I've played poker since I was a teenager. Lifetime, I'm up in poker by quite a bit, but decades later, I'm still learning and I taken plenty of loses along the way. The rest of my post is based upon No Limit Hold'em as that's what you mentioned in your post.

Here's what I've learned: You can make decent money, but only if you're really disciplined. You need to be able to calculate pot odds and hand odds quickly and not make very many mistakes at all, preferable none and that's hard to do. You can't just go chasing down river cards all the time and you can't bluff your way out of every hand either. You need to know the odds, you need to have a range on what the other players in the hand are likely holding based upon their actions (are they betting?, raising? calling? checking? why? are they slow playing a good hand? are they bluffing? are they on a draw?). Only by playing thousands and thousands of hands will you really start to understand the intricacies of the game and the ways to exploit them.

The other thing you'll quickly learn and others poker players will mention this as well, is the fact that it is a "grind" to make money at poker. Variance is a bitch and sometimes it doesn't matter that the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor, you lose anyways. You have to play (and be on top of your game) for extended periods (not necessarily at one time, but overall) for the odds to work. The waves of up and down in poker can be brutal at times. Sometimes it feels like you just can't lose and you get the hole cards and flops you're looking for. Other times, you have hands with good odds of winning, yet you're consistently beaten on the turn or river. You need to play long term for those variances to work out and that only works if you're playing the correct odds in your hands.

You're correct that the rake is also a bitch and often hard to beat, even for above average players. I actually play sit-in-go style tournaments mostly or smaller tournaments, I rarely play cash games because of the rake. You have to strategize differently in a tournament than you do in cash games, but I've found these smaller tournaments to be my sweet spot so to speak and that's what I usually play and win the most often.

I tried playing online for a month to see if it was a way I could make a living (5 smaller tournaments each day) and actually was up quite a bit at the end of the month, but it drained my love for the game playing that much.

Start out just playing for fun, then read a book or two about strategies, then go back to the tables and apply some of the strategies - this is what it will take to become successful - doing this, then doing it again, then again...

Absolutely, you should start out playing in low stakes games and when you start to win consistently at those levels, then move on to a little higher stakes and repeat that until you reach the point where you can no longer beat the players at the higher stakes tables/buy-ins. You'll likely eventually reach a point where the competition is just too good at the higher, higher stakes and you'll need to adjust back down a little bit.

Also, the rule of thumb in poker is that if you do not know who the "fish" (most inexperienced player) is at the table, you're the fish.

I made a lot of money the last few years playing only tournament poker...Covid put an end to it just over a year ago...we go to Vegas every other month to play at South Point, as they are one of the few places still dealing tournaments...I dont play cash games anymore because its so different from tournament play that it causes me to play both poorly...I have to play one or the other and I enjoy tournys more...

Also, a word of caution on starting at too low of stakes/buy-in. Playing really cheap poker games online (like a one cent/two cent BB NLH) is not a great way to start either as a lot of those players are just playing for fun and will call anything and do all kinds of things that you'll rarely see at higher stake tables. It's such low stakes that some players just don't care and play everything, call everything. Better to start out at low, but not crazy low stakes, so you actually learn what actions you take that have an affect on the play of other players. (IE - you go all-in on a $1 dollar total pot -vs- going all in on a $500 dollar pot. You'll get more callers, way more often on the $1 dollar pots, because people don't care about losing a dollar to look you up, but they certainly care about losing $500 dollars to look you up).

I was winning or placing in the money most of the time (casino sit-and-go and home tourneys) when I stopped around three years ago, but unless you're close by a casino and can pick and choose the best tournaments or times of day, or have very fat pockets to not get pushed around in no limit cash games, I can't imagine it's an easy way to make consistent money. As good as you might be, or as smart and patient as you're playing that day, bad beats will always happen. Or in cash games, there's multiple mediocre players at any table who are going to shove you off with ridiculous bets and you have to be able to lose thousands of dollars in one night and not have it wreck your finances. Casino no limit cash is just brutal, at least at the big casinos. Especially resort casinos. Played a bunch of no limit cash on my honeymoon in Aruba and it was some James Bond shit. I had one good night, but otherwise I was getting pushed off every good hand by people in white suits with their yachts parked outside.

