When I began playing poker online (2009) it took only a few months before I was able to be a 'winning player' (winning as in able to keep a +ROI%). This took a bit of studying at the time which was mostly reading some of the better books at the time, & joining some training sites to watch their videos (ie. Cardrunners, PokerSavvy Plus, PokerXfactor, Tournament Poker Edge, SitnGoGrinders (Glitr), DragTheBar... & at one point or another I had joined or received promo memberships to all of the sites I just listed). Back then you'd have A LOT of depositing recreational players who were not good at the game (but likely didn't realize it)... many from the USA. LOADS of folks were able to grind out a living playing online poker... some making a good go of it with a bunch moving on to becoming live high stakes pros after Black Friday (going through the lists of bigger events and you'll see many names that were very popular in the online lobbys back pre Black Friday.
Over time there has become a vast amount of information helping players to get better and to do so at a faster rate (if they choose to, if they work for it, if they access good info. & are disciplined & driven). BUT there's far less fish in the game. So it's like a school of sharks going after a bit of chum instead of a few barracuda swimming into a massive school of goldfish.
2024 Can online poker be profitable?
Micro stakes cash games - it is actually difficult to grind out much of a bankroll. It is possible but the rake is very high.
Low & Mid stakes - it seems possible but you get a higher & higher percentage of good players vs. recreational (weak players).
To gain a better perspective it's possible to watch some of the guys who are playing the different stakes and to see them doing it live (on 4 or 5 min. delay) on Twitch TV & Youtube. Currently the 'winningest' micro/low stakes player online streams fairly regularly and also offers up a course which is excellent value for the money (CashGame Hero) ... felt I needed to put a plug out there for him as I've gotten to know him a bit via his channel & site. (Scrimitzu). Another guy putting out fantastic content is Saulo Costa.
imo the tables above 25nl look tough, 200nl looks REAL tough to play. At certain times of the day, even the 10nl & 25nl tables are difficult (imo). Table selection, especially time of the day, day of the week and the actual poker site you're playing on all make a huge difference
Tournament Play online
These days in micro/low stakes you'll find 1,000's of players who are grinding very large volume... ie players from Ukraine, Belarus, Thailand, Chile, Russia, Argentina, and of course BRAZIL.... where winning while even at a lower winrate % are able to earn enough to provide a living for themselves. And you'll find less players from U.K., Canada, Germany, etc. There is definitely stiffer competion vs. 15 years ago.
BUT, tournament play still attracts the largest number of weaker players (< for lack of a better word) and if a person has the patience and emotional stability, this is the way to earn more money in my opinion. (hence the large numbers still in the tournament lobbys vs. cash game lobbys).
Competition gets stiffer as you move up in buyins, larger % of competent regulars vs. recreational (fun) players.
TLDR
As we near the end of 2024 I KNOW that online poker is still beatable, especially in tournament play. I know some folks who are able to make a living at it (while residing in Canada) & know of many others who are profiting from the game. You can also find players online who are beating the games while live streaming on Twitch TV (keeping their stats. available for viewers to follow so you can see exactly how much or how little they are winning or losing)
) I remember the golden age of enormous poker fish tanks online. It seemed that poker was so easy to beat online. Playing NLH almost felt like printing money. And online Omaha was perhaps even easier to win.
