The biggest way online poker and live poker differ is how easy it is to make money playing poker online. When you play online, there are simply more opportunities to both play and win more often.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing an Online Casino BonusYou can play more hands per hour online (300-600 vs. 30-75), you can play more tournaments without getting a hernia (10-20 vs. 2-4), and it’s easier to find soft games or beat harder games. Meanwhile resources like rakeback, fishy players and poker bonuses help you keep and grow your winnings. Not to mention you don’t have to tip the dealer every hour.
So once you graduate from the micro-stakes (or avoid having to play there forever), there are tons of ways to win money playing poker online. Here are some of our favorites.
Top 10 Ways to Win Money Playing Poker Online
Which one's your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
1) Massive Rakeback & VIP Programs
The first - and perhaps best - way to actually keep making money playing online poker is by taking advantage of massive rakebacks and VIP programs at offshore sites. Yes, we know most European players don’t have rakeback on PokerStars or iPoker but the offshore poker sites still do.
And it can be huge. Up to 45%-50%+ in some cases with VIP programs that take you from “silver” to “diamond elf lord” and give you all sorts of bonuses and perks along the way. Including better rake.
Meanwhile you can also get poker bonuses on top of your rakeback, such as reload bonuses or deals for trying out new poker platforms or Skill Games. Which, let’s be honest, you should be doing anyway because they don’t have SHARKS.
2) Beast/SitNGo Rakeback
If you grind SitNGos or Beasts you can earn even more rakeback through various leaderboards and promotions. We’re talking free rolls, extra entries into big Sunday tournaments, big rakeback bonuses for hitting certain volumes and more.
Bigger sites like GGPoker have so much money they can just give you lots of freebies for playing. So take advantage! Even if you don’t like the software as much as another site, grind your ass off for a few months on the most profitable games and then collect all your bonuses and move on.
3) Massive Player Pool = Big Juicy Fish
When’s the last time you saw an obvious call with 4-5 winners in a pot on a river check-raising? Never? Okay how about an overpair on the river against two opponents? Yep, you probably felt confused/tilted/confused-tilted when it happened because it basically never happens.
play poker online against computerIt just can’t happen very often. Because even bad players can sometimes value 22 vs. JJ on the river for one example. But in online poker you can see them do it multiple times a day/session/week. Because they’re bad. And you’re good.
The player pool is just so much bigger online. You can play on any old random night and have 600 people play in a $5 NL tournament. On a weeknight. At 9am. During the summer. Where’s this tourney? Some random site you’ve never heard of. With some random format you’ve never played (PLO Badeucey Jackpot Turbo)? And it’s filled with fish.
4) Soft Spots All Over the Place
It’s not just the tournaments that are full of them either. Have you seen some of these shorthanded tables? It’s like a fisherman releasing his catch back into the ocean only to find out miraculously it can still barely swim but is now a king salmon. That’s what some of these bad 4-tablers are like. They’re literally tilted from losing small sums of money for hours at a time and just looking for a quick turnaround.
And they’re not even the worst ones! The worst ones are the ones who haven’t realized yet that Poker isn’t Heads Up Rush. They’re sitting there calling preflop with JJ vs AA and 4 other players, then checking/calling everything post flop until someone else accidentally makes it big and they snap-call with their top pair. Rinse repeat. There’s basically no skill in playing 6-max to these people. It’s basically heads up. With five other people. Who suck at heads up.
Best Online Blackjack Sites - Top Blackjack Casinos in 2023And don’t even get us started on 9-max. It’s basically a bonus. Just sit in a 9-max game and vineyard vines slots casino youtube along while playing minimal investement poker and you’ll bleed out plenty of fish in a couple hours.
5) Less Physical Advantage Online + No Tellers
Yes, there are some high-level online grinders who have special chairs and monitors and headsets and software to help them play. But for every one of those there are hundreds of players who are playing from their phone on the bus.
Sure the hardcore mobile grinder has an edge on the dude who’s playing on his laptop in a noisy bar. But what about the guy at home who’s just had a long day and is hungry and tired and wants to watch TV? How is he going to X-Grip his mouse and track the AK on the river? Can he leak stacks to his left while opening beers in the fridge? These are real concerns!
Oh and one more thing - there are no tellers online. Not ever. No matter where you play or what game or stakes. There is never, ever, ever a time when a poker tell will communicate information to more than one player at the table. Never.
Tips on How to Win at Slots & Increase Your Chances6) More Opportunities to Play (and Win!)
This ties in with the previous two reasons but deserves its own heading. There are just so many more opportunities to play good opposition and beat bad opposition.
