[WannaGoPro]

After reading this forum and several others over the past 10 months I beleive that there are a fair amount of people out there that are playing semi-pro poker.

I am defining semi-pro players as those that play an a regular basis every week (say about 15-20 hours per week) have proven themselves long term winning players and have an expected return (hourly rate) each month that they play.

These players have a full time job (which is not poker) and play poker on the side for a nice little side income every month.

So why do so many semi-pro's not attempt to go pro?

I can think of a couple of reasons but I was hoping others can share their reasons or their eventual plans on how they plan on going from semi-pro to pro.

reasons why people are not going Pro:

Job Security: Some people are nor comfortable leaving a job they have had for 5, 10 or 20 years to "take a chance"

Financially Unable: With a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck these days they are unable to save up enough livng expenses plus have an adequate bankroll to get thru any swings

Family/Children: Unwilling to put their family and children at risk if they make the attempt and fail, where as if they were single they would try and attempt it.

Social Aspects: Don't want people thinking negatively of them. "You do WHAT for a livng, WHAT A LOOSER"

Caving to peer Presure: Being told over and over again by Family and friends how foolsih and irresponisble they are if they attempt it can make people doubt themselves.

Emotional Stress: Not being able to emotionaly handle the stress of having to play and win. The pressure can be intense if you have to win to pay your bills.

I am sure that there are others that I have missed, so lets hear your reasons