Most people assume that the only way to consistently make money in poker is by playing the game professionally. However, this could not be further from the truth, as there are many ways to make money from poker without playing poker. From promoting poker sites to working in the poker industry, creating poker content, and backing other players, the industry offers multiple ways to make money from poker without playing.
In this guide, we break down the specifics of how to make money from poker without playing and teach you how you can profit from the game through a variety of activities away from the tables.
Poker Room Referral Programs
One of the simplest ways to make money from poker without playing poker is by signing up for a poker referral program. Such a program allows you to promote a major online poker site, like GGPoker, BCPoker, or Phenom Poker, and earn money or other rewards for every player you send their way.
Some poker referral schemes reward you with a one-time payment when your referral completes a certain goal. For example, at Phenom Poker, you can earn $50 for every player you send to the site who generates a total of $100 in gross rake.
Other sites offer an ongoing rewards model, where you can continue receiving rewards as long as your referrals are active. At BCPoker, for example, you can earn ongoing cashback of up to 30% based on your referral’s qualifying activity while that player remains active. This may make it a suitable option for referring players who intend to play long-term and generate a significant volume.
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At some poker sites, referral rewards may combine a fixed payment with a smaller ongoing reward based on the referred player’s qualifying activity. This type of arrangement is less common in referral programs, but it does exist, so make sure you familiarize yourself with the referral scheme before referring any players to a site.
The great thing about referral programs is that many existing players can benefit from them. If you are eligible, all you need to do is sign up with the operator and opt in to the program. You will be given a link that you can use to refer players through any platform you have, whether it’s sending it to close friends or sharing it through your social media channels.
Becoming a Poker Affiliate
Being a poker affiliate is similar to using poker referral programs, but it takes the idea of promoting poker sites to the next level. A poker affiliate may work with more than one affiliate program and promote multiple poker sites through a website, blog, or social media. The biggest poker affiliates often use multiple channels to promote sites, and affiliate marketing can become a significant source of income.
In order to use poker affiliate links to make money, you will need to sign up for the relevant programs, get the links, and establish a presence on the internet. Different affiliates take different approaches, but they all have to establish trust and ensure that people reading or watching their content believe the sites they are promoting are worth playing at.
As a poker affiliate, your job is to help poker players find the best sites to play at, teach them how to make the most of their time playing poker, and help them avoid potential traps. Poker affiliate programs commonly offer a fixed CPA deal (a one-time payment), a RevShare deal (continued payments based on net revenue), or a hybrid deal (a fixed payment plus a percentage of net revenue). Generally, the more qualifying players you can get to sign up and play, the more revenue you can make in the long run.
Backing and Staking Poker Players
The best way to earn money from poker without playing it is by staking players who do play and are actually good at the game. Players take poker staking deals in order to fund their play for various reasons, and you can often find players with great poker skills who need poker backing. In fact, some of the biggest earners in the poker world are people funding others to play, not playing themselves.
Poker staking can involve both cash game and tournament poker players looking for a bankroll to play with. Tournament deals can involve a single event or a series, or be long-term deals, while cash game staking deals are typically long-term arrangements in which the player shares their profit with the backer over an extended period of time. In most cases, the profit is split 50/50, but great players may ask for more than 50% of the profit when playing on a staking deal.
The poker staking ecosystems is a complex one, and has changed greatly over the years. Today, online and live poker players can both find staking deals via online forums, poker communities, or dedicated websites where major poker “stables” recruit players. A poker “stable” is a name for a group of players backed by a single person or entity. These players often play the same or similar game formats and stakes, and share resources, participate in coaching sessions, and help each other grow and improve over time.
While staking in poker is generally legal and allowed by most poker sites, some operators, such as GGPoker, do ban organized stables. What’s even more, players who are a part of the same stable are not allowed to collude to improve each others’ results in any way.
There are a few popular types of staking deals that you will see in poker these days:
- One Time Staking Arrangement: A player is staked for a single tournament or cash game session by an individual or an organized staking group. The deal is usually 50/50, and the backer takes any losses. This type of a deal is rare these days, as it does not give the backer a chance to recoup their losses.
- Long Term Staking with Makeup: In this typical staking deal, a backer stakes a player over an extended period of time. If a player loses, they incur “makeup”, which is paid back by continuing to play on the stake. The player can only cash out winnings when the stake is not in makeup, and is in profit.
- Buying Shares with Markup: A common type of staking in tournament poker. A player sells a portion of their tournament buy-in with “markup. A markup represents a fee the player is charging for allowing the backer to buy shares. For example, 50% of a $100 buy-in at 1.2 markup would cost $60, instead of $50, as the player is charging a markup to sell the shares. With this deal, the backer buys a share of the profits, but pays a fee before the tournament even starts.
- Swapping: Tournament poker players often “swap” pieces of their action. This type of a deal involves two players playing in the same event and exchanging some equity. For example, if 20% is swapped, the player who makes the money owes the other player 20% of their reward. Players use swapping as an easy way to hedge their bets, often swapping with other players at a similar skill level.
Working in the Poker Industry
Perhaps the most traditional way of making money in poker is by working a traditional job within the industry. There are many poker jobs that will pay you a salary in a similar way to jobs in any other industry. Whether you work in a live poker room as a dealer or a floorman, join an online poker operator as part of their customer support or product teams, or work for a poker affiliate, the industry offers thousands of opportunities to monetize your poker knowledge and make a living out of the game without actually playing it yourself.
The number of poker jobs you can do has been increasing in recent years as well, with the growth of the poker content industry. Poker vloggers and content creators have been hiring people to help them create their content and building teams around their brands. The advantage of these jobs is that they often pay very well, offer flexible working hours, and allow for lots of creativity.
