Whilst ‘comping’ isn’t a new concept, in recent years its popularity has blossomed as the internet has grown. Sites like our own have helped thousands of people discover, follow and track competitions online. More and more big name brands are using competitions to promote their products and use social media to generate interest and shares.
Competitions are fun and potentially highly rewarding. So it’s no surprise that many people are investing more time into them and enter hundreds of competitions per week or month. Competitions are (except when tie-breakers or the like are used) luck-based – therefore the strategy is all about numbers – the more you enter, the more chance you have of winning. Pretty simple – however as more people do comping either on a part-time (or even nearly full-time) basis, volume of entries becomes increasingly paramount.
Earning money or winning things online is now part of many people’s lives, be it selling things on the net, comping, or blogging with affiliate revenue. Something that’s become massively popular in the last ten years is playing poker online. Poker historically was something confined to ‘bricks and mortar’ casinos and suffered from quite a negative perception from the public.
However, back in 2003 a totally unknown player called Chris Moneymaker (great name, eh?) won the prestigious World Series of Poker and turned his $39 (from an online ‘satellite’ tournament) into $2.5 million. This kicked off something called the ‘MoneyMaker effect’ which started a massive boom in the online poker world, as people saw the vast amounts of money that could be won online.
As a result, many people became professional poker players, relishing the freedom of playing online whenever they wanted, from the comfort of their homes. Here in the UK, one massive benefit is that poker winnings (both on and offline) aren’t taxable.
With so many ways to make money online these days, many compers are diversifying away from purely luck based things like competition entries, to ways they can use skill – which is where poker comes in. Poker certainly has a degree of luck involved, however it is predominantly a game of skill, which requires strategy, discipline and a large dose of psychology as well as ‘reading’ your opponent.. Like comping, poker offers flexibility in terms of when and where it can be played – with mobile/tablet play now easy as well, as the big poker brands now offer apps for both Apple and Android devices.
Of course, the big difference between comping and poker is that you need to risk your own money. Comping just requires time, patience and perhaps the occasional bit of junk mail as a side effect. Poker means you’re going to have to stump up money to win money. If you want to persue it as an ongoing concern, you need to be disciplined enough to follow ‘bankroll management’ – that is, not playing games that have bigger buy-ins than what you can afford.
Before we get on to the good stuff about winning, let’s state a few things you need to know about poker so you’ve got a realistic idea of the game and what to expect:
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Luck is a factor but skill is more important
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‘Variance’ should be expected – which means unfortunately that sometimes you can be playing perfectly but still lose. The key here is to not get emotional or frustrated about it. A good comper should be used to this!
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You’ll need to know some basic poker maths to help your game
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You need to continually try to improve your game (reading blogs, forums, books etc)
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You won’t always win!
Let’s talk winning
Money, money, money – us compers love going for the big wins – the 5 star holidays, the fast car, the cash. Sometimes we just win a DVD or a book – whilst it’s fun and we still get a buzz out of scoring a win, it’s still the big prizes we’re gunning for.
Poker can also offer both small wins and massive ones. The bigger your ‘buy in’, the bigger the possible prize. PokerStars (arguably the largest, most trusted poker site in the world) have their famous big tournament each Sunday called the ‘Sunday Million’ – where at least $1million in prize money is guaranteed. These big tournaments go on for hours and take stamina but they certainly pay off!
Or you can always just play for a few pennies – it’s a great way of getting to grips with the game. Many poker sites even allow you to use ‘play money’ so you don’t risk anything – but then of course you can’t win anything either!
Competition entries, whilst being luck-based, require a strategy – perhaps just simple things like auto-form filling, or using sites like ours to get the heads-up on the newest competitions. Poker also requires strategy, however the added factor is your opponents – whilst you can’t see them, you’re playing against real people. Your goal is to ‘play’ them by thinking about what cards they may have, what they think you have, and so on. In poker, this is called ‘levelling’.
Professional cash game poker players often play games for hundreds of thousands of pounds. You can watch them play via being on ‘observer’ at their table – it can be quite disconcerting to see them winning/losing in one hand more than your house is worth!
To wrap up then, if you’re a comper who’s keen to branch out into other ways of winning money online, it’s worth giving poker a go. As the main sites are now massive companies and brands, these days safety and security comes as standard, along with great customer service. Players who are loyal to one site can also get player points and bonuses.
Finally, if you don’t think you can play poker, remember – if a cat can do it.