12 Oct 2024 mental game motivation There are frequent questions and uncertainties about the future of online poker. How long will it last? Will the games still be profitable in 10 years? What if the government bans online poker? Will I still be a professional poker player at 60? Recently, I saw this comment on a topic on my YouTube channel. Since I believe these are good questions, I decided to share my thoughts on each one. How Long Will Poker Last? In my opinion, asking this question about live poker doesn’t make sense. I believe it will exist for the rest of our lives. But when it comes to online poker, no one knows the answer. There are many variables that determine how long it will be possible to make money playing online poker. And if someone tries to predict this time, either exactly or approximately, they are mistaken. Have you noticed that these kinds of questions usually focus on a specific part of online poker? Most often, people refer to mid-to-high stakes No Limit Texas Hold’em cash games, like NL200+. It’s clear that there’s a possibility that we won’t be able to make money playing NL200+ anymore. After all, maybe in 15 years, we will have solvers that are so fast and AI that is so good and cheap (and here’s the problem) that this game and limit could become unbeatable. But those who only think about this scenario, in my view, are already setting an expiration date on their own careers. Poker is a game of adaptation, both on a micro and macro level. Micro view: You have two very different opponents at the table — one plays 15% of hands and the other plays 70%. Would you play the same way against both of them? If your answer is yes, know that you are losing A LOT of money. In poker, we always have to adapt to our opponents. Macro view: In the book Ace on the River, legendary player Barry Greenstein talks about a time in his life when the games started to 'dry up'. People in his town had less money to 'lose' in poker, and the game he played began to lose its place to a new type of game called No Limit Texas Hold’em, which is the most popular game today. He had three options: Quit being a professional player Keep being a pro, but earn much less than before Adapt, move to another city, and learn a new poker variant What do you think he did? This shows how poker — and life — is all about adapting and stopping the search for stability. If you want stability, get a government job. Even then, know that you’ll depend on government issues and face challenges that might not guarantee it. I know many public servants who have reached this desired "stability". And guess what? Most of them are dissatisfied, especially those dealing with bureaucratic processes — because whether they do a little more or a little less work, it doesn’t affect their salary or career. Look, I’m not saying that stability is bad or that no one can be happy achieving it. In my opinion, people want stability more for what they believe it is than for what it actually is. Often, they give up true happiness for it. This may sound philosophical, but it’s what I believe: The more comfortable we are with the fact that life is always changing, the lighter our lives and careers will be. Back to poker… Let’s Suppose That Poker Has Ended Okay, let’s suppose NLHE cash games in online poker end. Was everything for nothing? Come on, being successful in such a highly competitive environment, having to develop many logical and emotional skills — doesn’t that sound valuable to you? Let’s think about four scenarios — from the least to the most catastrophic: There’s always the option to switch to MTT, Spin&Go or another cash game variant — maybe even a game that doesn’t exist yet (or isn’t very popular). You could play soft live games and even travel to the USA for a few months each year to make money playing there. After all, if you beat NL200, you’ll definitely succeed in 5/10 live games. Even in the worst-case scenario, you may no longer be a poker player, but the gambling market will still exist! My four partners and I no longer rely on playing poker to make money. All the skills we’ve learned over the years have not only made us good players but also great entrepreneurs in this market — we’ve built teams and businesses with our expertise. And, it’s worth noting, that teams and content creation combined with the sale of infoproducts are just the tip of the iceberg. The poker market is huge and full of opportunities! But let’s be extremely pessimistic: poker is dead! It disappeared from the face of the earth! It’s over for you, the former regular and winner of NL200. Is the dream over? No! The resilience, the emotional stability, and all the learning from this time will be very valuable for anything else you want to do — whether it’s studying for a regular job or starting a business unrelated to poker. We have many examples of former players who transitioned careers and are now making much more with their own businesses than they did in poker. Does that mean they earned little? On the contrary! They earned a lot, and now they’re earning even more. I can name two: Tri Nguyen and Cole South. Both are from the early to mid-2000s and were very successful in poker (Cole South was one of the best in the world in cash games for a long time), and now they’re successful in other fields. Understand that even in the worst possible scenario, everything you learned to become a winner in poker will help you in your new projects. What Am I Trying to Say with All This? Focus on what you can control. Every minute you spend worrying about the distant future is a minute less that you could be studying or playing, improving yourself as a person or professional, or simply living in the present moment. Relax. Even in the worst-case scenario, you will find a way out. It’s very hard to be a successful player in mid/high stakes. Anyone who manages this has skills far above average and is a high-level professional. The world is full of mediocre people with average skills, and where there is mediocrity, there is opportunity. This topic is not only "controversial", but complex and hard to answer. But I hope I’ve been able to share how I really see it and what I expect from the future. Will I still be a poker player in 20 years? I really don’t know. But I’m sure I’m prepared and confident for whatever comes next.
