There happen to be a lot of well documented success stories in poker’s history, perhaps none more significant than that of Chris Moneymaker, a typical Joe who turned a $39 investment in a PokerStars satellite tournament in to a $2.5 million win at the World Series of Poker in 2003. It was his first major live tournament, and thus he was a virtual unknown in the poker world prior to the tournament.

His win is usually cited as one of the driving forces behind the mass universal appeal of poker and safe online poker poker in the years since, as it gave players from around the globe hope to dream that they too could one day accomplish a similar feat. While such a victory is obviously improbable, it is by no means impossible, as we have seen, so what must one do to follow within the path of Mr. Moneymaker himself?

Basically, you need to continue to practice and enhance your game. Certainly, you need to actively seek out the weaknesses in your game and strive to improve them. Don’t be passive about your game and operate under the assumption that the better you play, the better you will get by default. This could possibly be true to some small extent, but if you truly need to get better, you’ll need to actively work and improve to make it happen.

As Chris proved, you do not need a good deal of live poker experience to perform well in live events, your understanding of the game is much more important. Of-course the way you play online will also affect simply how much you improve. Naturally, playing in play money games is of virtually no benefit, as it does not accurately represent how real poker is played. The same can even be said of low limit real money games. The bigger up the money ladder you can go, the higher experience you definitely will earn from playing online poker, though the potential risks may also be greater of-course.

How you choose to play and learn is ultimately up to you. You might wish to fill your head with as much knowledge as you can and read the playing advice of the many pros that have written books (and practically all of them have by this point). Or you might choose instead to keep your head relatively clear and concentrate on playing a simple, effective game.

What ever the situation might be, realize that with some dedication, hard-work, and just a little luck, you too may be the next great success story in the poker world.