Grinder
Also: grinding
A player whose profit comes from volume and consistency rather than from big scores — long sessions, many tables or many tournaments, a modest edge repeated until it adds up.
Grinding is as much a discipline as a style. It means playing within a bankroll, leaving a table that is no longer profitable, and treating variance as a cost of doing business rather than a verdict. A tournament grinder may go months without a final table and still be comfortably ahead over a year; a cash grinder measures the same thing in big blinds per hundred hands.
The word carries no disrespect. Most of the people who make a sustained living from poker are grinders, and very few of them are the ones on television.
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Full glossaryFrequently asked questions
Is grinding a criticism?
No — most players who make a long-term living from poker are grinders.