[Dazarath]

I think people are misinterpreting the part of the original post about playing with bad players. We all try to find tables with terrible players, and all-the-while, we try to improve our game. But it's kind of hard to improve your play, when you're playing PP play money tournaments, and the first hand is 6 people all-in, resulting in half the table being wiped out right away.

Since you're posting on a forum filled with serious poker players, a lot of the responses you're going to receive are going to say "poker, poker, poker." I haven't seen anyone talk about the middle ground. What about just sticking to small stakes and playing as a side-hobby? Of course, work on your game; you want every hour spent at the table to be as much +EV as possible. But it's not necessary to take the path that a lot of people here take, which is to build a bankroll and gain experience to be able to move up limits and do it again.

I have a friend (who's actually the person who first taught me how to play), and he plays, reads, and wins some money on the side, but he hasn't moved up at all. It's nice to have a hobby that earns you a bit of change as well, but it's not like the only two options are quit or shoot for the 100/200 games.

A lot of people are going to look down upon poker players, and maybe your friend and boyfriend just don't like gambling in general. I can understand that. If you feel that taking the path of the fastest growth (poker-wise) will severely reduce the amount of time that you can spend with others, then don't do it.

Just my $0.02.