Is online cash still beatable in 2026

Yes.

A lot of people like to reminisce about the "good old days" of online poker. It's 2009, solvers don't exist, everyone is bad and there's free money available at every turn. But was that truly ever the case?

No.

Sure, if I knew everything I know now and had a time machine that could take me back 15 years then I'd be able to produce a staggering WR in those online games. But the level was different back then and everyone was coming at it from a level playing field. No one knew what they do now.

The game is undoubtedly at a much, much higher level now than it was in the past. But the same can be said for every sport going. Have you ever watched a football match from the 80s and then compared it to the game today? It's light years apart. Does this put kids off becoming a professional footballer because "everyone is too good now"? No. And the same logic can be applied to online poker. You just have to be better than your competition. Same as it always was. It's just that the competition is at a higher level now than it was before.

That's the easy half of the question though. The games are still beatable. They're beatable by someone. The harder question is whether they get to be that someone. And that has a lot less to do with poker than most want to admit.

You need to be lucky. I'm not talking about your EV line here or how many sets you make (though that obviously helps). But I'm talking about your life and your circumstances. The stuff that happens to you when you're not sat at your computer.

Some people never make it in poker because they had a family bereavement that caused their life to change course. Or their country put in laws to take away online poker and they couldn't move away because they have a wife with a full time job and kids who are in school. Some people will lose their health and therefore have to prioritise getting better more than their career in poker. There can be a million and one examples of similar situations to this which mean that these people never got to the top. And you'll never hear about them.

When you see the high stakes streams, the podcasts, the social media posts and graphs, you're undoubtedly seeing extremely talented and hard working people. But you're seeing extremely talented, hard working AND lucky people. Don't ever forget that. And don't ever listen to anyone who is at the top and that doesn't acknowledge that.

So this leads me to ask you to take stock of your life outside of poker. Are you happy? Do you have your health? Are you financially comfortable and know that the bills are being paid? How many people rely on you? How are your family? Very few of you will be able to tick every box, some of you won't be able to tick many at all. And there might just be a correlation between how many boxes you're able to tick there and how your career as a poker player is going to go.

It's not just about how many hours you spend in the solver or your table selection or your ability to memorise and process information. Those things are important, but so is your life away from the game.

In short, online poker is not dead or dying. It's hard. The level is higher than it's ever been. But the money is still there to be made. Do the work. And build the life that lets you keep doing it.