One of the reasons I tapered down to barely playing is because playing good poker is boring. At least the way I played. I'd play some mediocre hands just to ward off the impression I'm only playing very good hands, but that's basically the truth. Fold, fold, fold.

I knew one Professional Poker player. His wife worked full time at the Plant.

My brother was offered a severance payment for a job he didn’t like and lept on the opportunity to go pro at online poker. He is very good at math and highly self-disciplined, but after a year he quit because it was “a nerve-wrecking grind”. He was certainly able to earn a mediocre living, but based on his experience, I wouldn’t do it myself.

I used to play very consistently about 10 years ago before I had kids and when it was legal. Most of it online (Full tilt and poker stars). I typically (not always) brought in a few extra hundred dollars a month. Nothing to brag about nor enough to make a living. It was just extra spending money for $100 games with friends and for the casino. After Black Friday (government and Indian casinos cracked down on online poker), I haven’t played much at all or been to too many casinos to play.

I do miss it. Does Anyone know if it’s still illegal to play online (in California) and any good sites to play on (for money)?

You can play at Global Poker if you live in CA for real money. The way they do it kinda in the grey area of the law, but it is legal. They sell you "Gold" coins that are basically worthless (can be used in their free games that just pay out more worthless Gold coins, BUT also include free "Sweeps" Coins that can be used in their real money games. You can also set up an account and claim a free daily bonus of real money "Sweeps" coins, but it is like $0.25 cents per day or something, if you don't want to fund your account with your own money.

I play here now that the other sites are illegal in CA and have won and cashed out from them. (If you verify your account then they just transfer it into your bank account or you can have them send a check).

Thanks. I tried betonline too and it seems legit. But when I finally wanted to take a pay out, it was a pain in the arse. Eventually they sent me a credit-gift card, but the upfront fees were huge, and if you don’t spend the $ off the debit card, they take additional money directly out of it each month, it just wasn’t worth it in the end.

Something to keep in mind if you play poker "seriously" is that eventually over a long period of time you'll hit a dry spell that will eat up a lot of your money. I've heard several poker pros say that eventually EVERY pro goes bust and needs to be fronted some money to get back in again. That's a scary proposition to me! But statistically after thousands of hands it's inevitable to get a long run of bad luck.

I used to play full time about 20 years ago or so, live 10-20 and 15-30 limit, then 4 table 15-30 limit on party. Games were very soft and abc poker did the trick. Used to do real well. Then uigea changed all that.

Then I played lots of 2-5 and 3-6 nl live and did pretty good but not like the old limit days.

Nowadays all the dead money is gone, lots of rec players have moved on to other hobbies and local casinos have closed most of their poker rooms.

I go to Vegas once or twice a year and play 2-5nl or 5-10nl and still do ok but games are much tougher nowadays.

I would certainly not recommend anyone try and go pro tbh, it’s just such a grind and all the easy money is long gone.

If there’s a local casino spreading 1-2nl full of retirees and maybe a few so called pros might be decent to make a few bucks but not as a job, maybe to enhance your pension or something.

I’d say the toughest part about it was money management and being strong mentally. It really is a grind and if you can’t handle losing a few thousand due to variance then don’t do it. Even though I beat the games after losing several sessions I’d definitely question myself and if I was good enough.

I loved playing and still do but I don’t miss the grind one bit.

My son plays poker and it supports him and his family well

Played on pokerstars for years starting when
Espn was showing Moneymaker playing at wsop.
Did ok . Liked sitngos and tourneys. Was cheap
entertainment. Black Friday sucked!!.

Good news is
I bet on Tampa on betonline and moved some
Money over to their poker site and I've been playing
Just like the old days. Fun.

