Why will you never go pro?

[roundhouse]

I was getting a bit board of all the "I wanna go pro, should I, shouldn't I" type posts this boards seems to attract like flies to brown stuff. So I decided to speak up for the little guy. That's right, those of us who play poker and not only still work for the man, but are quite happy to do so.

Why will I never go pro? My reasons:

1. My job. Pays well. I enjoy it. Good pension. Decent holidays. My career prospects are good.

2. There is a distict possibility I'm not good enough. I'm pretty sure I'm beating the low limits (up to 2/4), but to better my current and future career earnings I'd have to be a consistent 30/60-and-above winner.

3. I enjoy poker. If it were my job I'm not sure how long this would continue.

4. The prospect of sitting in a room on my own all day, in front of a computer, makes my blood run cold. I'd have cabin fever by day two. I'm not the world's greatest socialite, but call me old fashioned, I like a bit of human company for the banter and such.

5. I have a young family. Even though I'm not the prime breadwinner, I'm not willing to trade income certainty for income uncertainty.

This doesn't mean I don't have poker aspirations. I want to move up stakes - all in good bankrolled time - to the highest level at which I can profitably play (I've only been playing regular for < 1 year). I want to master, or at least become proficient in, games other than LHE (NLHE, Stud, Stud/8, PLO, SNGs - all of which I've started dabbling in). And if I end up making a healthy surplus at the end of the year I'll happily cream some of it off for treats and poker related indulgences like books, chips etc. - supplimented income is great, just so long as I don't become reliant on it.

OK that's pretty much my rant. So in a vain attempt to make this post worthwhile I'd like to pose the following questions to my fellow never-go-pro-ers (there must be some of you out there).

Why will you never go pro?
What are your poker aspirations?
And to satiate my curiosity, what levels do you currently play?

Your friendly never-go-pro-er,
RH