ok...let me take a stab at it even tho i have limited knowledge of the subject...

let's say a decent living is $60k/yr, before taxes. not a whole lot, but a decent living. that works out to $5k/month, also before taxes.

we all know that poker is a feast/famine enterprise, so some months you might only make $1 or $2k (hope you've put your $$ away for these months), while others u may hit a hot streak and win a tourney or two and bring in $10k or so.

how would u go about making the $5k consistently? the beauty of internet gambling is that you can mix your game between cash games and tournaments without the added expense of gas or airfare/hotel. not to mention that you can play as often and for whatever stakes you have the bankroll to fund. with that in mind, i would want to go into each month with at least $1000 available for buy-ins and tournament entry fees available (an additional $12k annually, which would either bring your annual gross to $72k, or reduce it to $48k, depending on how u look at it).

another great part of internet gambling is the opportunity to play free sattelites to qualify for live games, which are great chances to pick up big money.

that's all my brain and i feel like thinking on this subject right now, i'd love to see some more discussion along these lines as opposed to, "i made $100,000 with a $5 investment". there has to be a practical way to approach being a "professional" online player, and i'm curious as to what that is.