Semi Pro's.. Whats holding you back?

[LikesToLose]

My current plan is to gain experience so that I can make a profit on 15/30 of 2 bb/100. I will build the bankroll as I gain experience and move up accordingly. If need I will fall back in limits if I hit a bad run or get in over my head.

Then, I will pay off all debt except for mortgage debt. No credit cards, cars, etc.

Once that is complete, I will stay part-time/Semi-Pro and build cash reserves. Every $20-$30K I get, I will use as downpayments to buy rental properties. If and only if I can live off of the cash flow coming from rental properties will I consider quiting my current job.

At which point, I would be semi-retired. If I hit this goal within 7 years, I will be pretty much done working before 40 and consider that to be a great success. I will make one caveat to the 'if and only if'. It may become extremely obvious that I can make significantly more money just playing poker and working on real estate investment/management. It would have to be a very clear advantage due to the cons of playing professionally.

I see poker as being very similiar to internet stocks. It gets talked about in the smoking hut and around the coffee machines. Everybody is talking about the latest bluffs they pulled off or how much they won last night. (Very little talk about losses). Once that fad aspect wears off, I fear that the games are going to be much harder to beat, so I do not really want to try to count on earning a living from that.