Do You Have What It Takes To Play Professional Poker?

By Travel Tunica on Thursday August 20, 2015

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For almost all of us, a day or evening in the casino, or even a trip of a few days, is a nice break from everyday life. We’re excited for the wins when they come, but we know that more often than not, we’re going to be paying for the day’s entertainment.

But there are a few who dream of playing professionally. When I hear from them, I always urge caution. Take the video poker player who emailed recently to say, “I can usually get a royal flush every 30 days. I can be a professional player? I play video poker every day.”

From that email, I couldn’t tell how good a player he is. Royal flushes come up about once per 40,000 hands, and you don’t have to be a good player to get them. Some strategies that actually cost you money in the long run lead to increased frequency of royals.

Leaving aside issues of skill level, opportunities for professional play are small. In Tunica, there are a number of games that pay 99 percent-plus with expert play, but none that pay the profit level of 100 percent or more. A quick scan of the database at VPFree2.com finds 9-6 Jacks or Better, a 99.5-percent game if you play at expert level, at Fitzgerald’s, Sam’s Town and Tunica Roadhouse, and there are a number of other 99-percenters around town.

But 99.5 percent still leaves you short of 100, even if you add in player rewards. That’s not an opportunity to play for profit.

In other areas, especially Las Vegas locals casinos, there are 100-percent games such as 10-7-5 Double Bonus Poker, which returns 100.17 percent with expert play. But even on those, the profit margin is very small and there are wide bankroll swings with large losses while you wait for the rare, big-paying hands.

You need the right games to be available, you need the skill and discipline to make the right plays, and you need enough bankroll to withstand the lean times.

The bottom line: I do not recommend trying to play video poker professionally.