My poker story/you suck at poker

So my cousin who has been playing poker for a while now just complained to me about how he can’t beat the games, how variance hates him, etc. I thought I’d just post my response to him here.

My background:

I started playing poker in the fall of 2003 when I was a freshman in college. It started out with some buddies for nickels and dimes but eventually I got hooked and started playing online. Lost some money, decided I needed to improve, bought some book s and started reading 2+2. Got better, learned about bankroll management, and started pounding out 30k hands a month 4 tabling. I was pretty much a breakeven player at first, but I started getting serious and really improved. By May of 2004 I had a $15k bankroll and was 4 tabling 10/20 6m at a decent rate. In June had my best month ever, earning $25k. August, I decided to take time off from school because I didn't feel like I was ready to be there. I had no idea what I wanted to study or do, so it felt pointless to be wasting my time and money at school. So I took a leave of absence and became a "poker pro". Best decision I ever made. So I moved to Hawaii and played poker all day, moving around from 10/20 6m to 15/30 to SNGs to try to keep myself from burning out. I didn't have much of a social life, spent all my days watching TV, movies, and playing poker. By January of 2005, I am burnt out and miserable. I decided to try to enjoy life a lot more. I had tons of money and freedom, and finally started taking advantage of it. I bought a bunch of stupid crap, started working out and volunteering, made friends, developed a social life. Started blowing money on MTTs. Won Pokerstars Sunday tourney in March. In May, a friend of mine asks me to help him shoot his student film. I do, and I have a blast. A few weeks later I crew on another short film, and love it. I start working on my first screenplay. I decide I’ve figured out what I want to do with my life: make movies. I start looking for some entry level jobs with production companies to get my foot in the door, but have no success. I decide to move to LA, but a week before I leave in August I get a call from a guy I worked with who found me a job working on the set of a TV series shot here. I've been working here since August and I absolutely love it so far. The pay isn't great, the hours are long, the work can get frustrating at times, but I love what I'm doing. I am happy, and I have internet poker to thank for it.

I think internet poker is a blessing, It can provide so many wonderful opportunities yet so many people are failing to truly take advantage of it.

Most of the regular posters here are winning players. But most of you are marginal winners. By that I mean that you won’t lose money playing poker, but you won’t make enough from it in the long run to really make it worth your time. I was just like you guys. Good, but not good enough. How did I get better? It’s painfully obvious: I busted my ass to improve my game. I spent countless hours studying hand histories, I paid attention to every hand on every table I had open, and I got better. I got a better understanding of this game, and eventually I started beating this game at a good enough rate to make it worth my time. It’s such a simple solution. If you really put the effort in, you will improve. If you think you bust your ass but you still have a lousy winrate, you’re not really working hard enough. You could blame it on variance, but that’s not something you can control. You can control how well you play the game though.

Variance: Don’t worry about it. YOU CAN’T CONTROL IT. Worrying/thinking about it does you absolutely no good. YOu can spend that time/energy working on becoming a better player. You can control how well you play the game. So work on your game. Learn how to understand the game. Think about the game, use your [censored] brains. It disgusts me how so many people here talk about surfing 2+2 or watching a movie while 8 tabling 2/4. It disgusts me how so many people post the same basic hands over and over again, never really learning much out of it. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR GAME.

Most of the strategy posts here nowadays are filled with utter crap, but there is still some decent stuff if you look hard enough. And check out the archives, search for those old posts by Clarkmeister and Ed Miller and study them.

I'm a dumb guy. Seriously, I'm not very intelligent at all, especially compared to the average 2p2er. I barely graduated high school. Yet I was able to make money off these games. It's not easy, but it's possible if you put the effort in.

I was going to write more but I’m tired and drunk, so I will finish this tomorrow.