I was riding the BTS to Siam station and when I got off the train I had a gaggle of Westerners in front of me. There were three girls and a guy and they sounded US to me. In fact, it’s funny because one was Asian so to hear an Asian with an American accent in Bangkok really stands out. From the tone of their conversation it seems like they are all based in BKK. My guess from some things they said is that they’re all English teachers.
Anyway, they’re talking and talking and my ears perk up when they start talking about online poker. They’re talking about a friend who quit their job and was playing poker for a living now. All of them were talking about how much more he was making playing poker rather than teaching. Some were even talking like they would like to get in on the action too because it was so easy to make money.
It reminds me of my days when I used to work in the stock brokerage industry. I have yet to meet someone who hasn’t made money in the stock market. Everybody makes money investing and everybody makes money playing online poker.
I think the average if you look at your PokerTracker stats is that about 90%+ people are net losers in online poker. I think that about 92% – 93% is the industry norm. Yet, I know so few people who have ever lost playing online poker.
I don’t think people set out to lie about how they’re doing in the stock market or in online poker but they do. Some because they don’t keep track of wins or losses and just keep circulating the money around in such a way as to make it impossible for them to tell (constant depositing and withdrawing). Some because they can’t stand the ego crush.
But one thing seems to always ring true; the person who knows exactly how much they’re up or down for a session, a week, or a year is far, far more likely to be an overall winning player. Losing players always have vague descriptions like "I had a pretty good run" or "I was crushing the table" while winning players normally comment "I ended up down 1 BB."
Related posts:
- RSS Poker Trivia Quiz Winner Winner! Winner! Chicken Dinner! Wow! What a great response....
- PlayTech Wants Players to Fund New Player Acquisition Well, it looks like eGaming Review has yet another...
- Asian Poker Variations – Badugi, by Lina Wang Well, in the land of mahjong and sicbo, try brining...
- Is Online Poker Really Doing Well? Nearly every week I read Poker Scout’s industry analysis...
- SEGA Poker Room Launches Dan over at Pokerati.com posted a news bit about...
| Site | Rackback | Sign Up Bonus | US |
| Absolute Poker | 30% | 150% up to $500 |  |
| Ultimate Bet | 30% | 111% up to $1100 | |
| Cake Poker | 33% | 110% up to $600 | |
| PKR Poker | 30% | 100% up to $800 | |
| Paradise Poker | 30% | 200% up to €1,000 | |
| Players Only | 33% | 100% up to $650 | |
| Fortune Poker | 30% | 200% up to €1,000 | |
| Betfair | 30% | $1500 | |
| Aced | 30% | 100% up to $500 | |
| Virgin Poker | 30% | 100% up to £300 | |
| Poker Heaven | 30% | 200% up to €1000 | |
| Poker Nordica | 30% | 100% up to $200 | |
| Carbon Poker | 30% | 150% up to $1000 | |
| Red Star Poker | 33% | 110% up to $600 | |
| True Poker | 27% | 100% up to $200 | |
| Action Poker | 35% | 100% up to $2500 | |
| Cellsino Poker | 40% | 500% up to $500 | |
| Minted Poker | 40% | 100% up to $400 | |
| Power Poker | 33% | 110% up to $600 | |
| Interpoker | 30% | 200% up to €1000 | |
| Doyles Room | 33% | 110% up to $600 | |
| Gutshot Poker | 33% | 110% up to $600 | |
| Full Tilt Poker | 27% | 100% up to $600 | |
| Fat Bet Poker | 40% | 1000% up to €500 | |
| NoiQ Poker | 30% | 100% up to €5000 |
| Site | Rake Race | Rake Chase | Freeroll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Doyle's Room | $35,000 | ||
| Cereus Poker Network* | $7,500 | $10,000 | $10,000** |
| Cake Poker | $60,000 | ||
| Party Poker*** | $50,000 | ||
| Red Star | $23,000 | ||
| Eurobet*** | $21,000 | ||
| Players Only | $16,400 | ||
| Tower Gaming*** | $15,000 | ||
| Full Tilt Poker | $10,000 | ||
| Carbon Poker | $12,000 | ||
| Betfair Poker | $12,000 | ||
| Boss Media Network**** | $5,000 | ||
| Cellsino Poker | $5,000 | ||
| Power Poker | $5,000 | ||
| Poker Nordica | $5,000 | ||
| NoIQ | €1,500 |
* Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet (UB) ** May not be available to all players *** Poker Heaven, Fortune Poker, InterPoker, Paradise Poker
Hi, my name is Bill Rini and this is my poker blog. I've been blogging about poker and the poker industry since around 2003-ish. Like most people I started out playing poker as entertainment in home games whenever we wanted to sit around and smoke cigars, drink beer, and eat pizza, and needed a good excuse. I started playing online shortly after the first online card rooms opened and it wasn't long before I was playing 20, 30, or even 40 hours a week or more. One day I received a phone call about a program manager position at Tiltware which was the company that consulted to Full Tilt Poker on software development and marketing. After Tiltware I spent about 2.5 years working at Party Poker where I was the poker room manager.
{ 0 comments… add one now }