There was an interesting article that I read recently about variance in poker by Alex Rousso. This led me to thinking about the future of online poker and where it was heading. Online poker is a far tougher environment to make money from than live poker and that has been a fact for some time.
Tracking software and numerous other software aids has assisted players like never before to know and understand and then plot strategies against their opponents. As players get better then the edge that you have is either seriously diminished or in many cases totally eliminated unless you have the dedication to become one of the best.
As the playing fields get even more level and coaching websites have increased this even more then the variance increases to a point where it is possible that even rakeback may not be enough. On top of poker I also study gambling and in particular gambling systems. I find many that work but yet I dont use them……why is that?
Simple…….because what I expect to get back isnt worth the time that I have to invest. If you are working in a full-time job earning £20 per hour then why would you want to pack that job in to become a professional gambler/poker player with an expectation of £15 per hour???
There is more to gambling and poker than making money, it comes down to how much you can make compared to how much time it takes up. But many players are not strong multi-tablers but yet it is this that many players depend on for making money. But what if the games become so tough that splitting your attention over numerous tables is no longer off setting your rakeback payments and your losses per table.
I know that I could easily make $100k a year playing one table of 10-20 limit six max playing forty hours a week. But that is $50 an hour and the variance is so severe that even over 200k hands a year, my earn could be well below $50 an hour. Now I dont even want to play poker for $50 an hour most of the time and certainly not for less than that but trying to increase this figure by playing higher or multi-tabling isnt a sure fire way to riches either except for the devoted few (of which I am not one of them).
So the answer may be to single table to ensure profitability if the online games get any tougher…..but guess what……I said that years ago.
THE DEAN CAN BE CONTACTED AT Carl@Pokerquest.f9.co.uk FOR COACHING AND OTHER POKER RELATED MATTERS.
CAKE POKER…..THE SITE WITH ONE OF THE BEST RAKE DEALS ON THE NET AND THE SITE THAT DOES NOT ALLOW TRACKING SOFTWARE.
