Living From Online Poker
In the mid-2000s, online poker experienced a boom unlike any other form of gambling has ever seen before. It went from something that was typically played by hardcore poker enthusiasts to becoming a global phenomenon. Many pros have since become multi-millionaires through this game. It’s not easy making a living playing online poker. It requires focus, patience, mental strength and much dedication to improving your game. If you are interested in becoming a professional poker player, there is something you have to be aware of: For every hour that you play, you need to spend an hour training. Make a living playing poker is hard but practically you can make over $1,000 every month from online poker cash games without being a professional poker player but with proper commitments & right strategies. Poker for a living: Cash Games Online cash games are still a good way to go for anyone looking to make decent profit playing poker, but these aren’t what they used to be some years ago. Nowadays, it is much harder to find good games, especially as you move through the limits.
Some of these online poker games are very difficult to play for players who are beginning their career. A player may lose consistently for several weeks before winning due to the difficulty associated with these games. A player at first thinks that naturally he is skilled for the game and without training he embarks on the game. It may take longer before perfecting in these poker games therefore a player needs sufficient training. Take notes of the strategies required and perfect in them to increase your chances of winning.
They give very low stakes per online game. The low stakes they give per game is due to the high number of players online. The companies that manufactures these games usually regulates these stakes and puts very low stake. This is a demerit to those players who have little amount of money to deposit in their accounts. They end up earning very little income after placing small bets because the cross income is calculated by multiplying the bet a player placed by the stake provided by the company. At the end of the game you would find that there is little difference of the earned money with the placed bet.
Some online poker game are illegal in different countries. This is one of the hindrances because you will find that a certain poker game is allowed in a certain country and over a certain period of time it is banned. The government usually bans if the poker game violates the laid rules of the country for instance failing to pay taxes to the government. The players are greatly affected by this action by the government especially if they used to depend on these games for a living.
Some online poker games requires a player to have a personal coach due to their complexity for some months. The coach demands that you pay them to train you basic skills, tactics and strategies that are essential for the game. Therefore, the little income that a player earns is divided into half, for the coach and for the player. This demotivates the player to continue with the game due to very low income which might be incomparable with the needs of the player.
Some online poker games require quick mathematical skills and multitasking to increase your chances of winning them. A number of players lacks these skill although they are compassionate about those games. These challenges makes it hard to depend online poker games for a living if your math skills are low.
Online gaming is commonly praised for its convenience. You can enjoy online gambling virtually anywhere through a smartphone or tablet.
Now, imagine if you were also able to make a living through this convenient form of gaming. Some people actually have the skills and know how to pull this feat off.
Part of their knowhow includes choosing the most-profitable forms of online gambling. After all, only certain types of gaming offer a long-term edge.
What can you play to emulate professional online gamblers and earn big profits? Here are the types of online gaming that can actually lead to profits.
Online Sports Betting
Sports betting sees you wager on outcomes involving sporting events. The most-common bet is a moneyline, which is a straight-up wager on which side will win a contest.
– San Francisco 49ers +155
– Seattle Seahawks -185
You can see that the odds attached with these bets aren’t even. You stand to win $100 for every $185 wagered on the Seahawks. Meanwhile, you’d earn $155 for every $100 bet on the underdog 49ers.
Unbalanced odds give sportsbooks a profit margin (a.k.a. juice). As long as they don’t consistently lose big money to pros, they’re virtually guaranteed to make money thanks to the juice.
This profit margin might seem like a house edge, which guarantees that the average gambler will lose over time. But sports betting works differently.
You can still earn long-term profits by wagering on sports. You just have to win at a high enough rate to beat both the odds and juice
If you’re wagering on a team with -135 odds, then you’d need to win 57.4% of the time to break even. Assuming you betting on a team with +120 odds, you’d have to win 45.5% of your wagers.
The exciting thing about sports betting is that you don’t really have to win frequently to make profits. At 10% juice, the average professional only wins at a 53% to 55% rate.
The problem, though, is that sportsbooks have sharp enough lines to where it’s difficult to win over half the time. You’ll need to put in plenty of work to become a strong bettor.
Handicapping is the best place to start. This process involves looking at multiple variables involved with a match, then determining which side offers the best value.
Some of the variables that you want to consider include a team’s past performance, injuries, weather, statistics, and lineup changes. These aspects only cover the surface, but they provide a nice starting point with regard to learning handicapping.
You might also consider investing in a sports betting software program. They offer a number of helpful statistics that help you spot profitable betting opportunities.
Here are some of the situations that you can spot with these programs:
- Arbitrage opportunity – A difference in odds at multiple sportsbooks that helps you make a guaranteed profit by wagering on both sides.
- Public betting percentage – Shows what percentage of betting slips are on each side of a wager.
- Odds change – Tracks every time that major online sportsbooks shift odds for various games.
- Reverse line movement – When a line changes differently than expected, thus indicating which side the “sharp money” is on.
- Steam move – When bookmakers change a line in near unison to counteract sharp money.
One more thing to realize is that being a successful sports gambler isn’t anything like people expect it to be. You don’t just get to sit around watching games and making money. Instead, you need to constantly analyze the action from a gambling perspective.
This process certainly doesn’t sound as exciting as merely being a fan. But sports betting is still a more-entertaining job than most.
