I am not a professional poker player (or even a good one [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]), but I have been making my income from the internet, both in offices and from home, for the last 8 years. I have been on both sides of this argument, from a $30,000 paycheck, to being much, much further in debt.

There is an old saying, "If you do something you love, you'll never work a day in your life."

I have found, like most "old sayings" that this is a half-truth.

I love a good video game. I love my job. I love golf. I love a lot of things. But if I force myself to do them 8 hours a day (because I don't eat if I don't), it's not likely to stay fun for very long.

When my business started going to hell, it was because I was putting in ridiculously long hours. I would go to sleep dreading waking up and having to do it all over again. Not exactly the best environment for creativity.

I am currently the happiest I've ever been in my life. I go to work (downstairs) when I feel like it. Without the stress, the urgency, the deadline, the ideas flow freely. When I have an idea, I put in those 14 hour days until it comes to fruition, because I'm love doing it, not because I'll starve if I don't. On average, though, I'd be pushing it if I told you I work more than an hour and a half per day.

So yes, like my business example, playing poker for a living has the potential to be a crap lifestyle, but it can also be a big, fat, opportunity to seize everything you've ever wanted. It all depends on how you approach it.

For example, the guy posting that he feels like s*** after a 6 hour, 6 table session is absolutely right. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. His eyes are shot, likely causing headaches. Would you like to get up each morning and say "Well, time to go to work so I can get a migraine, then I can go to sleep and do it all over again" ??

Now take someone that, instead of 6 tabling 3/6 for nearly a full work day, plays an hour or two of 20/40, and maybe an extended session once a week. When he's done, he goes off and enjoys the rest of his day. Smokes a cigar, bangs his gal(s), hits golf balls, plays with his kids... you know... lives life to the fullest.

Does that strike you as the kind of guy that is going to say that being a poker player isn't all it's cracked up to be?

So there's two types of goals;
a) To play poker for a living.
b) To make enough money from our hobby, just the way it is, to not have to work anymore.

The two goals are *very* different. One leads to "I can't handle it anymore!", while the other leads to "I don't have to handle it anymore!". Sure, getting good at 3/6 is a lot quicker and easier than getting good at 20/40. That's the catch. Few have the guts, patience, and determination to hold out for plan B. But those are the guys that will succeed, and live happily ever after.

Question is... what kind of guy are you? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]