Types of Poker Players

Read this if you want to improve your results

Generally speaking, there are 3 types of poker players in the world - the amateur, semi-professional and professional poker players and each is very different from the other. These are also the stages of how a poker player develops and evolves into a pro.

To be honest, there is little chance for anyone to be a true pro at anything, let alone at a game that is this complex. It takes time and hard work to achieve a level of expertise in any field, so the best we can do is try to analyze the players as they think of themselves.

1. Amateur Poker Player

The amateur poker player is the person who plays this game just for his own entertainment. The number one thing that is certain about these players is that their primary income doesn't come from playing poker, so they don't really worry about making cash.

No matter whether they are winning or losing, it is simply for the thrill of it and nothing more. Amateurs are mostly found playing casino online games, considering they can adjust the stakes and thus choose the player crowd at their table. In fact, now that it is mentioned, this is how over 90% of all poker players engage in game play nowadays.

2. Semi-Professional Poker Player

The semi-professional poker player differs from the amateur just because he actually makes a good living playing poker, even though that is not their primary source of income. They don't spend hours and hours playing poker, just a few sessions a week. They see it as part of their everyday activities, something like playing video games would be to gamers. Still, the most important thing is that they don't rely on their poker money to make ends meet, for various reasons at a time. College students seem to make up the greater part of this poker player pool segment.

3. Professional Poker Player

Now, this kind of poker player engages in poker as their full-time job, meaning that it is their primary source of income. A lot of professional poker players make more that decent money at the tables.

This allows them to lead luxurious lifestyles, as we have seen such players like Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Erik Seidel and especially Dan Bilzerian do. But the salary always varies even with the top players in the world. There are pros and cons to becoming a professional poker player, just like in any other profession you might choose. To get you going, here are a few basic guidelines directly from the professional poker player credo - choose the right game for you, research and understand it completely, always play fair, always be alert, and ultimately, practice bluffing as much as possible.

All in all, one could end up believing that poker is a beatable game. Nonetheless, it takes a lot of time and effort for this. The best you can do is focus on your mental strength and emotional control - it will help you both on and off the poker tables.