The truth to play online poker for a living part 1

I am sure some of you have either played poker or have had a interest in it if your reading this. To figure out how to really make a living you have to weed out all the scamming, cheating and lying that is involved. There is always people who will try to make money using poker but can't make money playing poker or some people make money but wont really tell you the truth to making a living at poker because they want you to come back for more advice( coaching fees). There is different kind of people that can scam you.

Watch out for new poker sites, and poker sites with lower amount of traffic in general. There has been all kinds of scams from different sites. From absolute poker that had super users playing, to lock poker that shut down, to even sites that will find ways to not pay you out for a long time or not at all. Always check before you deposit what their cash out policy is. You usually have to give an ID, bank statement or utility bill. But they wont ask for that until after you try to do a cash out. They also could have high fees for cashouts. So always ask first. Watch the tables before you play. Is it to many regs? Do you notice collusion( players teaming up cheating)? Is the traffic to low? Is the software buggy? And don't fall for their promotions. Is it to good to be true? If you chase a promotion will it keep you from finding profitable games?

The next thing you want to watch out for is poker training sites and coaches. Trust me you do not need them. It can help but it can also make your game worse and your throwing away some of your bank roll to learn. I am sure people have ran into some great coaches, but its a needle in a haystack imo. Everyone has their own style of play. And when you try to play like someone else who thinks differently about hands then you do then it can effect your game.

What you should focus on is your own play. When you play look to see where your losing the most money and write down why you lost that pot. Start with the big pots because thats where the biggest mistakes are made. Did you call down to light? Were you tilted? Did you make a decision to quickly? Did you have some sort of distraction. After the month is over you can go back and look and see where your making the same mistakes over and over again. Someone teaching you might say one thing and another player would give you a complete different answer on how to play the same hand. So it is better to figure it out on your own.

Some of the guys who went to the top never had coaching. We are talking Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Tom Dwan. Phil Ivey had a journal he took to the casino and wrote down mistakes that he made in hands when he started playing poker underage at the casino. Seeing the same mistakes on a daily basis will train you over time to cut down on making those mistakes. Repetition on realizing your mistakes through the months is how you learn not 1 hr coaching lesson. You don't have to listen to Phil Galfond go into a 5th level of thinking and turn a simple situation into a complex problem. Einstein said if they can't explain something in a simple way they don't know what they are talking about. So try to keep it simple and focus on the way you like to play and improve on your style of play.

This is one of the important parts for making a living with online poker. More action, more tables and more swing to your bankroll. People get tired of hearing about bankroll management.What these coaches and sites don't tend to tell you is the key is to following a bankroll strategy. Its not easy unless your mind is trained to think a certain way. People all the time chase losses and go broke through frustration. Some of them very talented players, but can't follow the bank roll guideline. People lose pots on twitch or tv and stay calm. So how do they stay so calm about it? They use a stoic type philosophy. They recognize what they can control and what they can't control. You can't control what cards are going to fall. And you can't control luck. So they accept it but also have to prepare for it.

Samaurai warriors always thought of the worst situations possible before combat. So when bad things happen they are ready for it and can react in a focused mind set. It is the same as me charging someone 30 bucks for coaching and I tell them in a month if they want coaching I am going to bump it up to 100 dollars. Now they can prepare for that to happen in a month and its not a big deal. If i I don't tell them I am going to raise it to 100 and the following month I just bring it up and charge them 100 they might become more irritated if not angry because they were not prepared for that price jump. I have had the car dealership do the price jump and I am now prepared for them to charge more that I even get a good laugh out of it. So to follow your bank roll you have to use a stoic mind set. When things go wrong your ready for it and prepared to deal with the downswings like Patrik Antonius would.

This is the start to showing everyone what it takes to make a living at poker. I am not going to try to sell anything or try to get you on poker sites. I just want people to know the truth without some angle to it. I ran into so many lies and gimmicks becoming a professional poker player that it made me sick to stomach. Hopefully you wont go through the same traps I did and it can save you money in the long run. One day maybe you can sit at your computer in boxers, eating hot cheetohs, playing online poker for a living like I do.

Pictures
Howard Lederer - Bluff Europe
Phil Hellmuth- pokervideos.nz
Stairway to high stakes- Inspiron and JimmyRare