You american folks need to remember that we don't pay tax here on poker winnings, so $40k in a year (esp. when your living expenses are low) would actually be a very nice living.

That said, I can't really see what your aim is after this year, Sink? You seem to be saying you're going to take a year off from HAVING A LIFE to make some money, well, fair enough, but it doesn't really seem like there's a lot of point to this. Are you wanting to play as a pro after the year? Or are you hoping that after a miserable year of playing 30-odd hours a week and having limited social life you're magically going to realise what you want to do with your life?

It seems to me you haven't thought this out very well, but that's just my opinion. If you genuinely think it's a good way to get your life moving and you really feel like you're drifting at the moment then fair enough. What are you studying for, anyhow?

Playing 30 hours of NL a week sounds like a very painful grind. You do realise that you're probably going to have a fairly miserable time doing this, right?

I can understand you doing this if there's some point to it, like you're going to play for a year, try to make $40k or something (very manageable I'd have thought, I've done that part time playing 10-15hrs a week in omaha) and then maybe go travelling round the world with it, keep a few thousand back for moving out of your parents' place and decide what you want to do with your life.

I just worry that you'll do this for a year, get out of touch with your friends/real life (spending too much time on the internet'll do that for ya) and then feel like you're in even more of a rut (albeit richer) and with no more idea of what you want to do when your folks kick you out.

But good luck to you if you go ahead with it!

Why is 30 hours of NL per week a very painful grind? I play about 20-25 hours per week on top of my 40 hour a week regular job and I dont feel burned out at all.

Maybe you're a special case I guess it depends on the person. I know there's no way I could play 30hrs poker a week, and some of the pros (Kenny for instance) find it hard to play those sort of hours when you're concentrating. Depends I guess...

Maybe Sink is one of those folks who'd find it easy. I just know that when you're running bad, sometimes playing a 5 hr session is the LAST thing you want to do (for most folks anyways)....

Eat sushi at least once a week.

Congrats on the job! I am willing to bet that you will wind up being a better poker player to boot, since you won't have the pressures of withdrawing from your roll...you can have the best of both worlds, have fun and make money. Best of luck, and if you design any cool sites, post where they are so we call all take a look!