A Career in Poker: How Much Professional Players Earn

Top poker players around the world earn millions of dollars every year. The 2026 overall leader — Brandon Wilson — won $5,196,247 in 3 months. However, the majority of professionals in the industry do not achieve such results. In this article, we will look at players’ incomes in cash games, tournaments and Spins. Along the way, we will also discuss the difficulties that come with a poker career. 

Can you live off poker

Thousands of people around the world support themselves through poker. However, over 75% of players lose money in the long run. The path to a stable income takes several years and requires systematic work. You will not become a millionaire in poker in an instant.

Poker as a profession

A professional poker career is often contrasted with classic 5\2 jobs. The card game is seen as an easy way to break the routine. The carefree picture is accompanied by photos of the beach, palm trees, a hammock and a laptop. The possibility of quick success is underlined by Chris Moneymaker’s victory at WSOP 2003 or by millionaires from Spin&Go tournaments. 

One of the most popular live festivals — PokerStars Caribbean Adventure — has welcomed a tropical paradise in the Bahamas for decades

The merciless reality of poker instantly shatters inflated expectations. A few defeats in a row leave novice players disappointed. Many newcomers forget about the game after early setbacks.

Good results in poker require: hard work, systematic effort, discipline, regular study, self-belief and the ability to take a hit. The same skills lead to success in other professions. It is well worth familiarising yourself with the harsh statistics:

• 75% of players lose money in the long run;

• 15% — show near-break-even results;

• 10% — earn consistently from poker;

• 2% — have earned more than $10,000 over their career. 

The difficulty of the journey and the low odds of becoming a professional poker player will put many beginners off. However, those who decide to try will approach the game with realistic expectations. A poker career can be divided into 3 types:

1. Winning amateur. Spends a few hours a week on the game, has modest skills, but still earns a little.

2. Semi-professional. Combines a regular job with poker. Plays actively after work and at weekends. Poker income covers part of their needs.

3. Professional. Poker is the only source of income. Devotes 40–60 hours a week to the game.

You can start a poker career at any level. FunFarm training programmes will help you assess your interest in the game and its prospects. FF Start offers 30 lessons for self-study. The course is suitable for winning amateurs. For more advanced players, we recommend FF Player Path. Over 8 months, participants will build a foundation, complete 15 levels of training and reach a monthly income of $1,200. 

How much poker players earn

Poker income depends on several factors: discipline, stake level, number of hands or tournaments, rakeback, rake, and taxes in the player’s country. Let’s look at the figures for the top representatives of each discipline and stake level.

Cash. Let’s take the results of PokerStars and Winning Poker Network players for May 2025.

The income leader example shows that poker players play several stakes at once. Therefore, the number of hands and final winnings may differ.

Tournaments. To calculate how much a poker player earns in MTTs, players use the Return on Investment, or ROI, figure. It is calculated like this: 

((prize money / buy-ins) – 1) x 100%. 

For example: a poker player played 50 $2 tournaments and won $200. Their ROI is: ((200/100) – 1) x 100% = 100%. Every dollar invested brought the player 100% profit. 

Here is what the top 10 of online tournament poker looked like in 2025:

We will also present statistics for FunFarm staking players: 

To build the full picture, let’s look at the career prize money of live poker stars. As of April 2026, the top 10 looked like this:

For winning a major poker tournament, a player can earn several million. The World Series of Poker Main Event champion often takes home from $10,000,000. The largest amount was taken by the winner of the 2023 WSOP Main Event — Daniel Weinman. 

The WSOP 2023 champion poses with the gold bracelet and record prize money

Weinman was paid $12,100,000. The absolute record for prize money in a single tournament is held by Bryn Kenney with a win of £16,890,509 in Triton Million for Charity. The impression is slightly dulled by the £1,050,000 buy-in. Kenney increased the entry fee 17-fold. Entry into the WSOP Main Event costs $10,000: the champion of the tournament takes home from 1,000 buy-ins.

Spin-and-Go. In theory, the format allows you to win huge money in a matter of minutes. For example, at Winamax Poker in a tournament with a €2 buy-in, you can win €800,000. The problem with the format is the modest chance of hitting the jackpot. The required multiplier drops once in 10,000,000 Spins. Far more often, poker players battle for 2–4 buy-ins. Approximate player earnings over a sample of 3,000 tournaments look like this:

Players’ incomes are also affected by room promotions. Take a €100 Twister on RedStar Poker as an example. The room set the rake at 7%. The loyalty programme provides 35% rakeback. Over 3,000 Spins, the player will pay €21,000 in fees. RedStar Poker will return €7,350 to them. That is a sum comparable to income from play. In addition, the room organises daily races for Twister players. The indirect profit from the loyalty programme and leaderboards can exceed direct poker winnings.

