Let’s be honest, how many of you reading this article have wanted to become an online poker pro at some point in your playing career? I know I have – and more than once.

Being able to play poker for a living seems like the perfect job for someone who loves poker at least. But it’s harder than you’d like to think. How to become an online poker pro? We have six tips to help you find the job of your dreams.

How to become a professional online poker player in one easy step would be to quit your job and use poker as your sole source of income. While this will make you a poker pro instantly, it is not advisable to sour like this on a whim for reasons which we will cover shortly.

Study all aspects of the game

Studying the game of poker is crucial if you want to learn how to be successful as a professional online poker player. When you think you’ve learned all there is to learn about poker, you need to study and research even more. In fact, you should never stop learning because standing still in this game means you are going to be left behind.

Read articles online, browse forums, chat with other players, join a training site or hire a coach . Any advantage you can create for yourself will eventually lead to profits.

Prove you are a winning player

Remember we said it wasn’t a good idea to give your notice and become a professional poker player? One of the main reasons is that you must first prove to yourself that you know how to become a profitable online poker player.

A lot of people do a big performance in a tournament, or earn the equivalent of two months salary at the cash tables and start to think of this game as an easy way to make a living. False !

You need tens of thousands of hands and tournaments (or even hundreds of thousands) to prove that you are a winning player. If you are not a long-term winning poker player, you will soon be returning to your former boss hoping to be re-employed, and your morale will most likely be down after such a failure.

Be realistic

Once you’ve verified that you’re a winning poker player, it’s time to start trying to figure out how many hands or tournaments you’ll need to play in order to at least match your previous pay. This is where a lot of people fail.

When you have a salaried job, you usually get paid on the same date each month, no matter how productive your week or month (within reason) is. You almost certainly get paid while on vacation or if you are sick.

Having to go to work five days a week is probably enough to get you out of bed and going to work. But what if none of this were true?

You may have the ambition to earn € 50,000 per year and it may be possible. But be sure to factor in at least three full weeks of “vacation”. You should also plan to be sick and unable to play for a few weeks per year. Also, ask yourself if you are really going to sit and play 60 hours a week? Do you think you can earn enough money at 0.25 / 0.50 € to justify quitting your job?

How many online poker pros are there who wake up at 12:00, play online poker for two hours, and make the most of life? The answer is not much, and those who do usually do not succeed as professional online poker players for any significant length of time.