As you progress through your poker life, certain paths will be trodden more than others. More people lose than win money at poker; more people experience untold frustration and anguish than those who experience nothing but success. Going through your poker life is basically no different than life itself. There are far more unsuccessful people in life than truly successful ones.
But does it really have to be that way? I say no! I have always maintained that literally anyone in the world, irrespective of background or their financial situation, can make a living playing poker. It isn’t about doing complicated things – it’s about doing really simple things and doing them well. I base my entire poker philosophy on simply not making mistakes and trying to get my opponents to make them first; there is nothing fancy in this whatsoever.
I actually stopped trying to be fancy years ago when I realised that to win money online required something more. So what obstacles do the millions of people out there who fail to make money at poker have to overcome? The following list highlights the basic problems faced by novice poker players.
- They can be incredibly risk averse
- They lack a clear methodology to enable them to win
- They tend to lack enough funds to play with
There we have it then, millions of players around the world lack either money, a proven way to win or they are fearful of losing and getting hurt. Some players have only one or maybe two of these factors to contend with – and that is bad enough – but millions of players have all three to deal with.
Point number two can be worked around simply by education, and joining a coaching site can be a great positive step to take. Having no money is another serious obstacle, as you need money to play the game. But being risk averse is a very serious problem if you have hopes of playing the game for a living or as a serious revenue stream. This personality trait can be difficult to correct as it can lay deep within the subconscious part of your brain.
Over the past six months or so I have been working on a low-variance deep-stacked system of play at NL50 full-ring games (for players interested in my progress, check out my blog at www.pokersharkpool.com). I basically want to prove that literally anyone in the world can make between $2,000-$3,000 a month from playing poker with little starting capital and little variance.
It is perhaps my greatest ever project but one that should it succeed could change the face of online small-stakes cash games forever.
It is sad that millions of players simply perceive the act of winning money at poker to either be more difficult than – or not as difficult as – it actually is. The truth lays somewhere in the middle; a combination of doing a collection of very simple things well and in the right environment can convert anyone into a winner very quickly and there is certainly no mystique about the process.
Over the past few months I have started using the latest Poker Office 5 software while playing my usual $25-$50 no-limit ring games. This piece of software has totally transformed my game this year and I simply cannot recommend it highly enough. But yet for years I shunned software of this type and felt that I could make better decisions than any piece of electronic software.
While I consider my metagame to be strong, software like Poker Office really does open the doors for you with regards analysing your opponents’ weaknesses and thus helping you with game selection which is critical now at the higher limits. But this is just another indication that the way forward is right in front of your face and what we perceive as complex situations requiring complex answers are really very simple situations when broken down properly.
Poker is complicated but it is a mistake to elevate that complexity in your own mind. It is a bit like driving a car; you don’t need to have the skill of a professional racing driver to be able to drive around town. Poker is no different, and you certainly don’t need the ability of a Tom Dwan or a Phil Galfond to be able to make money at poker. There are way too many recreational players swimming around at the bottom for someone not to be able to make money if he or she is a little bit more dedicated than the players down there… also, a little push in the right direction helps as well.
Carl “The Dean” Sampson is sponsored by Cake Poker and can be seen at www.cakepoker.com/thedean and on his blog at www.pokersharkpool.com
