Unless you only want to play free poker tournaments for simple fun then a major objective will be making money. Or to clarify that, you are looking for a profit.
So how is it possible to start playing free poker with not much or no money and generate a real cash bank roll and become profitable to the point where your poker play can provide you with an extra of even full-time income.
If you are a poker novice and have no start-up cash fund then I can’t say it will be easy, it’s not, it’s hard work. However it is possible, people do it and in this free poker guide I am going to go through the basics that you need to know in order to begin your mission.
Working out your poker profit – The Formulas
The most profitable poker is that which generates the most money in the shortest time and lowest cost. For this we will use some very basic calculations to figure out your poker profitability.
Profit is basically the difference between your start-up bankroll and your end bankroll over the period of time in question, be it a day, week, month, year etc. So Final bankroll minus Starting bankroll = Profit for period.
You also need to calculate your income. For this divide the profit by the hours dedicated to play poker. So salary = Profit/Hours.
How to play for your profit
There are 2 main types of game you can play. There are tournaments and ring games.
In order to make ring game poker profitable from the start and never lose money you need a sponsor for your initial bankroll. Most cash poker sites will match a deposit but of course that means you need to put your personal money down too.
If you are willing to risk a small amount of money and know how to play poker quite well already then the risk might be worth it, but if not or you cannot play well you should first find a good free online poker that offers a start up play money bank-roll. The better free poker sites offer options to cash your free money in for actual cash bankrolls on partner cash poker sites once you have won enough. Check the free site out first to make sure they have this sort of cash up swap deal in place with cash sites who accept players from your country.
Tournaments are similar. Start free and build from there losing only money which is already profit.
Firstly you begin with free poker freerolls. Free poker tournament sites offer many and as with ring games you can earn play money credits you can convert to real cash on cash poker online sites. As you become better and win more you step up entry cost and risk-reward levels and make your online poker income.
Critical – Keep the risk in line with your bankroll and winning consistency
Only step-up levels when you’re certain that your poker skill is good enough to win at the next level up on a regular basis. A straightforward formula you can use is to say once you’ve played 30 tournaments at $0.10 and have won a minimum of $10 then you can step up to say $0.20.
And if of course you get a losing streak then you are losing money that is profit not your own money. Not fun but you get to keep going. Back down to the level below if you need to and keep going – “2 steps forward, one step back” is the name of the game. Your profit will not be a linear straight line and if you can accept that you will be able to keep going and progress steadily and absorb those corrections.
If you are new to online poker then learn first and play free
poker at one of the best free poker tournaments sites. Here you can learn how to play poker for beginners absolutely free with no risk to your own money and start building a bankroll to cash in for real money when you are ready to go bigtime and play poker online to win money.

