Even if your an online pro....

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I'm not a pro but I think a lot of them don't play for 8 hours a day.

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I wonder how many hours an average winning live pro puts in...

That's too bad man. I have just started getting into it, and I'm really enjoying myself. I've studied it almost every day for a couple years now but have been keeping a book for the last 6 months. I'm doing well and I wonder if I will run out of steam. I really love the game, though and study it all the time. Did you ever have that kind of attitude toward it? Or did it just work for you?

[lighterjobs]

I made it about six months of three to four tabling before asking myself "what the [censored] am i doing?" and had to take a little break. I've made it another six months and I am loving it.

I lost 9k my first year playing online trying every limit, no-limit, sit and go, heads-up, full ring, short-handed, read books, bought systems, watched DVDs, etc. My second year I made 72k (81k-9k from the previous year) and am currently heading into my third year, but my second as an online pro. I am not getting burned out at all. I only "work" about 4 hours or less a day and then I play golf, spend time with my son, travel, whatever I choose.

[jman220]

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I'm thinking of most likely going pro when I turn 18 and to me more than 6 hours a day (and even 6 hours is alot) is crazy. I would prolly play no more than 30-40 hours a week. There's more to life than just poker, especially when you have money. And that's what you should have at your disposal if you are a poker pro...

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Going pro when you turn 18 is almost certainly a bad idea. Even among most of the World Class Players around today (Negreanu springs to mind), playing at a young age was disastrous for them (Negreanu talks about how he was constantly going to vegas and going broke when he was young).

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I lost 9k my first year playing online trying every limit, no-limit, sit and go, heads-up, full ring, short-handed, read books, bought systems, watched DVDs, etc. My second year I made 72k (81k-9k from the previous year) and am currently heading into my third year, but my second as an online pro. I am not getting burned out at all. I only "work" about 4 hours or less a day and then I play golf, spend time with my son, travel, whatever I choose.

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What was the reason for the radical difference in results between years 1 & 2?

[Eidal]

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What was the reason for the radical difference in results between years 1 & 2?

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Probably because once you cross the gap between "break-even / marginal losing player" to "winning player", making a good income in a year becomes far easier and has a lot to do with how many hours one puts in.

[Mempho]

No disrespect, but I get a little sick of these posts about "burnout" and "miserable existence" as it pertains to being a PPP. I've done both and I can say that burnout comes in real jobs just as quickly if not quicker. I realize that poker is not everyone, but poker is not a miserable existence. Yes, everyone would love a life of leisure and to not have to worry about money, but those are not the facts of life for most people.

Also, anyone who:

a) Uses poker as an excuse or a cause of "poor health" is just plain lazy or undiciplined. Try getting up at 5:30 in the morning and never sleeping a full night and see how many times you "feel" like working out. If anything, poker players should be healthier. If they're not, they either don't care about working out (which is fine) or they are degenarates.

b) Anyone who claims that poker ruined their personal life either doesn't care or is a degenerate.

c) Anyone who thinks they are getting burned out being a PPP is probably right. However, that person would have probably been burned out much quicker in a "real" job.

These "burnout" and "never get to see my friends or family" stories are just part of the new American society we have built, poker notwithstanding.

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