[rwanger]

Keep playing poker part time for now. If you can get your law hours down a bit (to say 30?) that might be a really good compromise. It's easier to play online poker well when you only have at it a few hours a day during the week. Plus, that's when the games are juciest anyway.

You should be able to make a few thousand a month in poker while still having the fulltime job. Then, you can slowly move up in limits, so that your winrate will double or triple per hour. If you start making $200 an hour...there isn't much pressure to be playing 40 hours a week.

Of course, I like my real job, so maybe that's the difference (and I don't make $200 an hour at poker yet). Maybe start making enough at poker so you can get a real job that you like but may not pay very well (although, you're not breaking the bank with 40k now anyway).

Playing 40 or 50 hours a week is a GRIND. I used to do it at 3-6 limit. You have to play at non-optimal times, and it's very hard NOT to play if it's your only source of income (unless your rate was super high to begin with).