Online or live play — which to choose for a poker career

The first steps in poker are easier to take online. To get to know the game, just go to Google Play or the App Store and download the app. The internet makes it possible to build a poker career from scratch. For example, Viktor Malinovsky and Annette Obrestad won their first money in free MTTs. Online poker is also valued for the speed of learning: in a couple of online sessions, a player will play more hands than their live counterpart will in a month. Specialist software also improves the efficiency of study. 

Residents of some countries were spared the dilemma and had poker banned outside gaming zones

It is easy to find arguments in favour of live play too. The main one is softer fields. The standard of players in live poker is lower than online. Better decisions against live opponents are helped by tells and by talking to them. Online, an opponent will not start holding their breath or blinking often. Nor will trembling hands give them away. Another plus of live poker is prize money. All the biggest MTTs take place offline. Online players need time to adapt. Live poker regulars are already ready to conquer the WSOP or Triton Series. 

Many professional poker players combine live and online. Take Nikita Bodyakovsky as an example. In live tournaments, the player has earned $67,752,594. However, Bodyakovsky is strong online too. His list of victories includes: 

• $1,100,000 for first place in a $25,500-buy-in MTT on POKEROK in 2021;

• $594,000 for third place in the WCOOP in 2015;

• $570,000 for second place in the SCOOP in 2017;

• $569,575 for second place in the WCOOP in 2017;

• $164,000 for winning the Sunday Million in 2012. 

We should also mention Niklas Lena900 Astedt. Online, the player has earned almost $50,000,000. Over time, success also came at live festivals. For example, in 2026 he won the EPT Paris €50,000 Super High Roller and received €625,600. In 2024, Lena900 finished third in the WSOP Main Event. The disappointment of that defeat was softened by $4,000,000.

There is no universal answer. If you want rapid progress and are ready for fierce competition, start online. If you value comfort and can read people, play live. We recommend taking the best from both worlds: the internet gives rapid progress, live festivals give big prize money and the chance to travel.

Where to start a poker career

When getting to know the game, beginners learn the rules. New poker players memorise hand rankings, betting rounds and position names. Basic information can be learned from books, articles and training videos. At the next stages, players:

• Choose the right format. Modern online poker offers 3 directions: cash, tournaments and Spins. In cash games, variance is lower, but you will not win much money in a session either. Winning a tournament can multiply a buy-in hundreds of times, but success may take months to arrive. Spins can allow you to win a million in 7–10 minutes. However, the required multiplier appears with vanishingly low probability. Beginners are better off starting with tournaments or cash games.

• Choose a room to play in. Beginner players choose platforms according to different criteria. Usually they look at: the welcome promotion, the loyalty programme, software quality and the convenience of payment methods. Beginners should also consider the room’s policy on tracking software. Without Hand2Note or PokerTracker 4, it is harder to progress. That is why RedStar Poker, PokerStars or PokerKing are better suited to beginners. 

• Build a starting bankroll. Over the short run, poker results depend on variance. To survive a bad run, you need a buffer. In cash games, it is recommended to have 30 to 50 buy-ins for your working stake. Example: playing NL10 requires a bankroll of at least $300. In tournaments, variance is higher, so a buffer of 100 to 150 buy-ins is needed. For example, you can play $50 MTTs with $5,000 on the balance. We devoted a separate article to bankroll management.

• Buy software. Statistical programmes and an equity calculator will be most useful for beginners. Hand2Note or PokerTracker 4 will solve the task of gathering information on opponents. It is convenient to analyse hands in Flopzilla or Power-Equilab. Many developers allow you to try the software for free.

• Train to review sessions. At the early stages of a career, it is important to analyse every mistake. The more thoroughly a beginner approaches the review, the faster they progress. If you want to improve the effectiveness of analysis, write down conclusions and recommendations after each review.

• Join poker schools. To accelerate and systemise learning, you can join a staking fund. Schools and funds are ready to teach players in exchange for a share of their income. Most organisations do not take players without experience. However, there are exceptions: graduates of FF Start are invited to continue their training at FunFarm.  

Regular work in a calculator helps to avoid basic mistakes

Many celebrated professionals started blogs at the beginning of their careers. A personal diary helps you set goals, track progress and find like-minded people. You can start a blog on popular poker resources. A Telegram channel will do too.

