A friend of mine runs a very successful call handling service for small businesses. He’s also an experienced poker player, one of those rare people who manages to do very well out of it. He says it’s mostly because he knows exactly when to stop, he’s highly organised and sets himself very strict spending limits.
Victoria Coren, the host of the TV quiz Only Connect, made and lost a million playing poker and the top ten players list includes some seriously massive wins. But apparently you can only access the really big money if you play live games and that’s for the experts. Not the ‘fish’, the beginners and amateurs. But my mate reckons it’s entirely possible to make a good few hundred quid a month when you bring a mix of logic, creativity and self control into play.
It’s also just as easy to lose your shirt. Mind you, you can lose your life savings playing bingo if you’re obsessive enough. It’s a matter of self control. I wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole if I thought I’d get hooked. Luckily I’m far too tight to blow all my cash in a frenzy of hot-blooded excitement. I can’t even force myself to put a quid on a sweepstake and because I’m very aware of the risks – a family member is a chronic gambling addict – I reckon I might be a good candidate.
As you can imagine it’s very different playing poker online compared to real life. You don’t need a poker face for a start, good news when mine’s an open book. Better still my gambling friend is writing a detailed ‘how to’ guide about making money playing online poker. And I’m editing it, which means I’ll end up reading and digesting the lot.
I think that puts me in an ideal position to test his theory and report back. Now all I need to do is learn to play poker! That’ll be a good thing to do during the Christmas holidays.
His information pack is due out in the new year, and I’ll plan a test as soon as it’s launched…
