Players: 643,664 Screened events: 266,786 Latest Weekly Update: 6 Jan, 2021 Next update today. The participants on the show included both professional poker players and amateur players, including celebrity amateurs who have had some success in major tournaments, such as Jerry Buss, Sam Simon, Nick Cassavetes, and others.

09:10
07 Feb

It used to be the dream for many beginners to one day be able to give up their job and dive into the world of professional poker. They imagined if they worked hard enough they would collect untold riches and their image would be published in poker publications all around the world. What wasn’t to like?

In years gone by the likes of Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen were known for their multi-million dollar swings both at the poker tables as well as on casino games. A lot of the high stakes regs were often seen blowing off some steam on the table games when the poker had gone wrong.

Poker might be known as an easy way to make a hard living but that doesn’t put people off at the start. After all unless you have experienced what it really means to be a professional player it’s impossible to know for sure how you will take to it.

A regular on televised cash games, Brunson is one of the most recognised players in poker. His career tournament earnings of $6.2 million may be minute compared to his cash game winnings. His instincts for the game come from a sharp mind, natural feel for the game, and seeing thousands of hands. Professional poker player Daniel Negreanu recommends starting with a play/study ratio of around 80/20 for optimum results. In addition, you must bring your A-game to the table consistently. It is also important to lead a balanced life because your mind will perform poorly if overextended.

So what does it take to make a card game your main source of income in 2021? What kind of life will you really lead behind the public scenes? Here are some points to consider if you harbour ambition to one day be a professional poker player.

Dedication: There’s no doubt about it. If you’re not dedicated then you stand no chance of ever reaching your potential as a player. Almost two decades after the poker boom began we now have a wealth of information about the game and how the best players achieved their goals.

Without exception, all of these players were dedicated. People never see the long hours put in behind the scenes, they only see the pros when they’re actually grinding. Natural ability will get a player only so far, but even the most gifted will still have to dedicate countless hours in pursuit of success.

Study routine: It’s a fact that once a player has rounded off all the rough edges in their game then they must take a detailed approach towards fine-tuning their skill set. This isn’t the most fun part of poker by any stretch of the imagination.

Many players find after a while that they only really enjoy playing and studying is just a chore. This will, of course, cause problems later on when they start to plateau and don’t work hard enough to overcome their deficiencies as players.

Travel: Players who are more inclined towards the live game will have to get used to travelling to and from the playing venues. There is no way around it. Live tournament specialists can spend most of the year cooped up in hotel rooms while they are on the circuit. This is particularly the case in the US where online poker is still not fully legalised throughout the country.

Health factors: Poker players of yesteryear were not known for their physical prowess. The poker tables of Las Vegas were mostly filled with specimens that hadn’t taken any kind of physical exercise in a long time.

Today, keeping fit is seen as a prerequisite to success. Take a look at the top tournament players you see on the high stakes circuit. The vast majority are in great shape.

So not only are you looking at a schedule full of studying, travel, and playing, you also ended to make time for the gym.

Summary

It is common for players new to the game to underestimate just how busy a professional player’s schedule can be. It is far more work than pleasure, for sure.

This isn’t meant to kill anybody’s dreams, but hopefully it will make some readers think twice before taking the plunge and giving up their day job.

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People often ask me these days what is the average professional poker player salary?
And to be quite honest, the answer varies depending on your skill level, what stakes you play, how much volume you put in and so on.
So in this article I am going to break it all down for you. This is the ultimate guide to a professional poker player's salary.

Professional Poker Player Salary Hourly Wage

So there are many different ways to look at a professional poker player's salary. The first is their hourly wage.
This is the most familiar for many people because in most traditional jobs you get paid an hourly wage. However, in poker this is not really a metric we often use.
And the reason why is because poker is not like a normal job where you earn a consistent steady wage for every hour you work.
Instead, your results will be all over the place in poker.
Some hours you will win big or win small. Some hours you will lose big or lose small. The same goes for entire days and even entire weeks at the poker table.
So there is no such thing as a typical hourly wage for a professional poker player. But if we estimate over the course of say a year, we could get an average hourly wage for a poker pro.
If we were to focus on the small and mid stakes professional poker players, they would average over the course of a year an hourly wage of between $20 per hour and $500 per hour.
It will vary tremendously as you can see depending on what stakes they play, how many hours they put in, and how hard they work on improving their poker game away from the tables.There are very few high stakes poker pros however because you legitimately have to be one of the best poker players in the world to consistently beat these stakes.

