for another article! By the way, we recommend our bankroll calculator that allows you to find the safe bankroll size depending on your win rate and game type.