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I used to play alot at casinos, underground poker clubs and home games in the post Moneymaker big years and won alot for not being a grinder. These days I play in a couple regular games for fun and a little side money and it's way less stressful.

Played casually for decades. Would go to 'Vegas once a year or so and sit 12-16+ hours at the table. Great fun for a weekend, but agree with others that I can see how much of a grind that would be doing it every day, especially with the added strain if your living depended on it.

If anyone is interested in any on-line $1-$2 games (PLO, Big-O, NLH, OFC), let me know and I can hook you up to a few different clubs. You need to use the "Pokerrrr 2" (yes, that's how you spell it) app for your phone or ipad. The clubs on the app are locally run, so there are no fees to cash out and can cash out daily on a couple and weekly on the other. Never encountered any hassles. FYI, full disclosure, I would get no referral compensation for two of them, and I would get a small referral for the third. One club plays exclusively NLH, one plays almost exclusively 4-card PLO, and the third plays a lot of 5-card hi/lo (Big-O), 4-card PLO, and OFC. They are cash games, but there is a weekly tourney in one of them and a weekly free roll in a couple. If you're interested, contact me direct and I can fill you in more.

Joe (joemagiera at ameritech dot net)
[email protected]

I had a colleague who was one of those guys who could fix anything. Long story short, he buys a dream home in Vegas at the end of one of the real estate crashes and fixes it up. He used to wake up at 3/4 am and go over to one of the smaller mom and pop type casinos near his home. Loved playing against the people who were up all night and had been drinking hard. Claims it gave him an advantage. This was several years ago during the poker boom. Not sure if it still would be as effective today.

I have a buddy that does the same thing, though he takes it to the next level. Goes to bed by 8PM (9PM at the latest), gets up 3-4AM, puts on a suit, slaps on heavy alcohol smelling cologne, so he looks like he's a tourist business man, and smells like he's been drinking, trying to give off the "I'm a complete fish, take advantage of me" vibe. He's an excellent player just regular and does very well. He swears this has worked for him many times.

I played a ton when I lived in California since there were a few places to play live (Bicycle casino comes to mind) and vegas wasnt far.

I always did it for fun but I could make some decent money doing it...

problem is it is a time suck and yes its a grind and not the healthiest of lifestyles sitting around in some dump casinos for hours.

I havent played in a live game in years but last time I did was at a hard rock and I sat down for two hours and made $600 or so at a $100 no limit and paid for my room for two nights.

You can absolutely make money... issue is you need to be a good player and play tight.

Playing solid is far from the most exciting way to play unless you find folding exciting.

Most people dont play as tight and they think they do and thats a sure fire way to get smoked by some dipshit playing bad cards.

Best place I've found to play poker (this was pre-covid) was in a cruise ship casino late at night. Every time I've been on a cruise, they have had only 1 poker table (the large video table that seat 10 players) in the casino. I would head over to the table at about 10pm or so, grab a beer to nurse for a couple hours and wait for the drunks to stop and play. Sit there for a few hours and you could easily beat the rake as the other players were generally terrible.

The last time I was on a cruise there was one lady who knew what she was doing and we would just stay out of each others way and take advantage of the drunk cruise passengers who would come by and drop $100 or $200 within 30 minute to an hour. I could easily make $300-$500 playing for a few hours. Every cruise (only been on 3 so far) has been the same situation and I wound up making more than I was spending on the cruise.

You can still do good in Vegas cash games, there will always be tourists with a gambling budget, rich businessmen playing in higher limits where their skills are far behind.

Stopping in around 2 or 3am to a 1-2nl game is still very profitable, there’s surprisingly a lot of money to be made and the players are average at best. The best places to do this are at the casinos that only have a couple poker tables because you won’t find many locals just people actually staying at the casino looking to gamble and have fun. Most of the local pros will be at the bigger rooms such as Bellagio, aria, Venetian and Wynn.