Does anyone here play poker as a side hustle or career?

Rob Banks

Rob Banks

Pelican
almast said:
great information gentlemen, what would be a good place to practice playing online, preferably for free?
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You can't practice by playing online for free. I mean, you technically
can play for "play money" (i.e. for free) online, but you won't get any practice that will help you get any better. If anything, it will make you worse. The reason for this is that people play a lot differently when they are not risking any money. How seriously would you take a poker game in which you do not stand to win or lose any money whatsoever?

By playing in these "play money" games, you will get used to the way people play there, and you will be in for a surprise when you start playing real money games and realize that your opponents are playing way differently (and way better) than they were in the free game. Even if you play $0.01/$0.02 (which means the maximum buy-in is $2), people will still be trying very hard to win. Even if the game is only for $2, nobody wants to lose their money

If you want to practice without risking a lot of money, I would recommend you deposit a little money (whatever the minimum deposit is) onto an online poker site and simply playing the lowest stakes they offer (usually $0.01/$0.02 or $0.02/$0.04.

If you're outside the U.S., I would recomment PokerStars. They offer $0.01/$0.02 games, and the rake at that level is lower than it is on other sites, such as 888poker.

If you really don't want to risk any money at all, then I don't know what to tell you. Playing poker without money/betting is like playing tennis without rackets, or no-contact boxing.
 
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sterling_archer

Hummingbird
I am planning on registering to PokerStars.eu soon. So your advice is to practice with these very low stakes games that are in cents, than proceed to those in 1$ and more?
 
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Burn

Sparrow
Played online for a living for many years and still do, although im spending alot of time building passive income now.

There are very good sites with instructional videos, most are quite expensive($100/month i think) but im sure there are trials and such.
http://www.deucescracked.com/ and https://www.cardrunners.com/ was the biggest ones when i studied alot, but that was a couple of years ago so things might have changed. I dont think there is a faster way for learning than watching videos there and playing at the same time applying what you learn. Thats how i went from a break even player to being able to play for a living in a short time. With that said, online is tough now, very tough.

Discipline and patience is very important. There is a book by Jared Tendler called The mental game of poker that is very good. Being a good poker player is probably as much away from the tables as on the tables. Meditation helps alot.

On the tables, learning the power of position is important, this took me a long time. As reference, in early position im very tight, raising maybe 10% of hands. On dealer position if no one raised i will raise more than 50% of hands.

Also valuebet, valuebet and valuebet. Players at low stakes call way too much and you dont have to worry much about getting reraised as a bluff.
 
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Akwesi

Kingfisher
I have to say I admire you guys who are legit making bank playing online in this day and age. It was so much easier 15 years ago, a joke really, could have made some money then if I took it seriously. These days, sharks everywhere, software, collusion... I only play for tiny amounts now, just to relax.

Also don't like the vibe in European casinos that much. Played in a tournament in Ostrava (Czech Republic) recently and it was like a funeral with all these semi-pros coming over from Poland. Take the drinks, fun and jokes out of live poker and it's really just a bunch of assholes trying to take each other's money.
 
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