Professional Poker Player Yearly Salary

What about a yearly salary for a professional poker player though? How much will they typically bring home in an entire calendar year?
Well, this depends heavily on how much volume they put in. Or to put that in plain English, how much poker they play.
Some poker pros frankly are a bit lazy and just put in the minimum effort to pay the bills. Because after all they can do this.
There is no boss telling them what to do!
This is one of the best parts about being a poker pro. And this was how I acted actually through the first several years of my professional poker career.
That is, just putting in the minimum effort. Only playing a couple hours on the weekends, which was enough to pay my bills.
But eventually I smartened up and realized that I needed to take being a poker pro a lot more seriously.
So I started playing much more consistently, often 7 days a week for 8-12 hours every single day. And then my poker pro career finally started to take off.
And a high stakes professional poker player's yearly salary can be between $500,000 per year and $10,000,000 or more.
But once again it bears mentioning that there are very few poker players that will ever be capable of consistently beating high stakes games that are full of world class pros.

Make $1000 Per Month in Low Stakes Poker Games With My Free Poker Cheat Sheet.

Are you having trouble beating low stakes poker games online or live? Are you looking to make a consistent part time income playing these games?

How to Increase Your Salary as a Professional Poker Player?

If you are a professional poker player already though, or you are planning on becoming one, how would you go about increasing your salary?
The easiest way to do this is to increase your skill level.
For example, there are tons of high level poker training programs available these days like The Upswing Poker Lab which are taught by today's most successful professional poker players.
They teach you the advanced strategies that you need to know in order to crush your opponents at the poker table for the highest winrates possible.
I recommend studying The Upswing Poker Lab videos each night for a month or two (especially the advanced sections of the course), and your winrate (measured in big blinds per 100 hands) will likely increase significantly.

Back to the Basics

If you are still struggling at the lower limits though, then you might not be ready for something as advanced as The Upswing Lab yet. You need to make sure you have mastered the fundamentals first.
In that case I would recommend checking out my best selling poker strategy book Crushing the Microstakes and the optional video course that comes with it as well.
Here I teach you the fundamental poker strategies that you need to start confidently beating the lowest limits and moving your way up the stakes.
Since I have some of the best results of all-time in these games online, you know you are learning the best strategies possible to win big in these games.I have spent countless hours improving my poker game away from the tables in PokerTracker over the years. And it is absolutely one of the keys to my success.

Professional Poker Player Taxes

Now, something that a lot of people also ask me about is what taxes a professional poker player needs to pay.
And quite frankly, this is a difficult question for me to answer because of course it is going to vary widely depending on where you live (or where your tax residence is).
For example, some countries view poker winnings as a 'gambling windfall' just like getting lucky at the roulette wheel and therefore, they are not taxable.
Whereas other countries define poker as a game of skill, which it is proven to be, and therefore make professional poker players file a tax return.
And then of course there are many other countries where professional poker player taxes are basically one big grey area which are open to interpretation.
The best thing to do in all of these cases if you are a professional poker player is consult with a competent tax professional, and especially one with specific experience in dealing with poker or gambling related income.
This is going to be your best bet to make sure that you are obeying all applicable tax laws for a professional poker player in the jurisdiction that you live in.
They will also be able to help you perhaps setup a more beneficial tax residence in order to lower your tax burden as a poker pro, again if applicable (consult with a professional tax specialist).

Chances of Becoming a Professional Poker Player

Now with all of that said, what are your chances of even becoming a professional poker player these days? How many people even need to worry about all this stuff?
Honestly, the chances of becoming a professional poker players are pretty low.
As I discussed recently on this blog, the truth about being a professional poker player these days is often much different than the general perception of it.
And most people quite frankly do not succeed as a professional poker player for a variety of reasons.
In fact, most people do not even win at poker in the first place over the long run!
This is because poker is a very hard game to consistently stay on top of, both from a technical and mental perspective.
This is something that world class poker pros like Daniel Negreanu have discussed many times.

List Of Top Poker Players

You need to be hard working, driven, have natural ability and have a cool and calm disposition in order to guide you through all of the inevitable lengthy losing streaks.

Professional Poker Players Florida

Most people have one but not both.
Being a professional poker player can be a great career choice for a few people. It changed my entire life and allowed me the freedom to travel the world and be my own boss.
But the reality is that it doesn't work out quite so well for most people. Most people in my opinion should just keep their day job.

Professional Poker Players Net Worth

Final Thoughts

So what is the average professional poker player's salary these days?
Well, if you are a small or mid stakes poker pro, you can expect to make an average hourly wage of roughly between $20 per hour and $500 per hour.
High stakes professional poker players on the other hand will typically make much more than this because they play poker for a lot more money.
As for the yearly salary of a poker pro. Once again a small or mid stakes professional poker player will make between $25,000 per year and $500,000 per year.
And a high stakes poker pro will again make considerably more than this, usually well over 7 figures per year.
Becoming a professional poker player these days is definitely not easy though and requires a lot of hard work, patience and discipline.