Everyone wants to become rich from poker but this is obviously not going to happen. Poker is a at best a zero sum game. In order for you to win, others must lose. What sets the winners apart from the losers is not luck. The winners are not dare devils but actually cowards. They are always playing it safe. For them it is all about maths. They win because they are better at the maths than those who lose. Winning at poker is not about taking home a few big hands and escape with the money before the luck runs out. It is about playing countless hands mathematically and consistently. In the long run this will translate into more money than lost, assuming that the majority of your opponents are inferior. It is all about choosing the right opponents, patience, consistency and bankroll management.

Managing a bankroll is all about maintaining a ratio between the stakes and your budget. You must afford to take losses without running out of money. There’s no way to win all the time. Losses will happen. You must adjust the stakes you are playing to the budget you have, otherwise you will be out of dough quickly.

Another important characteristic of a professional poker player is the ability to mentally cope with bad streaks. Most people start doing irrational things when their poker game goes downhill. They start playing looser and more aggressively and some even move up to higher stakes. A professional player does exactly the opposite, he starts playing tighter and he moves down to lower stakes if his bankroll no longer can handle the current stakes. Poker is a game of skill, not a game of chance and players that take unnecessary chances are immediately eaten alive by the sharks. If you want to become rich from poker you must learn how to play poker like a professional first.

There are several ways to do this; buying a book at Amazon (make sure to read the reviews carefully first), Learn how to play poker by taking the poker school at waytoplaypoker.com (highly recommended) and studying the forum at two plus two (also highly recommended).