Practically each aspiring professional has dreamed of going from scratch to hitting the seven-figure mark taking part in poker. However how do you really obtain that objective in right this moment’s aggressive sport?
Doug Polk, a longtime professional and co-owner of Lucid Poker, is aware of what it takes to make $1 million taking part in poker. He is performed it earlier than, and he shared the 10-step course of, in a Youtube video, that he believes may help these severe about being profitable in poker to do the identical.
Polk, co-owner of The Lodge Card Membership and a three-time World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, gave viewers perception into which video games to play, the place to play, and a few recommendation about preparation.
The place to Play and What to Play
Polk’s video tackled a few controversial points that might spark some debate, the primary one on taking part in reside or on-line, and the opposite on tournaments versus money video games. If you happen to’ve adopted Polk’s profession the previous decade, you possibly can most likely guess his selection for each subjects.
“I might prioritize on-line poker over reside poker in the event you’re attempting to go on this journey (of creating $1 million) as a result of, merely put, you possibly can play a lot smaller stakes and get a greater studying setting for a less expensive worth level than in the event you play reside poker,” Polk stated. “Now, in the event you’re bankrolled for each, I feel that reside poker is definitely softer. However we’re speaking about what goes into changing into an incredible participant to win some huge cash, and I might say you need to choose the net codecs.”
Polk constructed his approach up the stakes taking part in on-line, largely within the heads-up format. Though he has some stable event outcomes with over $10.5 million in reside event cashes, The Hendon Mob database exhibits, it should not come as a shock his tackle money video games versus tournaments.
“I might additionally, usually talking, say you need to lean towards money video games over tournaments. You’ll be able to go both approach, proper, each of them could make some sense. However, the factor is, if we zoom out and we expect long-term, if in the future you are attempting to play tournaments for a dwelling, that is going to contain loads of touring round, totally different cities, totally different international locations, resort charges, flights, rides, meals, all these items that goes into having to journey round to play in numerous tournaments and totally different locations. And people bills definitely add up,” Polk stated.
Earlier than You Ever Play a Hand of Poker
The 17-minute video titled “How I might Make $1,000,000 Taking part in Poker (If I Began Over)” started with an admission in regards to the issue of going from zero to hero taking part in poker as in comparison with when Polk began taking part in greater than 15 years in the past.
“As poker strikes alongside, it will get more durable to be nice, more durable to make cash as a result of the swimming pools out there to enhance on the sport get higher and stronger, and other people strive tougher,” Polk defined.
Step one within the course of, the video explains, is to decide on the proper sport kind, whether or not it’s no-limit maintain’em, pot-limit Omaha, or some combined sport. Both approach, Polk advises gamers to decide on the sport(s) they get pleasure from taking part in most.
Step 2 is to start out watching prime gamers, and he suggests testing YouTube movies and streams from the most effective gamers on the planet to “see the issues that they do.” Step 3 is to review and apply earlier than ever taking part in a hand of poker for precise cash. This step entails downloading poker coaching software program and apps, together with Lucid Poker.
Polk recommends new poker gamers learning and getting ready for just a few months earlier than ever being dealt a hand. That step leads into the subsequent one, which entails utilizing the coaching instruments repeatedly to enhance accuracy over time, and he associated this tip to how he ready for his highly-publicized heads-up match towards Daniel Negreanu 5 years in the past.
“After I ready for my high-stakes match towards Daniel Negreanu a number of years in the past, I spent an ungodly variety of hours simply grinding again and again and over all the identical conditions to ensure my accuracy was extraordinarily excessive for all of the totally different arms I might have, as a result of I knew I might play at a high-level in real-time after I really performed,” Polk stated.
Polk did play at a high-level throughout that match, as he received $1.2 million over 25,000 arms towards the Poker Corridor of Famer.
Step 5 is when really taking part in poker begins, however Polk recommends solely taking part in “very brief classes” as a substitute of grinding out video games all evening lengthy, and in Step 6, he discusses the significance of logging outcomes for each session, and never just for tax functions.
“No severe poker participant does not observe their outcomes. You completely have to take action,” Polk claims.
Discovering a bunch of friends who can provide you suggestions in your play is Step 7. The subsequent step, as soon as you’ve got logged sufficient hours and have been successful at an inexpensive price, it is time to begin transferring up in stakes and taking part in extra poker.
“Try to be searching for spots to have the ability to take a shot in the next sport when you’ve gotten the bankroll to take action as a result of that is in the end the long term finish objective right here. It isn’t simply pounding out $15 an hour at NL10 or NL20. It is discovering a approach to in the future play increased stakes the place your hourly might be extraordinarily good and you may play at a really excessive stage,” Polk advises.
Polk’s ninth step on the journey to $1 million is to take care of common poker examine, and he concludes the video in Step 10 by informing his viewers that gamers should stay affected person and perceive that it’s going to take an incredible period of time to achieve such a lofty objective.
