Becoming a professional poker player isn't easy, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. It just means that there are some things you need to decide upon before you move forward. It involves being realistic and objective.

Poker players are the new rocks stars. Thanks to an overwhelming interest in televised poker, poker Online and the regular guys who have won millions, professional poker players have become celebrities, glowing under the lime light.

While professional poker players are worth a lot of money, winning at high stakes tables and paid through endorsements, many don't earn millions of dollars are anything near that. The majority of long-term poker players are losers. Still, more and more people desire to play poker professionally every day.

It may sound rudimentary, but anyone who wants to play poker professionally, must have skill at the game. If you can't play well, you won't win and you won't earn a living. It's as simple as that. And, it is important to know that making a living playing poker, pretty much means playing Texas Hold'em these days, although it helps to mix it up and play other variations too. Still, there's more to playing professional poker than just handling the cards.

Playing poker requires discipline, not addiction. All it takes is a short time of erratic, poor playing for a good poker player to blow game after game. You can't allow your discipline to take a day off. Treat your time at the table like a day at work. And if you are addicted to poker, find help immediately.

If you decide to play cash games for a living, you will be able to determine how much money you can expect to win in an average hour. Playing this game is sort of like a job since the more hours you put in, the more money you can expect to earn.

If you play Limit cash games well, you should earn one Big bet per hour. If you play No-Limit cash games well, you should earn slightly more. If you can do this consistently, you are an excellent player and should play professionally. However, there are other things to consider.

If you don't live in a city that is a major poker center, you may find it difficult to find games big enough to earn a living. You may have to reduce your standard of living or move to a better location. However, the popularity of poker Online makes it easy to make a living off poker anywhere.

You will also need to bankroll yourself. You need to set aside money for poker. This is not money for food, rent utilities or any other expenditure. It is a separate bankroll. You should keep all your winnings in this account until you have 12 to 18 months worth of savings, then you should be winning enough to treat yourself to some of the profits. It is then that you can call yourself a professional poker player. Most small business fail because they don't have enough money backing them up. Don't let this happen to you. If you want to play poker for a living, treat it as a business.

This is just the beginning to knowing whether or not you're ready to become a poker player professionally.