An Anonymous Regular Offline Cash Game Player Won $450K Over 6 Years

Interview Highlights: Insights from a $450K Live Cash Game Grinder

Do you have any other source of income besides poker?

No. Poker has been my sole source of income since January 1, 2019.

Before poker, I attended business school and did an internship at my brother’s company. He earns around $500K per year, but the office drone lifestyle isn’t for me. Then I sold weed and worked as an Uber driver. Eventually, I started playing poker — first in Pennsylvania, then at MGM National Harbor (Maryland), and now I’m settled in Florida.

Well, is it worth it? You’re earning $75K a year. Essentially useless, no decent job would hire you. You’d be better off spending that time on education, gaining skills, and making useful connections — it would increase your future income manifold.

My income grows every year. I started at $1/2, now I play $5/10 and occasionally participate in private games. I’ve befriended a billionaire and met more interesting people than you can imagine. Poker is one of the best ways to make useful connections.

I’m sure any guy with a regular job will overshadow the author of this discussion in 6 years. The author has no benefits, no sick leave, and won’t have a retirement.

And I don’t have a boss and work when I want. I don’t need sick leave: if I’m sick, I just rest at home. And I’m saving money for my retirement—that’s what responsible people do.

So, you’re only winning $74K a year. You’re a great example of how little you can earn grinding offline.

My lifetime graph doesn’t actually give the full picture of how much I’m making now and how much I’ve made since playing $2/5 and above. Since the beginning of 2021, I’ve earned around $300K — this includes significant downswings lasting several months. Fortunately, there weren’t many of them.”

Do you have health insurance?

I had insurance for several years, but I recently moved to Florida and haven’t gotten a new one yet. Personally, I think it’s better to pay for a doctor’s visit than for insurance — it’s cheaper that way.

Where did you get your starting bankroll?

I worked a regular job and saved up.

Crazy graph! I’ve never seen someone play with a win rate of 30 bb/100. No questions.

Thank you. The graph could have been better. I spent almost the whole of 2019 on monkey tilt — just wasted a year. And in 2020, I didn’t play for half a year because of the pandemic.

What were your biggest leaks at $1-2?

Misunderstanding how bad people play live and how to play against them.

Tilt. I used to be one of those players who would tilt their stack if the game wasn’t going well. Or lose a stack at the beginning of the session and then grind all night to make it back.

I also play monkey tilt and often tilt my stack. How did you learn to deal with it?

I was just young, emotional, and stupid. Eventually, I realized that the best way to make money is to play solid poker.

What were your biggest downswings during this time?

Twice for about a month and a half each. Once last summer and the second one at the beginning of this year. In total, I lost $60K over two downswings.

What was the most you’ve lost in a session?

On Christmas in 2022, I lost $6K at $5/10/25. Unfortunately, in this game, the maximum buy-in is only $2.5K. It’s a $5/10 limit, but in 99% of hands, a straddle of $25 is placed. In my opinion, it would have been better to either increase the buy-in to $5K or remove the straddles. I prefer playing with deep stacks. But I try to outplay these wizards whose strategy is perfectly calculated with 100 bb deep.

Give advice on how to find motivation to play regularly?

Proper nutrition and exercise give you an advantage over opponents. A clear mind = less stress = better decision-making. And dealing with bad beats is easier when you lead a healthy lifestyle.

Give advice to a competent $2/5 regular who hasn’t yet broken his limit.

If your bankroll allows it, move up in limits. You’ll gain more confidence and understand how well you can play. And when you come back to $2/5, it will be easier to see all the mistakes your opponents make. And then exploiting them will become your second nature.

Put in hours at the table to gain experience and strengthen your intuition.

Study quality theory.

Improve your metagame and bankroll management.

You talk about exploiting at $1/3 and $2/5. Can you give an example of the exploits you used in these games?

My exploit was based on opponents being very unbalanced + my ability to read opponents.

For example, in some situations, I was very happy when an opponent three-bet me. In this case, when I called and collected a strong combination, I won tons of money.

Didn’t you feel like it was all some kind of scam? I also make a living playing cash games for about a year. And to me, the most important thing is that you feel good about it.

Definitely. It’s all about maximizing your income when things are going well and minimizing losses when they’re not.

Do you work with solvers?

I did a little when I was trying to figure out how to play against regs. I don’t do much training because most of the time I play against very bad players.

How do you work on your game?

I watch poker videos. I don’t have any serious training. Maybe only 2 hours a month I really study something seriously. I watch hand analyses by top players for free on YouTube.

I mostly play 5 days a week. The fields at $2/5 are so weak that it’s better to just keep playing and not waste time on training. But at $5/10/25, I meet top regs, so I have to brush up on theory to break even or make a profit against them.

You play NLHE. Have you ever thought about playing PLO?

Studying PLO is a great decision. There’s almost never a bad game in Omaha.

Why don’t you play MTTs?

Because I like making money. Only cash game players make money. MTT players, God willing, break even. Give MTT players a plastic cup in their hands—they’ll be as happy as if they won the Super Bowl.

How much tax do you pay?

What are taxes?

What app do you use to track your poker results?

Poker Income.

Give advice to online players.

Use good RTA lol.