Fact: 90 percent of those who play poker on the Net are losing players, five percent break even, and the remaining five percent win in the long haul. It’s true. Only 1 in 20 actually has a growing bankroll.

This might sound strange since almost all poker players – at least the ones I’ve met – claim to be winning. But the odds are against that I only should’ve bumped into players in the top five percent. No, I think people simply forget about their losses. Something a winning player never does.

Nevertheless, it’s possible to reach positive expectation – you (only) need to be a better player than most of the ones you’re up against. This can be achieved in a two ways:

First we have the category of winning players who have done it the hard way. Learning by doing or learning by grinding. Then there is a category of players who combine their playing with poker studies. They don’t have to pay for all mistakes. Instead they read about other players who’ve done them and learn a winning strategy through others.

Here, I’ll give you a glimpse of what has made me reach the top five percent of poker players, and hopefully you’ll get some advices that’ll save you some bucks at the table.