It's very possible to make a decent, comfortable living playing online poker without being a great poker player. I should know, I'm doing it. Put me in a reg-filled, tough $1/2 or $2/4 cash game and I'd be a small winner at best, or more likely neutral EV. However, I've just completed my first full year as an online pro and earned over twice the salary I was on in my previous job. This should tell you two things: one, my previous job was poorly paid (journalist, if you're interested) and, two, there are offbeat ways to beat online poker without being the next durrrr.
If you want brilliant, conventional strategy advice, don't bother with this article – head over instead to Nik Persuad's comprehensive series The Fundamental Theorem Of Poker for all you need – but if you're after practical pieces of wisdom that can help take your game to the next level, then stay right here.
1. Work harder
Here's the simple truth about being a professional poker player: it's bloody hard work. If you ever aspire to turn pro because you dislike your job, hate working long hours and think that clicking buttons all day on the computer sounds easy in comparison, then you're in for a rude awakening. While not physically strenuous, professional poker is much more stressful than the majority of conventional jobs.
Imagine that you're a plumber who works 12-hour days six times a week, gradually getting more and more tired and wound up as the month progresses. And then on the 25th of the month, instead of getting paid, your boss charges you a huge sum for all the work you've done so you're worse off than when you started. It doesn't sound great, does it?
Unfortunately, this is what poker players have to deal with fairly frequently as a result of variance. Over the course of the year I've had eight winning months, two breakeven ones, and a further two demoralising months where I was completely clobbered. And I've been lucky. Compared to a regular job with a steady salary – that you receive regardless of your performance – many people can't adapt to the inconsistent rewards of being a poker pro.
The best way to approach playing poker for a living is to know that it will be hard work, and embrace that. I take pride not from how much I win but in how hard I work each month because this is a variable that I can fully control. Hard work can be seen in many ways such as the amount of hours spent playing, total number of hands played or constructively 'training' yourself through online training sites or reviewing hand histories. Set yourself targets at the start of each year, month or week that challenge you and keep you motivated to work hard. A few that inspired me throughout 2011 were to play 500,000 hands, watch three training videos per week and regularly post hands onto forums. It isn't a coincidence that the harder you work the better your results will generally be.
2. Get comfortable
You may never think about it consciously but one of the benefits of working in an office is that you usually have a pretty decent working environment. An expensive comfy chair, a good computer and a fully-stocked kitchen all help you be more productive in the office. If you're to play poker for a living – or take it seriously on a recreational level – you must recreate this type of atmosphere at home.
First, you should create an area in your home that is used exclusively for poker. This can be a desk in the corner of the living room (as I have) or, better yet, a study where you can dedicate yourself to the game. If you currently get by playing poker on a laptop on your knee while watching the television, it's impossible for you to play your best poker – there are just too many distractions around. Having a designated 'poker space' will help you take the game seriously and focus on what you are doing.
The chair is hugely important too. If you play for a living it's not unusual for you to be sat in this chair for 12 hours per day. That's longer than you spend in bed! You wouldn't put up with an uncomfortable bed so why do the same for your poker chair? If you're made of money you should look to invest in an Aeron chair (from £800) but John Lewis do a similar model for less than half the price which has seen me through all year.
Finally, make sure your mind is fully relaxed before you play. If there are any small jobs playing on your mind, do them before you load up the tables. For me, this usually means that I complete a wholly unexciting routine of washing up, sending emails and checking UFC news before I even think about poker. It's all about minimising distractions and devoting yourself entirely to the game once you start playing.
3. Get a coach
Every top sportsman in the world has a coach. Even if you're crushing the stakes you currently play there are huge benefits to getting coaching. As an example, I employed Alan Jackson of BlueFirePoker.com to coach me this summer because I knew he specialised in analysing Hold'em Manager stats which has always been a big weakness in my game.
After six weeks of coaching the major leak in my game that he noticed was that I didn't defend against three-bets enough, yet was hugely profitable on the occasions that I did. Just this one piece of analysis was more than worth the $1,000 outlay as now I have much more confidence defending three-bets with a wide range of hands and knowing how to proceed post-flop.
No matter how good you think you are, there's always more to learn. Also, it's much easier for an outside, unbiased source to show you how and where you could improve rather than trying to analyse your own play. Once you start playing $100NL or above, the outlay for a coaching course will more than pay for itself in quick time. If Roger Federer needs a coach, there's a good chance you do too.
4. Brucie Bonus
You don't get much for free in this world - Ryanair even want to charge you to go to the toilet. So when you see a freebie crop up in the poker world, you better take full advantage of it. In online poker there are plenty of promotions which allow you to take advantage of this such as reload bonuses, rake races and overlays on major guaranteed tournaments. Make sure you're always on the lookout for these as the sums of money on offer can quickly add up throughout the year.
When you play here on Black Belt Poker there are a substantial amount of wholly unique bonuses. First, if you reach Purple Belt – easily achievable after a few weeks of low stakes play - you are entitled to a free membership of DeucesCracked, one of the best online training sites out there. Check out videos by Vanessa Selbst and DJ Sensei for some great six-max Hold'em content.
Also available as a Purple Belt is the free Database Keihatsu, where you can have your poker hands analysed by one of the resident team of pros. For any aspiring cash game player, resources such as these can help fix any leaks you have and introduce new ideas into your poker game. An extended version of this is available at Green Belt with the 1-to-1 Enlightenment session (which is essentially a free coaching session), which can really see your game move to the next level.
When you're playing poker and you miss a value bet on the river it's frustrating as you know you could have got more from the hand. There's actually no difference though between that mistake and missing out on all the extra added value that poker sites offer their customers. If you think of it this way you should be more inclined to wring every last freebie out of online poker that you can.
5. Put the right hours in
How much we can earn from playing online poker depends on various factors, but the most important of them all is how much edge we have over our fellow players at the table. An instant way to enhance your edge over the table then is to spend the majority of your time playing when the most recreational players or outright fish are also online.
The best times to play are usually between 8pm to 2am on week nights and, best of all, Friday and Saturday nights when people are likely to have had a few beers and want a gamble. Compare this to grinding away during regular office hours midweek where the vast majority of tables will be populated by solid regs, whom it will be tough to gain a substantial edge on. While you shouldn't completely abandon a regular social life or sleep pattern in the pursuit of value, if you can adjust your playing hours more to these times you should have more success too.
Check back next month for the final five practical tips from Ross Jarvis...