After playing a little over 30,000 hands, I found the softest online poker tables with the best return on investment for the time you put into playing. And the stake wasn’t that high. I will also explain how to hit this number of hands per month without burning out.
Hitting 30,000 Hands Per Month
If you are going to take the game seriously you need to put in consistent volume. I’ve found that playing 3-4 tables at a time for around four hours will help you get to 1,000 hands per day. This is also a good baseline to play to see if you are beating the stake, you are playing or not. Another thing I like to do is play for 2-hour sessions and break up my gameplay. That way I’m not sitting there for 4 hours straight which can often lead to burn out. Next, I’ll talk about the best stake to play that’s still soft and worth the time and effort to get good at.
100nl
Okay, after playing all these hands I found the sweet spot to be 100nl. This is basically $100 cash games. A good starting roll for attempting to beat these games is $2000-$3000. In my opinion that’s really all you need. You could go higher but these games are still soft even when accounting for variance.
Also, the thing about 100nl is that the competition is very similar to 25nl and 50nl. I’ve seen almost no difference in the quality of players. So, it makes sense to play slightly more if the competition stays the same. It’s better value for the time you put into playing. But overall 100nl is the best stake to play on any poker site if you are looking for soft games where you can also make decent money.
200nl
When you move up to $200 cash games the competition does get harder. It gets significantly harder where you will see a big gap in the quality of opponents. You can still win at 200nl and find some consistency, but it takes a lot more effort and harder thinking that will make you use more brain power. Unless you are confident in your abilities and are really crushing 100nl I probably would stay away if you are looking for easier games.
500nl-1000nl
Okay, this is where things tend to get the diciest. The competition at both stakes is similar and these games are very difficult to get an edge in. You really must have a good grasp of GTO and really master the art of bluffing in certain spots. And the thing is you often must bluff heavy in these games to get players to fold. It’s almost like they can sense it because player quality is so high. You can always give these stakes a shot but do so with caution. This is where a lot of pros are sitting in online poker cash games.
What I Found After Playing 30,000 Hands
So basically, I found that 100nl is a sweet spot if you want to make decent money playing online poker. The game toughness is very comparable to 25nl and 50nl you are just playing for slightly more money. You also don’t need to save up a super large bankroll, and I think most responsible people can save up a couple thousand dollars to invest in poker if they want to look at it as a entertainment money-making venture.
Why Not Play 25nl or 50nl?
Honestly, you can. I just think your time is valuable and you don’t want to waste it playing at the micro stakes. You could also multi table more tables at a time. But I feel that once you break playing four or more tables that’s when quality of play really goes down. It becomes impossible to really pay attention to the little details happening in each hand. You also tend to burn out quicker because you are constantly having to make decisions. Mentally this can become exhausting. Training yourself to play 3-4 tables at a time and still play solid poker is what I’ve found to work best for me so maybe it will also work good for you.
Best Time to Play Online Poker
The best time to play online poker is usually when more recreational players are online. For USA players, this often means evenings, weekends, and major sports nights. Friday and Saturday nights can be especially good because more casual players are relaxing, watching games, or playing for entertainment instead of grinding seriously. Sunday is also strong, especially for tournaments, since many poker sites run bigger guarantees and attract larger player pools. Sunday is more of a tournament day, but peak traffic times tend to hit mid-day on Sundays.
Late-night hours can sometimes be profitable too, but table selection matters. A good table with loose, casual players is better than simply playing at a popular time. Pay attention to how many players are limping, calling too wide, chasing draws, or sitting with odd stack sizes. Those are often signs of a softer game. Overall, the best time to play online poker is when traffic is high, recreational players are active, and you can find beatable tables.
Also, choosing the right stakes helps, but the poker site you play on matters just as much. Some sites attract more casual players because of their sportsbook, casino traffic, bonuses, or beginner-friendly games. For a deeper breakdown, you can find the softest games on Pokerstacked.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been playing poker for a long time and as time has gone on the game has evolved. GTO has become the norm and just a baseline for how to play from a more analytical perspective. However, poker is more of a game of outplaying the opponents at your table. You must make well timed bluffs in certain spots when you miss badly or know when maybe it’s just best to just fold and take a loss.
These are all little things that take time and effort to get good at. But once you creep up to playing around 30,000 hands per month a lot of that effort will be rewarded. You will start to notice variance shifting in your favor, and small incremental improvements will start to add up over the course of many sessions. If you want to make money playing this game bad enough you will. You just must put in the work. Also, start at 100nl and see how it goes.
