[submariner]

-We have to input wins and losses separately. If you have $1000 in winning sessions and $500 in losing sessions, you have to declare $1000 in income. You then may be able to deduct the $500 in losses.

-We have a thing called a standard deduction. Everyone gets to deduct this amount from their income.
-If you have kids, you get to deduct more for them

-You have a choice of itemizing (declaring everything you may have such as medical bill, gambling losses, etc) your deductions, or just taking the standard deduction

-For many, their individual deductions, including gambling losses, comes up to less than the standard deduction, which means you end up declaring the full amount of wins ($1000), and eating the losses ($500).

- What you cannot do is declare the net, $500, as your poker income. You have to declare the full $1000.

Is that clear as mud?