Esports Betting
Online sportsbooks completely ignored esports a decade ago. After all, competitive gaming was confined to a very nice audience back then.
But Esports have rapidly gained popularity within the past several years. As a result, most online sportsbooks now see the value in covering this industry.
Esports gambling isn’t anywhere near as big as traditional sports betting yet. But it’s definitely picking up steam and is projected to be worth tens of billions of dollars in the coming years.
Betting on esports can earn you a decent living now. Of course, you definitely have to know competitive gaming in order to earn serious profits by betting on it.
The easiest path towards big esports winnings include popular markets like Dota 2, League of Legends (LoL), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and Overwatch. These games have enough liquidity and different bet types to where you can earn significant money with them.
The secondary markets are a bit lacking in esports gambling. Too much is focused on the major games at this point.
Nevertheless, esports bookmakers don’t have the sharpest lines on games like World of Tanks, Street Fighter II, and SMITE. You can gain some additional value by betting on these games.
Overall, esports wagering is a good form of gambling to jump into now. It only looks to grow in popularity in the future, meaning you can be on the ground floor and develop your skills now before the industry explodes.
Online Poker
In the mid-2000s, online poker experienced a boom unlike any other form of gambling has ever seen before. It went from something that was typically played by hardcore poker enthusiasts to becoming a global phenomenon.
Many pros have since become multi-millionaires through this game. Di Dang, Hac Dang, Tom Dwan, Phil Galfond, Phil Ivey, and Ilari Sahamies are just some of those who made a fortune with online poker.
Unfortunately, the online game has lost some of its luster due to various factors, including laws, regulation, and bots.
Many countries have segregated their player pools after regulating online poker. These actions have reduced online poker’s liquidity and made it harder for sites to offer high stakes and huge tournaments.
Bots are AI that are designed to play poker. Some of the best bots can consistently beat low and middle stakes, making them quite dangerous to the average recreational player.
Despite the drawbacks, online poker is still one of the most-viable ways to earn a living through. It offers the opportunity to earn serious profits through cash games and/or tournaments.
The catch, though, is that you must dedicate a lot of time to improving your skills. Both amateurs and pros have improved significantly over the years.
But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to become a highly profitable player. If you’re motivated to log numerous hands and learn enough strategy, then you have a chance of being successful at this game.
You should also pay special attention to bankroll management. You need enough money to survive any major downswings so that you can stay in the game.
Cash players should have enough to cover at least 20 full buy-ins (100 big blinds) for their desired stakes. Multi-table tournament players should aim for 75-100 buy-ins.
Daily Fantasy Sports
Daily fantasy Sports (DFS) are much like online poker in that they also saw a big boom. DraftKings and FanDuel pushed this industry to new heights by running countless advertisements in the mid-2010s.
The result is that the public quickly became aware that they could gamble on fantasy sports. Industry growth has slowed down since then due to regulation. But DFS is yet another avenue for earning a living with online gambling.
DFS involves filling out fantasy sports lineups while staying under a salary cap. For example, you might have to choose 10 NFL players without going over a salary cap of $100,000.
The skill is choosing players that’ll outperform their given salaries. The better you are at doing this on a consistent basis, the stronger your chances of winning money.
DFS is similar to online poker tournaments with regard to prize pool structures and fees. These tourneys require you to pay a buy-in, which contributes to both the prize pool and house fees (usually 10%).
– A tournament requires a $10+$1 buy-in.
– $10 goes into the prize pool.
– The site takes the extra dollar as a fee for offering the tournament.
Your goal is to win enough money to cover your buy-ins and also book profits. Of course, accomplishing this feat is easier said than done.
DFS prize money is heavily weighted towards the top, with only around 10% to 15% of the field cashing. This structure creates plenty of volatility, where you’ll often go for a long time without cashing.
I suggest having a sizable bankroll before getting started with DFS. After all, you need enough money to handle the variance.
If you’ve play online poker, then you may already be familiar with this level of volatility. As covered before, a poker tournament player should have anywhere from 75-100 buy-ins.
The same holds true when playing DFS. You need enough money to survive the dry spells in between your tournament cashes.
Daily fantasy Isn’t the easiest route towards making online gambling profits. But the opportunity is here if you thoroughly understand sports/athletes and put the hours into learning specific DFS strategy.
Conclusion
Is It Worth Trying to Make a Living through Online Gambling?
You have to take multiple factors into account before deciding if an online gaming career is right for you. The first of which is if you truly love any of the forms of gambling covered above.
You must spend lots of time honing your skills for whatever path you choose. If you’re not passionate about a certain game, then there’s no way you can stand spending hours learning it.
Another consideration is if you have the time to take online gambling seriously. You can’t realistically expect to become a pro if you only have 3-5 hours to spend on it each week.
You’ll of course need to figure out which kind of gambling you want to pursue. As discussed above, DFS, esports betting, online poker, and sports betting can all be beaten.
Bankroll management is yet another aspect to consider. You want a large enough bankroll to help you get past any low points so that you’ll eventually get back to profitability.
Bankroll requirements vary based on the specific stakes and game you’re playing. It’s up to you to figure out exactly how much money you’ll need.
Can You Earn A Living From Online Poker
Professional online gambling can be a great career that allows you to make your own hours and earn big profits. But like anything else, you’ll get out of it what you put in.