I have to admit that the way you came out about it makes it sound like gambling. If any of my friends told me that they had entered a $20+$2 tournament and cashed $12k, I would be far from convinced that he or she was a winning player. I'm not saying that you aren't one, but a 550% gain on your investment does sound, to most people, like luck.

The first time I told my parents that I played seriously, I brought it up by saying that over the past year I'd been playing poker online as a hobby in my spare time, and that I'd been turning a modest profit from it. It could be a difference in the parents, but I can easily imagine that if I'd told them your story, I would get something to the degree of, "Don't let that problem get out of hand, son."

Poker, until now, has always had a bad rap. It was completely different in your parents' generation, so keep that in mind too. They are far more likely to be impressed by consistent earnings and independency than a big score.

When my parents ask me how poker is going (more rarely now than they did when they tought it was a joke), I always say its going good, and I never tell them how much I've been playing for or how much I've won. I measure my success by the quality of my play anyway.