How much study is needed to earn money from poker

To treat poker as a profession, you need to show stable results over the long run. Winning $4,000–$5,000 in your second tournament of your career is not a reason to quit your job. There is a strong chance that the player’s quick success was not due to exceptional ability, but to a favourable variance run. In MTTs, the real level of skill is difficult to assess. A nice SharkScope graph is not decisive evidence either. To get an objective picture, you need to analyse a hand database carefully.

In cash games, the path to stable results at NL25–NL50 takes 1.5–2 years. That is an average figure: poker history includes examples of players moving from NL2 to NL100 within a year. In tournaments, it is possible to reach a monthly income of from $1,500 within a year. The FF Player Path programme provides for growth to $1,200 over 8 months of study. The speed of progress is determined by the quality of the training. Work with a coach, regularly review hands with other players, analyse sessions in software — and the result will not be long in coming. Ignore bankroll management, tilt, and fail to spend time studying — and you will get stuck at low stakes.

Beginners are advised to follow the ratio “1 hour of study to 4 hours of play”. It allows theory and practice to be combined. The player receives new information and reinforces it in real conditions. Another approach can also be used. For example, carry out a deep analysis every 50,000 hands. Over the long run, success will be determined by consistency and the quality of training.

Risks and difficulties of a poker career

Professional poker is often associated with freedom and high earnings. The beautiful picture hides pitfalls. The main problem in a player’s career is financial instability. Poker players regularly go through long bad runs. Sometimes you can play well and still suffer defeats for several months in a row. 

Graphs from the variance calculator are a convincing argument in favour of a conservative bankroll

However, money is only the tip of the iceberg. Regular losses increase psychological pressure, trigger tilt and depression. You cannot discuss problems with office colleagues, and loved ones do not always understand the finer points of poker. The lack of social guarantees does not help either. Poker players are not given paid sick leave. Nor do the rooms pay a regular salary. The player is left one-on-one with emergencies.

The situation is made worse by growing competition. Gradually, the skill level of opponents rises. To outplay rivals, a professional spends a lot of time studying. Sometimes poker eats up all free hours and energy. As a result, personal life and health suffer.

The legal status of poker creates additional risks. Should a professional player pay taxes? What percentage of income should be handed over to the state? Do online winnings count, or do the tax authorities track only live play? It all depends on the legislation of the player’s country of residence. For example, Montenegro does not recognise online play as a source of income. Therefore, tax does not have to be paid on online winnings. In Russia, the approach is different: from their income, the player must pay personal income tax at a rate of 13% to 22%.

How do you become a professional poker player? You need to keep yourself within strict boundaries. Top poker players regularly do sport, keep a sleep routine, work with mental coaches and build relationships with colleagues. Stamina will also improve if you give up bad habits. A cigarette or a bar of chocolate will ease the disappointment of a loss, but over the long run it works against you. We discussed a healthier approach in more detail in the material about signs of burnout.

Advantages of a poker career

The advantages of poker outweigh the drawbacks. That is why professionals are willing to endure long downswings and pressure. The main benefits of a poker career:

• Autonomy. The player makes all decisions independently. They have no boss. They do not need to follow a dress code or arrive at work at 8:00 in the morning. If the poker player is tired of the daily grind, they take a holiday and go travelling. No approvals from HR or a manager are needed. 

• Fast growth. To earn a decent living in a traditional job, you need to spend 5 years at university and gain experience. As a result, a specialist reaches decent money 7–8 years after leaving school. In poker, you can reach a similar monthly income in 1–2 years. Another plus is that the room does not ask to see a degree from a prestigious institution or relevant work experience. Many poker professionals earn more than top executives in large companies.

• A chance to see the world. Online poker makes it possible to play from anywhere on the planet. Players travel and change countries without losing their source of income. Poker lets you live wherever you want and work as much as you want. Some professionals successfully combine career and travel by following major tournament series. In April you go to the Belarus Poker Tour, in May you battle at Battle of Malta, in June you conquer the WSOP in Las Vegas. Tired of the kaleidoscope of countries? You launch the room client and work from home.

Before you become a professional poker player, assess its advantages and disadvantages

Poker is easier to combine with other fields. A player can simultaneously run a travel blog, invest or launch a Twitch channel. Poker stars also earn extra income from sponsorship deals. For example, Daniel Negreanu’s partnership with PokerStars brought him between $2,000,000 and $4,000,000 annually. There is no data on the player’s current deal with GGPoker, but it is unlikely that the world’s leading room pays less.