To all in this forum...

[sjay2k]

i don't know how you can claim to make 1-2k per month. even if you play the same number of hands in the same games each month, your profit/loss will vary so much that you couldn't claim to have an average monthly win. you've also got massive variables outside your control (e.g. US legislation, increasingly difficult games etc.). moving up in limits or playing different games will also add to your variance.

my record looks something like this (gross estimations, probable inaccuracies):

first 12 months: 10,000 hands (low limit LHE, low limit SNGs- i played very sparodically), +$3k
next 6 months: 80,000 hands (mid/high stakes LHE, mid stakes HU SNGs), +60k
last 7-8 months: 120,000 hands (mid/high NL), +120k

even the last 7-8 months (since i switched to NL) have been wildly inconsistent. i think i've played anywhere between 3,000 and 30,000 hands per month. as for variance in winnings, offhand it would look something like this:

sep 06: +12k
oct 06: -5k
nov 06: +18k
dec 06: +12k
jan 07: +40k
feb 07: +8k
mar 07: +6k
apr 07: +27k

there's really no such thing as an average monthly earn. losing months are devastating to your confidence. poker has been my only source of income for the past year or so (i just turned 21 and don't really have many expenses though). but poker is not something that i see myself doing as a full-time thing when i graduate from university for the following reasons:
1. the variance would stress me out
2. the future of online poker is too uncertain to rely upon
3. it's pretty unfulfilling. anyone smart enough to make serious money from poker probably has intellectual needs and dreams/desires that poker will never satisfy.
4. whether i like to do admit it or not, playing poker has a huge impact on my lifestyle. my sleeping patterns suck and i waste lots of money. playing poker also makes me more prone to be unfit, anti-social and engage in degenerate gambling (although i have done well to avoid any of these)

honestly, i would advice against playing poker "full time" if you see it as a "40k-a-year" type of decision. it's nothing like that.