One of the questions we get the most from our readers is how to make money playing poker and if online poker is still profitable in 2024.
Although poker is much more complex than it was 10 years ago, it’s still possible to earn money and many people make a living from playing poker, both online and live.
In this article, we’ll look at how professional players earn money playing poker and give you a better understanding of the industry.
How do You Make Money Playing Poker in 2024?
Contrary to what many people think, poker has no formula or right way to make money as there are many paths to earn a living from this beautiful game.
But they all have one thing in common – hard work. Whoever tells you winning money from poker is easy is lying, as it requires hard work, dedication and a constant desire to improve your skills.
Also, don’t fall for the narrative that online poker is dead or that is impossible to profit from in 2024. That’s simply not true, otherwise, where would the money go?
Online poker is, by far, the most popular format in 2024 with many poker sites operating nowadays. For that reason, below we’ll focus mainly on ways to make money in online poker.
Rakeback
Rake is the percentage the poker room takes from players per pot, which is usually 5% to 6%, although this will depend on the room and the games you’re playing.
However, players can get a part of this percentage back through rakeback. In simple terms, rakeback is a refund of the rake the room takes that is given back to the player, usually through an affiliate like VIP-Grinders.
Most poker sites have a standard deal but you can get much better rakeback deals by doing it through a professional third-party affiliate like ourselves.
The percentage will change according to the room and the deal you get but by doing it through us, you can get up to 60% rakeback in some cases.
This means that even if you end the month breakeven or lose a small amount of money, you might be profitable overall with the rakeback you’re earning.
To get a better understanding of how important this concept is, we have developed a complete rakeback calculator for cash games where you can see exactly how much you can get according to:
- Stake
- Tables
- Table Size
- Hours per Day
For example, if you take our GGPoker deal, which gives up to 60% rakeback, you would earn monthly the following according to different scenarios:
| Stakes | Tables | Table Size | Hours Per Day | Monthly Rakeback |
| $0.02 / $0.05 | 6 | 6-max | 4 | $305 |
| $0.25 / $0.50 | 4 | 6-max | 2 | $1,296 |
| $1 / $2 | 8 | 6-max | 4 | $20,736 |
As you can see, the amounts you can earn with rakeback are quite significant, regardless of your stakes. Of course, these amounts apply to cash games, where you generate the most rake.
If you are a tournament player, you will still benefit from rakeback on your buy-ins, but the overall sum will be much lower as you also get charged less rake on your playing.
Most of our team started their poker adventure as cash game grinders looking to get the most rakeback possible and although this was many years ago, it’s still, for us, the best way to make money in online poker in 2024.
Cash Games Win Rate
The simple way to define if someone is winning money at the poker tables in cash games is through the “win rate“, which can be applied to a specific period or number of hands.
The two most common ways to calculate the win rate in cash games are:
- The amount won per hour
- The amount won per 100 hands
For example, if you are playing $0.50/$1 limits and making a profit of $4 per hour, this means that you are winning an average of 4 big blinds per hour.
If you want to measure if for every 100 hands and if you’re profit is $2 per 100 hands for the same limits, then your average profit per 100 hands is 2 big blinds.
If you have a negative win rate over a large sample of hands or time, this means that you are losing money in the long term. But more important than knowing that you are losing, is knowing how much you are losing per time or 100 hands.
The same applies logic applies to winning players. You must know your hourly win rate and how much you’re winning per 100 hands.
That’s why the best players know exactly how many hands they are playing, and how much time and have clear information of how much they want to earn per each of those variables.
After having that information, they exploit the most out of it, playing the setup they know they have the biggest edge on until they find a better opportunity.
In addition, they also know the rakeback they will get because as we saw before, that is the most important factor to make money playing poker and be profitable in the game.
Tournaments ROI
You’ve seen players winning huge amounts in poker tournaments but does that mean they are profitable? Not necessarily.
When analyzing a player’s performance in tournaments, the most important metric is the ROI, also known as Return on Investment. This means how much money you are getting back for your investment.
For example, if you pay $1,000 in buy-ins and only get $900 in prizes, you lose $100 and your ROI is -10%. It doesn’t matter if you won all your $900 in just one tournament where you did brilliantly, all that matters is your overall performance.
You must know all this information and in which tournaments you’re chances of a deep run are higher.
Some players prefer deep stack tournaments, others prefer turbo formats and others do incredibly well in bounty tournaments. It’s all about knowing your strength, where you have the best ROI and maximising it.
How Much Money Do Poker Players Win?
When looking at official data from Comparably, a US site for salary comparisons, the average yearly salary of a professional poker player in 2024 is $114,916.
Of course, this is just an average and the range of salaries among players who make a living from poker will change massively.
This will also change significantly when looking just at online poker players, as they can generate the most volume. On top of this, many play from countries with minimum or no tax on their winnings, making their profits even higher.
In a video shared by German poker legend, Fedor Holz, he gives his thoughts on whether poker is still profitable and if online poker is dead, as many of us have heard.
He separates the players into three categories, explaining that the challenges and potential to earn money are very different for each of them.
- Winning up to $3,000 monthly, around $10,000 to 40,000 per year, is quite achievable as low stakes poker hasn’t changed much
- Poker earnings between $50,000 and $200,000 yearly will require hard work but players still make many mistakes at this level
- Earning $500,000 or more with poker is a very tough jump to do, as players are incredibly good, barely make mistakes and know how to exploit every opportunity
So, what is the secret of taking your game to the next level? The simple answer is hard work and continuous study to improve your game.
If you’re looking for a solid partner to help that happen, we recommend Upswing Poker, an elite poker training course made by top poker pros such as Doug Polk.
Is Online Poker Dead?
There is no doubt that poker is much tougher today than it was at any other point in its history. However, poker is far from dead and still profitable in 2024.
As Fedor Holz mentioned in his video, players still make many mistakes and earning up to $200,000 yearly is possible for those willing to put in the work.
This means, for example, understanding modern game theory optimal play (GTO) and how to exploit it as well.
However, many players follow the mistake of playing GTO in every spot, which can help you in low stakes but won’t take you to the next level.
We also recommend having a clear understanding of the poker strategy for each of the formats, so you know in which you’re more profitable.
Finally, make sure to maximize your value by grabbing the best poker bonus codes, rakeback deals and other ways to boost your bankroll.
At VIP-Grinders, for example, we have many poker promotions with massive value that can help you make money with online poker in 2024.
From our experience, the most profitable players are not always the best ones, but those who find the most profitable opportunities such as our rakeback deals and promotions.
FAQs
Below you will find answers to the most frequent questions we get from players regarding making money from poker in 2024.
Do people actually make money from online poker?
Is poker playing profitable?
Is online poker profitable in 2024?
Can you still make a living playing poker?
