Welcome, dear readers!
To begin with, let me introduce myself in a few words. I used to play chess having qualified as “Candidate Chess Master’. I am a big fan of logical brainteasers, which probably contributed to my becoming a poker player. I am currently employed by a Russian airline, and that generally brings me sufficient income to maintain my family. So what made me become a poker player? The answer is simple – it was for the same reason every one of you might have – the excitement of and the thirst for easy money. However, it is important to understand a big difference. Some of you may have had a sad experience of playing poker online, as I used to have. Now you are the one who plays poker from time to time but not a professional poker player. I deem this profession a complex one, requiring a long time to learn and practice. In other words, a poker player earns on poker, hence the difference between a professional poker player and someone who just plays poker for fun.
I had lost a few hundred dollars before starting to analyze and study poker. Despite a series of failures, I set myself on this difficult path of becoming a professional poker player. I had wasted a lot of time and health – yes, my health, before being able to outline a certain framework and rules for myself, before I began seizing win prizes and earning real money.
As of now, there exist several “online poker rooms,” but as far as I am concerned, I have been using only one – for an apparent reason. It’s because it is the most popular and easy to use and therefore it’s highly unlikely that its administrators would cheat, since they may gain millions a day without that. However, all written here is perfectly acceptable for other websites. I’ll start my training exactly from this one as a more affordable in my country, if not in other countries as well, if one sees the number of users from them.
Many people think that only particularly lucky ones can earn on poker and not always, but it is not so. I believe one really can make money on poker, although it is the lot of only a few – very smart and reserved people. What concerns luck, my personal experience brought me to a conclusion that 90% of your earnings in the game depend on human and surrounding factors, the latter yet depending on the person, with the remaining ten per cent being your luck.
I would also like to point out that gambling (poker being a gamble), including online gambling for money, is prohibited in Russia. How it is possible that the poker room under discussion and other similar ones are operating in Russia, I just do not know, but it is something one needs to be aware of.
It is very important that you choose whether you would play poker for your entertainment or earn on poker – it’s crucial to understand the difference between these concepts. You ought to be very honest with yourself. Just playing chips sooner or later may turn into gambling, yet leaving open the question whether this gambling would eventually grow into earning. This manual you are reading is not for amateur players but for future professional poker players who can earn money. I hope it will help you make a right decision in future.
In order to earn on poker, you should determine whether you will afford investing a certain amount of your money, even when you play by all the rules, with an iron self-control and common sense. It may happen so that you will lose that amount – no one has yet been able to immediately up and become a champion. You need practice and its outcome may from time to time be rather sad, on your way towards professionalism. During my own practice, I had lost about $350. Whether it’s much or not, it’s up to anyone do judge. What really mattered to me was that I was on it. Are you and your family ready to your going to invest your money into this thing and put up with your absence when you go away to stay in a hostel, a hotel or elsewhere where no one can distract you with their presence or calls? This is one of the decisive conditions and a very important factor at work: your surroundings, the possibility to get concentrated, to think and make decisions. Are you willing to spend from eight to twelve hours for this per cycle? It is also important when you take part in a tournament and other poker games.
A person who begins to play poker, initially thinks he or she can and will most certainly win, because he or she is surely not worse than others, having been trained on conventional chips for an hour. Then he or she takes up playing for real money – this is exactly what happens to most players. It’s a passion, and let God make you strong enough to stop in time and make the right decision. Deciding not to go on with that might perhaps only mean you are a firm and reasonable person. After all, today no more than five per cent really earn on poker online (my conclusion is derived from my own calculations). It is also crucial that that you have nerves of steel and be in good health, since this occupation consumes lots of nerve cells and can seriously affect your cardiovascular system. No matter how paradoxically it may sound, it is really true.