First there are just more games. If you want to play Stud or Razz or Lowball or Rare-ball, your live options are limited. Especially if you’re outside Vegas or Europe. But online? Pick a platform, pick a game, pick a stakes, pick an amount and go. Want to play 8 different mixed games in a row? Easy. Want to play high low split games? Yeah there’s one or two left in the world and they’re online.
Then there are just more games overall. You can play as many tables as you can physically click on and follow at once. While multi-tabling itself makes you slightly better than air (although see above re: mobile poker). We won’t lie, 6-tabling can be lucrative but 8-tabling is even better. Try doing that live!
Mobile Casino Review – Apps, Games & Bonuses Assessed7) Bad Beat Jackpots & Other Promotions
Ok ok we know BBJs are mathematically a negative expectation, especially at the higher stakes. But they’re also one of the most fun things in poker and can prop up your bottom line for weeks or even months. Did you win the BBJ? Yes. Was it lucky? Also yes. Are you going to enjoy it? Definitely. Would it even out a bit of a downswing? Absolutely. Is it one of the best ways to win money playing poker online? We think so.
There are tons of other promos as well to keep your bankroll afloat – new client bonuses (see below), reload bonuses, free tournament tickets, freerolls, leaderboard bonuses, Twister jackpots, lottery poker and more. Even if you hate the site or software, if a competitor releases a sick promotion it’s worth grinding out a few sessions to max out your deposit/withdrawal limits. Then go back to your normal grind.
8) Welcome/Deposit Bonuses
Welcome bonuses are obviously not redeemable by themselves. You can’t just sign-up to a site, grab your deposit bonus and leave. Unless you’re a really, really good poker player. In which case why are you reading this? Go here.
Best Casinos in Florida - Exciting Gambling Days Ahead!For the rest of us plebs, welcome bonus are a good way to boost our bankrolls before we start chipping away at them with rake. Sure you have to play a bit to unlock the bonus but, again, you’re playing poker anyway. Might as well get some extra cash to do it with, right?
9) Casual Games, Skill Games, Video Poker, Lottery Poker
Do you like poker but kind of suck at No-Limit Holdem? Well guess what – there’s a whole world of poker variants and games you can play online! From Omaha to Stud to Mixed Games to 2-7 Triple Draw to Chinese Poker to Short Deck to… you name it. If you have an itch, there’s probably an online poker platform that can scratch it.
What about if you don’t like poker? What if you just like the idea of poker because you like competing against other people or something? Well then you might like Skill Games - a new category of competitive games (mostly) based on popular brand names like Pawn Star, Wheel of Fortune or Fantasy Football.
They’re sort of like poker, sort of like riddles and sort of amazing. And did we mention there are NO FISH?!??? Everybody’s pretty much on an even skill level so everyone’s got a shot. And since most of these players come over from Candy Crush or Tetris or whatever, they’re not even that good at competing yet. Free. Chips. Everyone.
10) More Cash Games Than Stars in the Sky
Yes the Tournament Lobby can be overwhelming but you know what’s even worse? Seeing 0, 1 or 2 small MTTs in your area. And reloading PokerStars search page every 30 seconds hoping, praying, that somebody - anybody - has registered for a damn tournament.
the casino onlineNot everybody likes tournaments! For every Phil Ivey or Doug Polk there are hundreds of winning cash game experts who would slowly impale themselves with their own corn cob pipes before subjecting themselves to the vagaries of luck in a tournament. Online they can play literally endless cash games 24/7 with games ranging from NL2 all the way up to the nosebleeds. And everything in between.
What's the Best Way to Make Money Playing Online Poker?
Player Per Hour * House Edge = ~Hours Played * $xx / yr
All said and done the biggest reason you can make money playing poker online, however, is volume. You can play a ton online. Both absolute volume - hands/hr - and relative volume - total days/yr/decades you can play.
MGM Slots Online Real Money Apps You Need to DownloadYes you’re going to pay some rake and possibly some fees (if you’re in the ). But if you’re a winning player there’s basically no limit to how much you can make playing poker online. As long as you don’t let poker become your entire life. Find the right balance and online poker can provide a great income while still allowing you to do all the other stuff you love.
Oh, and don't forget about !
Where to Play Online Poker for Real Money
Luckily for you, there are still plenty of safe and reputable online poker sites to choose from in 2023. Most of the action is on the global network nowadays but European poker sites are making a comeback too. Check out the list below for our recommended online poker sites for 2023:
As always, please play responsibly.