Anyone who is considering getting into online poker (especially if they’ve played live poker once or twice with their buddies) always asks the same question – “How much can I make playing online poker?” This is obviously a question that can never be answered definitively, but this article will hopefully open your eyes a little bit as to how much money there is to be made, depending on your goals.
To attempt to answer this question, I’m going to break the article down into a few sections, since the people asking this question are often from varying backgrounds and have different levels of poker skills. I will take a look at how much a casual, micro-stakes player can make, how much a semi-serious, part-time low-stakes player can make, how much a more serious, part-time mid-stakes player can make, how much a very serious full-time mid-high-stakes grinder can make, and how much the ultra high-stakes pros can make. Let’s get started:
The Casual Micro-Stakes Player
Most players who are just getting into online poker fall into this category – the casual, micro-stakes player. Often times this player has played a few home games with friends, or even went to a local casino once or twice, but for the most part they will have a limited poker background. This sort of player is going to deposit between $10 and $100 and will stick to the $0.01/$0.02 to $0.05/$0.10 cash games as well as the $3 or less sit and gos and multi-table tournaments.
If all of the above sounds like you, get ready for a bit of a rough start. Most new online poker players end up redepositing a few times before they get the swing of things, so don’t get discouraged if you have a few rough sessions to start out. Online poker isn’t as easy as it used to be, even at the micro-stakes levels. Once you catch on though, you can make more than a negligible amount of money, even at these small-stakes games.
Since this category of player probably has a full-time job and a social life, it makes sense that they will only play ten to twenty hours of online poker per week. If they can improve their poker skills to earn an average of three big blinds/100 hands played (which is pretty decent at the micro-stakes levels), they could expect to average between $0.36-$0.72/week (assuming they only play one table at a time of $0.01/$0.02) poker.
If the player can maintain that win-rate while playing four tables at the same time, they can increase their weekly average winnings to $1.44-$2.88/week – obviously this is not enough money to do much with (other than move up in stakes eventually), so the player is just enjoying their hobby while making a few bucks.
The Semi-Serious Low-Stakes Player
Once the casual micro-stakes player can start consistently beating the micro-stakes games week to week, they will consider moving up in stakes and maybe playing a few more tables at a time. That is typically when they start to become the semi-serious low-stakes player. This player usually six-tables the $0.10/$0.25 games for ten to twenty hours per week (because they typically still have a full-time job). Since these stakes are a little harder, and the player is playing more tables at a time, it is reasonable to assume their win-rate will fall to something like 2.5 big blinds/100 hands until they get used to the new regimen.
Considering those numbers, the semi-serious low-stakes player could average a profit between $22-$44/week, or a little more if they can get back to their previous three big blinds/100 hand win-rate. This obviously isn’t enough money to quit your job and go pro at online poker, but it certainly is enough to whet the player’s appetite for more, especially once they start cashing out $100+ every month.
The Serious Mid-Stakes Player
Most of the semi-serious low-stakes players never make it to this point because the competition starts getting much stiffer once you move up from, say, $0.10/$0.25 to $1/$2. However, the players who are able to continue winning at the same rate as they move up to $1/$2 are the players who can make a reasonable living playing online poker. If a part-time player who still holds a regular job is able to win 2.5 big blinds/100 hands while playing twenty hours per week of six tables at a time, they can start making some worthwhile cash – that scenario would allow them to pocket (on average) $360/week in profit.
Obviously $360/week in profit is not an enormous sum of money (it works out to about $18,700/year), but it is certainly enough money to make a part-time player at least consider going full time (especially if their full-time job is nothing special). Very few players are willing to leave a job to play online poker full time, but if you are willing to do that, you might have a shot at moving up to the next category of players: the serious full-time grinder.
The Full Time Mid-High-Stakes Player
Now that the player has devoted much more time to their poker game, they should be able to bump up to the $2/$4 level and maintain their average win-rate of 2.5 big blinds/100 hands. However, now that the player doesn’t have a full time job, they can put in 40-60 hours per week and perhaps bump up to eight tables at a time.
Using the numbers above, the full time player would earn an average profit of $1,920/week. This works out to just under $100,000/year, which is a perfectly respectable salary. Before you sign up at an online poker site and start grinding however, you should realize that very, very few players are able to beat the $2/$4 games to the tune of 2.5 big blinds/100 hands, and even fewer are able to manage their bankroll properly at this level of play. Although $2/$4 games don’t sound like ultra high-stakes poker games, if you are playing eight tables at a time you will usually have around $3,200 on the table at all times – this much money in play can really throw off a player’s demeanor.
The Ultra High-Stakes Professional
If a player can consistently beat the $2/$4 games, then can move up and continue beating the $5/$10, $10/$20, $25/$50, and higher games, they have a shot at becoming an ultra high-stakes professional. At this point the sky is the limit, because the stakes go so high that players can literally make six-seven figures in a single session. Several notable players (including Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and others) are able to consistently win millions of dollars every year at the online high-stakes NLH and PLO tables, but they are in the extreme minority.
So, there you have it – the answer to our original question of “how much money can a player make playing online poker?” If you are able to reach the highest-stakes cash games and win at a fairly consistent rate, you can win millions of dollars a year. However, since most players never reach this level, we hope you also learned a lot about how much money the small-middle stakes players can make every week if they hone their games and play with proper poker strategy.
Do the numbers in this article make sense? Did I leave anything out? Please leave a comment with your thoughts, as I love to hear from the readers.
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Written by Bill Nye on September 28th, 2010