There have been a lot of well documented success stories in poker’s history, perhaps none more notable than that of Chris Moneymaker, an average 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 before the tournament.

His win is often cited as one of the driving forces behind the mass universal appeal of poker and online poker within the years since, as it gave players from across the world hope to dream that they too could one day accomplish a similar feat. While such a victory is undoubtedly improbable, it really is certainly not impossible, as we’ve seen, so what must one do to follow within the path of Mr. Moneymaker himself?

Basically, you need to continue to practice and boost your game. Most importantly, you’ll need to actively seek out the weaknesses in your game and make an effort to improve them. Do not be passive about your game and operate under the assumption that the better you play, the greater you are going to get by default. This could possibly be true to some small extent, but if you truly would like to get better, you need to actively work and improve to make it happen.

As Chris proved, you do not need a great deal of live poker experience to perform well in live events, your understanding of the game is far more important. Of-course how you play online may also affect 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 higher up the money ladder you may go, the greater experience you certainly will earn from playing safe online poker gambling agent poker, however the potential risks can even 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 who have written books (and practically all of them have by this point). Or you may choose instead to maintain your head relatively clear and concentrate on playing a simple, effective game.

What ever the case could possibly be, realize that with some dedication, hard work, and just a little luck, you too could be the next great success story in the poker world.