How much money can be made?

[theronin1]

Hello,

I've been playing play money hold em poker online for a month. I also bought a book called Gary Carson's complete Guide to Hold Em Poker.

I feel I am grasping poker concepts fairly well, and I wanted to know if it's relatively easy to make money with low stakes online poker.

I'm a university student, and instead of getting some lousy part time job, I'd like to take some courses and enjoy myself - using poker as my main source of income. I already teach some children a few hours a week. But I don't want some 20 hr a week job I'm not going to like.

Your thoughts?

thanks

[Homer]

You can make some decent money playing multiple tables of low-limit poker online (try Party Poker). In a live game, you get in about 35 hands/hour and an expert can make ~1 BB/hr. In an online game, you get in about 70 hands/hour/table and thus can expect to make at least 2 BB/hr/table and in actuality closer to 3 BB/hr/table since the rake is lower (5% to $3 instead of 10% to $4) and you don't have to tip. In games from .5/1 through 2/4, you can easily play ABC poker at 2-3 tables, thus making up to 9 BB/hr if you are an expert. I personally play 3 tables of 2/4 and make 2.5 BB/hr/table, so I make around $30/hr. If you are new to poker, you should start out more slowly (try 1 table of .5/1, then 2 tables, then 3 tables, then 1 table of 1/2, then 2....) and work your way up.

-- Good luck, Homer

[JTrout]

What Homer said. And don't forget to get the bonuses! They will give you a nice edge in the beginning.

[lostinthought]

A few thoughts

1) carson's book is ok, there is far worse out there. If you want to money on a regular basis with poker, you'll seriously need to consider purchasing lee jones book, theory of poker, hold em poker, holdem poker for advanced players, and other books as you expand your skills.. these are must haves for people who want to play winning poker.

2) welcome to the forum. there is a lot of good information here, along with great advice from some very succesful and talented players. Keep reading here.

3) consider getting an affiliate if you haven't signed up for empire poker. There are plenty people around here who know about this..

4) yes, you can make some pretty good money playing online poker, even at the lower limits.

5) Although you might use poker as a hobby, and use it to supplement your income, don't let it narrow down your possibilities of other careers and things you are interested in. College is the prime time to discover and develop these - don't drop your opportunity to do that.

With that being said, once you put in the time, one can easily make more than one would in a part-time college job situation.

good luck


ps. I've been playing for about a year, and recently decided to start over with 150$. I am keeping a blog here - www.livejournal.com/users/510offsuit (http://www.livejournal.com/users/510offsuit)

[theronin1]

OK, thanks for the advice everyone.

I'm going to order this Lee Jones' book.

[HajiShirazu]

You can definately make some big cash online compared to regular jobs. I make $15-20 an hour easily, have been playing poker for about 6 months, and there are college kids like me on this website making 5-10 times that (because they are better at poker than me.) However, it's not for everyone...while anyone with discipline can beat the LL games, you have to have such discipline...I have friends that are probably as good as I am when playing well that can't even avoid losing at the easy party games, because they can't stop going to bigger games and taking shots, can't stop going on tilt, etc.
Anyway, get HPFAP...please...and read this forum, don't go to some of the other forums out there, develop your strategy, find out what type of poker you excel at (limit/nl/tournies/stud/omaha/etc), play within your bankroll, and kill the games.
Oh, and learn how to play shorthanded poker. It's tougher, and don't start out with it, but that's where the best money is online, regardless of what stakes you're playing.

[SevenStuda]

Do what you want, but make sure you finnish school.