Poker Isn't Dead, You're Just Playing the Wrong Game: A Pro's Unfiltered Truths

Poker Isn't Dead, You're Just Looking in the Wrong Places

Let's get one thing straight: anyone who tells you that you can't make a good living from poker today is either misinformed or just plain wrong. I'm talking a real living, like six or even seven figures a year. Now, before you roll your eyes, I'm not saying it's easy, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it as a career path for most people. But the narrative that poker is 'dead' or 'solved' is a myth, mostly pushed by folks who haven't figured out where the real game is being played.

The secret isn’t about becoming a GTO wizard who has memorized every possible pre-flop range. Honestly, that stuff is overrated for live games. The two skills that will make or break you are game selection and tilt control. Knowing which games to play in—and which to avoid—will have a far bigger impact on your hourly rate than mastering some obscure, marginal spot you might see once a year.

The advice to aggressively take shots and move up in stakes as fast as your bankroll can reasonably handle is gold.

One of the biggest mistakes I see players make is lingering at 1/3 and 2/5 tables forever. They get comfortable. They build a small, steady win rate and think they've made it. But the truth is, some of the softest games in the world are the biggest ones. You have to be smart about it, of course—don't risk going broke. But sitting around battling other grinders while the casino rakes away your profits is a recipe for mediocrity.

It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know

This brings me to maybe the most underrated skill in all of poker: your social game. Yeah, seriously. If you want to get into the best private games where the action is incredible, you need to be someone people actually want to be around. It sounds simple, but it’s amazing how many players fail at this.

Think about it from the perspective of a recreational player, a 'whale' who is there to have fun and is fully aware they're likely to lose money. Do they want to sit with some miserable, hoodie-wearing pro who never speaks, berates them for a bad play, or tries to give them unsolicited 'coaching'? Of course not. They want to laugh, have a good time, and gamble it up.

If you're fun, pleasant, and know how to lose with grace, you'll get invited back. If you throw a fit every time you lose a big pot—something even big-name pros are guilty of—you're getting blacklisted.

I've seen technically brilliant players make a tiny fraction of what I do simply because they are socially oblivious. One player shared a story about getting into a splashy, 'hedonistic' private game and feeling completely out of place. The money just meant something different to him than it did to the wealthy amateurs, and when he lost a big pot, he couldn't hide his pain. He stopped getting invited. That's the reality. It's not just poker; it's politics. You have to play the game outside the game.

The Wild West of Poker Apps

When people hear 'online poker,' they usually think of major sites like GGPoker or PokerStars. But there’s a whole other world out there: app games. I'm talking about private clubs on apps like PokerBROS or PPPoker. There's a ton of controversy around them, and for good reason. Many are run by scummy agents, and cheating through collusion and bots is a real risk in the big, public unions.

However, if you can network your way into a trustworthy private game, the action can be insane. We're talking win rates of 30bb/hour or more. Even with high rake, these games can be more profitable than anything you'll find in a casino or on a major site. But again, it all comes back to social skills and networking. You have to find an agent and a club you trust, and that only happens by knowing the right people.

Playing in a game where you have doubts about its integrity will just ruin your mental game, so if you can't find a trusted spot, it's better to stick to traditional routes.

Welcome to the Dark Side

I won't sugarcoat it: the poker world can be an extremely toxic and dark place. When I started, I was pretty naive. But the longer you're in it, the more you see. This lifestyle attracts a disproportionately high number of people with mental illness, personality disorders, and substance abuse problems. The higher the stakes, the more intense it gets.

Poker players love to gossip and talk trash. It's like a middle school cafeteria mixed with a reality TV show. The entire ecosystem is often propped up by a few whales who are battling serious gambling addictions or using poker to escape other problems in their lives. They can afford to lose... until they can't. And when that happens, the outcomes can be devastating: bankruptcy, divorce, even suicide.

You will be surrounded by some very narcissistic, manipulative, and shallow people. Many of the big-name pros you see on TV are involved in some seriously degenerate stuff behind the scenes. That's not to say there aren't great people in poker—I've met some of my best friends through the game. But you have to be prepared for the darkness. It can be emotionally exhausting.

The Survivor's Safety Net

Here’s a final truth that explains a lot about who succeeds long-term. Survivor bias is real, but once you reach a certain level, it becomes much harder to go completely broke. Why? Because high-stakes poker runs on credit, staking, and connections.

If you establish yourself as a winning player and an ethical person, people will be willing to help you out when variance hits you hard. You'll get loans, people will buy pieces of your action, and hosts will let you pay your losses on a delay. This ecosystem creates a safety net that just doesn't exist for the guy grinding 1/3 with a small bankroll. The players who fizzle out are often those who never got connected to their local poker scene.

So, is a poker career worth it? The answer isn't simple. It's not a 9-to-5 job. The opportunity cost is real—the late nights, the missed family events, the constant stress. But if you have the right combination of skill, mental fortitude, and—most importantly—social intelligence, it's not the impossible dream people make it out to be.

You just have to understand that the real game isn't just about the cards you're dealt.