It is always a good idea at any form of poker or anything that you do in life to have a plan of how you are going to proceed. Usually this involves data gathering and then formulating a clear cut plan of attack that you do not deviate from under any circumstances. This is where I feel an awful lot of people go wrong in poker because they simply have no clear cut way of proceeding and every decision is part of a vacuum instead of being connected together in some clearly thought out strategic plan.

If you are a little unsure how to formulate a plan then let me make one for you. Starting out to play Texas Hold’em poker you decide that you will try and accumulate as much “free” money as you can and make it your goal to have sign up bonuses and rakeback as a major part of your plan to make money. Your data gathering has informed you that the current climate of no-limit hold’em games is getting tougher and so you need to offset this with as much financial help that you can gather.

You have also correctly identified that while you know a lot about poker through studying, there is still an awful lot that you don’t know when it comes to knowing how to make an awful lot of money. Part of your plan also involves playing schedules designed to fit around your other daily routines. You plan to utilise the sign up bonuses and rakeback and play tight poker. You have identified that you don’t play well post flop and that you also have character flaws.

No Limit Texas Hold’em punishes such flaws so you decide on a plan of attack to side step them. This means playing fewer flops by playing tighter. You also strongly consider short stacking as well and this is another viable way for unskilled players to make money playing poker. Believe it or not, unskilled players can make money playing poker. In a way this just reflects the working life in general. Skilled people earn far more than unskilled people on average and also people who have specialist knowledge. But yet if you lack specialist knowledge or are unskilled in any profession then this does not mean that you cannot make money in work.

We all know that to be wrong as the vast majority of people earn their living in low paid jobs that have no specialist knowledge or skills. Well poker can be like that but as long as you are doing that “low paid” job properly then even though you lack professional skills or specialist knowledge then this still does not prevent you from being able to earn a wage from being an employee for someone else. So it is clear that if you can find a good process that works in poker and you are prepared to “work” for your wages at the “basement” levels then you can and will make money in poker if you work with a plan.