Where do people fail on their journey to become a professional poker player?
We all know there's tons and tons of people who start playing poker with a dream of becoming a professional player.
We all tell them not to do it and provide huge lists of great arguments why they shouldn't.
Yet people never listen, so they'll still try.
Then where do they fail?
I'm sure there are several major and minor obstacles that need to be overcome to make it to playing poker professionally.
Which ones can you think of? How many people would you estimate fail at each point.
A few of my thoughts as an example:
I think a lot of people try and then after a few weeks or months they realize they're not actually good at poker and poker is a lot harder than they thought.
They're losing money and give up rather quickly. (Maybe even just blaming variance or rigged games.)
I estimate at least 90% of people who start this journey fail here.
I also think a few people of the ones who actually make it past my previous obstacle then quit because they hate the loneliness of poker.
Especially for online pro's, you're just sitting alone behind your PC all day.
I think a small percentage of people who start the journey get stuck here, maybe 2%?
I'm sure I can think of a lot more, but I'd like to hear from others instead of writing a book about it 😃
4 Replies
Hi my name is Berna and i wanna learn more about poker game. Where should i start to learn the basics? And how can i prevent from failing afterwards?
Hey Malagueno,
Currently, many sources of information can help beginners and experienced players. Among others, the following resources are popular:
Choose what suits you best and good luck on your poker journey!
Thank you so much for helping me out to learn more about poker. Let's all be successful.
I was never a full-time pro. Due to the new laws in Germany, I postponed my goal of "full-time poker" in 2021, but I'm currently thinking about starting it semi-professionally and maybe leaving the country to do it.
what many don't see:
It is probably the wrong image that is being suggested. Playing poker whenever and wherever you want sounds nice. Until you realize that you have to grind the long lonely hours every day. even when things aren't going well. when you grind for weeks at a loss and question your skill. This makes you play worse again. bad vicious circle. I believe that even some of the best grinders often have doubts about whether they can beat the games. the mindset part cannot be addressed often enough.
and as described previously. I still think it makes sense in 2024 to start at the bottom of the limits. This takes time but is essential. Only when you clearly beat the worst pool will you be able to compete in the higher stakes without being eaten straight away. You have to realize that where you can make a living playing poker, there are often no fish at the table, or at most only one. The entire profit of all regs at the table then comes from one or two players. You should know exactly what you are doing.
At the beginning I would also advise everyone to do 2/3 grinding and 1/3 study with a direct attempt to implement the theory. If you study more, you sit at the table and are completely overstimulated, so don't study too much.
