[jimpo]

[ QUOTE ]
I wonder: where are all these fish supporting these ridiculous incomes? For every single poster who claims 100k in earnings, that requires a huge school of fish forking over thousands of dollars like idiots. I've only been playing a few months but just by reading a few books and following basic preflop strategy, considering pot odds, etc I manage to stay about even. Wherever these nameless hordes of fish are, they apparently haven't found their way to this board- nothing but big winners here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I have spent like a million hours reading books, reading posts on 2p2 and thinking about the game. Only for a year and a half or so, but during this time poker has taken majority of my "hobby" time. I am still only just about holding my head above the water in the lowest limits. And because I take the game seriously each suckout and downswing feels so much worse. Poker as a serious hobby can / will bring insane amounts of extra stress to your life.

So I completely understand that not everyone wants to go through that experience. Some people are just happy playing like idiots for a couple of hours a week, and even if they lose in the long run, they have a couple of winning sessions here and there.