Alternative Poker Revenue Streams

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Many poker players aspire to turn professional. Turning a hobby into a profession, and possibly a very lucrative one is something that many poker players dream about. However, the reality of professional poker is that it is not always a reliable income. There are times where you will not win enough to support your lifestyle. As such, you should have other revenue streams to help supplement your poker income.

Today, we will take a look at some of the top supplemental revenue streams available to many online poker pros. Note that we are not financial advisors, so you will need to consult the proper legal counsel before starting any endeavor.

Poker Coaching

A common side hustle that you see poker pros take up is poker coaching. This is the perfect complement to playing professionally. If you have the ability to turn a profit at poker, you can certainly teach someone else to replicate your success. This is particularly true if you are skilled at either writing or presenting.

Poker coaching can be done in various aspects. You can train individual students, sign up as a coach for a poker training site, or even start up your own poker training business. We recommend starting small until you get the hang of coaching and then expand based on your comfort level.

Investing

A more speculative way to earn an income is to invest in various assets. The more traditional investment instruments include stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and CDs. Depending on your knowledge and expertise, you can expect a steady income stream from investing. If anything, you can set yourself up for a more comfortable retirement after your poker playing days are over.

Of course, some of you will gravitate towards cryptocurrency investing. Poker players were among the earliest adopters of Bitcoin and continue to be staunch supporters of Bitcoin and various altcoins. I am also a supporter of crypto. Crypto is much more speculative, but the prospective payouts are worth the risk. If you think about it, putting $50k into Bitcoin is probably going to net you more money than trying to play a random $50k poker tournament.

Real Estate

A much more tangible form of investing is real estate investing. You buy properties and either flip them or fix them up and rent them out. This can generate a substantial income. Some well known poker players are realtors. Karina Jett is a well-known poker player and realtor in Las Vegas.

Other players have invested in real estate and made a killing. While it’s true you will have to spend more time investing in real estate than some of these other revenue streams, the payoffs are worth it.

Poker Staking

Another more speculative revenue stream is poker staking. With staking, you’re helping other players to advance their poker careers while generating extra income when they do well. Poker staking is much more tricky than other revenue streams as you have to pick the right horses for poker cash games and tournaments. However, if you pick the right horses at the right times, you can make a killer profit.

Poker Sponsorship

Back in the early days of the poker boom, a big goal of aspiring pros was to get sponsored by an online poker site. Nowadays, sponsorships are not as plentiful, but poker partnerships still exist. If you can get a deal with a site or company, this can help generate an additional revenue stream and even buy-ins for poker events.

Granted, signing a sponsorship deal is akin to taking a regular job. However, it is a job that lets you play poker, often on the company’s dime. Who knows, you could be rubbing elbows with players like Daniel Negreanu at GGPoker or Chris Moneymaker at Americas’s Cardroom. It can be the best of both worlds.