I know why there are so few long-term winners at poker

[nhsir]

Some of you may have heard the stat thrown out that only 5-7% of online poker players are long-term winners. When I first heard that stat I thought it was BS and way too low.

The more I've played, the more I've come to believe that number is pretty accurate. Some of the reasons why it is so low have always been obvious to me. People who are otherwise good poker players do foolish things like improperly manage their bankroll, play over their heads, play while tired or pissed off and don't have enough emotional control.

However, I believe the number one reason why there are so few long-term winners is that most people cannot handle the extended bad runs. No matter how good you are, you are going to go through periods of time when you lose money and sometimes those periods are going to last for a really long time. I don't care how much control you have, after several months of this, it's going to get to you. I think that's when a lot of people who otherwise have the ability to make it long-term, go belly up. Poker can be an absolutely brutal game at times and anyone who plans on playing a lot better be prepared for that.