Andrew Neeme Reveals His Live Earnings

If there is one question in poker which is asked all the time and rarely, if ever, answered – at least honestly that is – it’s “How much do you earn from playing the game?" Rude to ask, perhaps, but in Andrew Neeme’s latest vlog he simply comes out and tells us, and it makes for interesting viewing!

Since starting his hugely popular vlogs in October of last year, Neeme’s YouTube offerings have quickly become one of the must-watch weekly videos for poker fans, a mix of interesting hand analysis, well-produced and varied content and an honest, down-to-earth approach to life and the game of poker.

But enough of the sycophancy – show me the money! Or the numbers at least.

A rooftop in Vegas in August, post-WSOP, is Neeme’s choice of venue for discussing his win-rate (and it is a win-rate as he has overcome the inevitable temporary losses poker brings to get firmly back in the black.

“I thought it would be a good time to check in with y’all, maybe run some numbers,” Neeme begins, and that’s not something you get with Daniel Negreanu or Phil Hellmuth for sure.

Total Game Count: 86

Total won: $34,260

Winning sessions: 56 (65.1%)

Losing sessions: 30 (34.9%)

“Pretty simple, pretty straightforward,” says Neeme, the figures showing a very decent $400 average profit per session, with cash games and tournaments included in the total.

But as a cash game player I want to see them separate from the tournaments! Ok, Andrew obliges almost immediately…

Total Game Count: 83

Total won: $36,433

Standard deviation: $660.31 p/h

Hours: 488

Average per hour: $74.66

As Andrew points out, 488 hours is not a lot of playing time in 9 full months, many players putting that average in per week, “125-150/160 per month is pretty solid” he states – and what he was aiming for in the pre-vlog days.

“So, $36,000… not exactly a super-sexy number!” he admits – to himself at least, many ‘normal’ workers would kill for such a ‘wage’ given the part-time nature of it, but for poker professionals? It’s good, and applying that win-rate over more hours means you “could be making a very solid living” says Neeme.

Now, I can’t recall any poker pro ever being so honest about his earnings before. The Hendon Mob tournament results give an indication of how people have done, but that’s a different scenario – and minus buy-ins, staking, selling action, etc and therefore the numbers are just that; numbers with no back-story.

Neeme’s vlog is different – it’s an insight into the actual wages which a ‘part-time’ professional cash game player can make at low to mid-stakes games – and as such is invaluable information to many, as is the fact he keeps records at all, as many players rather foolishly don’t!

Naturally Neeme is fully aware that for poker players a downswing could be just around the corner, and the next 488 hours could see the reverse of these fine results, but nobody claimed it was a secure 9-5 job with a guaranteed paycheck at the end of the month – that’s not poker people.

Nemme’s stakes have varied through the course of his vlogging, “from $1/2 No-Limit up to $5/10/20 No-Limit”, he says, and even at $5/10 he would be happy with his hourly he confesses, claiming that the Bellagio games in Vegas aren’t the easiest, as you can imagine.

“There’s a lot of other numbers that we could discuss,” adds Neeme. “particularly how many hours I put into making these vlogs… but we can save that discussion for another little chat.”

It wouldn’t be a Neeme vlog without some hand action and analysis, and the Bellago and the Wynn are the main ports of call – and the first hand he discusses certainly won’t be adding to his healthy winrate!

Ok, it’s another enjoyable 20 minutes in the life of a Vegas pro from Neeme, and kudos to him for being so open about his finances – excellent information for the wannabe pros in the readers and viewers’ ranks. Check it out!