So, you want to be a Poker Superstar?

Written by Joseph Wills  – https://rec.poker/hockeypoker/ – josephwills@rec.poker

So, you watched Mikey McDermott take down the Mad Russian, catching the next flight to Vegas and thought “Hey, I have the chops to do that.  Why am I still working my boring 9-5 when I could be bluffing pots and scooping my way to financial freedom?!”

Settle down, Beavis.  Aside from a select few, poker stardom and its perceived riches aren’t achieved from a Hollywood script.  “Well, what about Chris Moneymaker?  He was an overnight success!” Yes, I will give you that one, and one more…Annie Duke.  Both origin stories are phenomenal, and both have made their mark on the game in completely different ways.

 If you are reading this article, then you’re neither Chris Moneymaker or Annie Duke.  If either of you are reading this, THANK YOU!  Nothing but respect for both of you. For everyone else, pay attention.  Not everything in Poker is as it seems.

Rap group Cypress Hill warned us of this over 20 years ago.  Maybe you remember it…

So you wanna be a Poker Super Star

And live large

Big stacks, tough folds, hero calls

Comin’ up on the felt, don’t trust nobody

Gotta look for investors constantly

Perhaps this version is better suited (see what I did there?) for a “Weird Al” track, but the message still applies.  

Like any legitimate business model, success does not come easy.  There will be up and downs, heartache, victories, and just plain boring times on the felt.  For most, just breaking even is a winning session.

It is said cash games are where the money is earned, yet the Poker community values tournament play above all else.  How many WSOP bracelets do you have, WPT titles, Circuit rings, etc.  Hendon Mob, which is used as a player’s worth, keeps track of…you guessed it…tournament winnings.

What Hendon Mob doesn’t show is how many entries (or bullets) you fired into any one tournament. For example, placing 12^th in a $150 tournament may appear as $530 in tournament winnings, but having to reenter that tournament two or three times significantly cuts into that net profit.

Here is a post from Ethan Yau “Rampage”, a very popular vlogger in the Poker community, from his recent EPT in Barcelona.  As you can see, the bullets kept firing, but the winnings did not.

“ EPT Barcelona has come to an end. Here’s a breakdown in 3 categories:

Tournament bullets: 17

Bullets cashed: 2

Results: – €72,640 ”   ($77,703USD)

Two tournament cashes:

€81,050 over 17 entries to earn €8,410.  

This example isn’t here to discourage you from pursuing Poker greatness.  In fact, there are several other examples, good and bad, that will help determine your path in this crazy game.

Poker isn’t necessarily survival of the fittest.  Most times, especially in tournaments, it is survival of the richest.  How many times can you re-enter into a tournament if you get unlucky and bust out.

In 2019, Alex Foxen took down the WPT Five Diamond Championship for $1.6M.  With over 1,000 entries, it was the biggest in WPT history.  Notice I said “entries”, not “participants.”  This is because WPT allowed the option for re-entry into this $10,000 tournament.  Alex Foxen fired five bullets at this tournament.  Where most players only had enough bankroll for one entry, or won their entry in a satellite or contest, survival of the richest promotes a different set of standards and how the game is played based on those standards.

I will be the first to admit spending $50,000 to earn $1.6M is an exceptional proposition.  Spending $50k to earn nothing in return…not so much.  This venture could have gone either way.  Kudos to him for achieving the former.

One more example is from world-renowned player Daniel Negreanu.  “Kid Poker” who announced a loss of -$742,807 during the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) campaign spanning 70 events.  

With $1,120,741 in total buy-ins, his 20 cashes earned a total of $377,934.  

Two trains of thought with these numbers:

1. Through investors/backers, Negreanu did not spend $1,000,000 of his own money.  Approximately 25% of this amount was sold to investors.
2. Through those same investors/backers, Negreanu did not pocket $377,934 in cashes.  

For simplicity’s sake, let’s say 25% of the $377,934 was returned to investors, that is a net of $283,450.  This amount does not include monies owed to individual backers (if any were involved), which are separate from investors, at say Poker Stake or some other staking site. 

Now, let’s say the $283,450 was net profit for the year, without any other losses. Roughly half of that will go to taxes, leaving approximately $150,000 fee and clear.

Now you may think “WOW!  $150,000 take-home is amazing!”  Yes, the average player participating in low-to-mid-stakes events can play a lot of Poker with those earnings, but being a Poker Superstar equates to High Roller events and nose-bleed cash games with buy-ins equaling $10,000-$25,000 or more.

This doesn’t consider other Poker tournaments and/or cash games throughout the following year.  There will be obvious ups and downs, heaters and downswings, so no telling what your bankroll will look like at any given time.

Did you catch that word in the previous sentence?  Yes, bankroll.  We’re talkin’ about bankroll…bankroll. Not the money that’s going to pay the bills and continue to provide the means to survive.  We’re talkin’ about BANKROLL.

Yes, the numbers mentioned above only account for your Poker bankroll.  This doesn’t include minimal living expenses.  Not to mention traveling to events, unless you live near the Poker Rooms in which you intend to play day-in and day-out.  That sounds boring for the Poker Superstar lifestyle.

In closing, like any business endeavor, yes, Professional Poker is a business, you need a solid business plan and seed money.  But remember, unlike other businesses, you can’t just simply go out and get a loan from the bank.  Without a steady paycheck/income, acquiring any form of financing will be difficult.  Best be good enough to pay cash for everything.

Who knows, maybe you will become the next Superstar.  Honestly, I hope you do.  Please reach out and tell me how wrong I was.  But for now, ask yourself “what is my plan until/if that dream is achieved?”