Whether you are looking for a traditional job such as dealing cards, one in product development or programming, or want to join the poker content industry, there are many opportunities out there. If you know your way around poker, you may even be able to join GipsyTeam by filling one of our active job roles. Don’t forget to check in often, as we post new job ads whenever a position opens up.
Coaching and Educational Products
If you are a good poker player with proven success, there is money to be made in poker coaching! Starting a poker business that revolves around coaching products is a popular way for poker players to monetize their knowledge and expertise, while simultaneously helping other players improve their games and win more money through actual play.
Poker coaching is not easy, and creating products that people will want to pay for is challenging. There are many poker coaches out there these days, and the competition is stiff, which is why only quality products can hope to succeed. Yet, if you are a good poker player and an even better teacher, there is really no ceiling as to how much you can profit from a poker coaching business. Poker courses paid on a one-time basis, long-term subscriptions, and other models can all work, as long as your content gets the interest from the poker community.
At GipsyTeam, you can find a variety of poker coaching and backing options, and join them as either a player or a coach. Poker teams like RSB, DreamTeam, Speedrun, and Pianists are all actively recruiting. Players who join the teams can either pay fixed fees in return for coaching, or join the staking stables to pay for their coaching through profit sharing. For experienced poker players, these teams also offer an opportunity to join as a coach and earn by sharing your knowledge with the students.
Streaming and Content Creation
Whether you are already a big name in the industry, or a complete newcomer looking to break through, the content creation route is one with a lot of promise these days. Poker content creators like Rampage and Mariano came out of nowhere just a few years ago, and are some of the biggest personalities in poker these days. These content creators still play poker, but they also make money through a variety of other means.
Today’s poker content industry offers a wide variety of content, ranging from coverage of live events and live poker vlogs, to online poker streaming, coaching content, and poker comedy. Here is a look at just a few of the popular poker content creators who have built up major audiences with their online presence:
- Rampage Poker: A popular poker streamer with over 360,000 YouTube subscribers, Rampage creates live poker vlogs, following his progress through live cash games and tournaments.
- Ryan Depaulo: With 130,000 followers on his YouTube channel, Depaulo attracts viewers with a blend of typical poker vlogging and comedic poker news episodes, where he covers everything that’s happening in poker with a sarcastic undertone.
- Sethy Poker: Sethy Poker is most recognizable for his shorts, which attract viewers on both YouTube and TikTok thanks to his amazing sense of humor and a great talent for recognizing poker scenarios that all players can easily associate with.
- Doug Polk: One of the biggest personalities in poker, Doug Polk dedicated his career in part to content creation. With more than half a million followers across different platforms, Polk creates poker news content, streams his online poker sessions, does interviews with major poker personalities on key topics, and much more.
- Abby Merk: An up-and-coming poker content creator, Merk has been proving that women can make it in poker as well, and not just as players. Her channel is a mix of long and short-form content, all showing her journey through the poker world and the daily life of a low-to-mid stakes grinder, from a female perspective.
If you want to create poker content, you may have to play at least some poker, but there are even some ways of getting around that. Creating good poker news content and posting it on YouTube, or making poker skits and monetizing through TikTok are all valid ways of breaking into the poker content game.
Of course, some of the biggest names in the poker content space will always be people who actually play the game, with online poker streamers, live poker vloggers, and big name poker pros getting the most interest. As your content grows, you may be able to use sponsorships, direct marketing, and poker affiliate links to make money.
Risks and Important Considerations
Poker is still booming these days and there seems to be more interest in the game with every passing year. From poker affiliate marketing to content creation and traditional poker jobs, there are quite a few ways to make money in poker without playing. Yet, they all come with a certain dose of risk.
- Referral programs. Poker referral programs are not very risky, but their potential is limited. While you may get paid for every friend you refer, the payment is usually fixed and relatively small, which can cap your profits. Affiliate schemes offer higher profits, but also require more investment, as an affiliate business requires a website or other channels, regular content, customer support, and other expenses.
- Content creation. Content creation is another route that may help you make money in poker without playing, but it does not come without its risks as well. With many content creators competing for the same audience, only the best creators can come out on top, while others can end up spending many hours creating content with nothing to show for it.
- Backing and Staking. Staking good poker players is a investment opportunity, but another one that comes with a high dose of risk. Backing in poker comes down to trust, and finding horses who are trustworthy and reliable with your bankroll is nearly as important as finding ones who play good poker. The biggest risk with staking is your horses running away with the bankroll, or losing it all playing beyond the stakes you agreed on. If they refuse to pay you back, the best you can do is share the story with other potential stakers, but that may be too late for you.
- Job in the poker industry. The least risky way of making money in poker without playing is by taking a job in the industry. While the money you will make by working an industry job may be less than what you might earn through affiliation or content creation, the risks are also lower. A steady salary for a job you can enjoy, while still staying within the poker world, seems like a good deal for most poker enthusiasts.
While there is definitely a lot of money to be made in poker, both through playing and working in the industry, it all comes with a dose or risk you should be willing to accept before taking the leap.
Final Words
We’ve discussed how to make money from poker without playing and found a few different ways of doing it. The one thing all these methods share is that they are not “get rich quick” schemes, but rather opportunities for those willing to learn the skills, put in the work, and patiently wait for the results of their labor.
From taking a traditional job within the poker industry, to creating unique poker content to share with your fans, coaching and staking poker players, and working as a poker room affiliate, we’ve covered all the best ways to make money in poker without playing it. Each method comes with a dose or risk, but also rewards that far outweigh them.
If you want to explore the opportunities of making money in poker without playing, we strongly encourage you to contact our customer support department and talk about partnership opportunities. Write to our customer support agents and mention the word “Affiliating” in your message, and we will provide you with the guidance you need to start working together and monetize on your skills, contacts, and poker knowledge.
