I quit playing poker mostly because I lost my free $30 buyin that I won at the pokerroom.com freeroll, and I have no way to deposit money into an online account right now (my new debit won't allow online transactions).

BTW, it was MUCH more fun busting A5o preflop with AJs for ten hours straight than trying to get inside the heads of all those damned fish. I dedicated long hours to this strategy and got a BIG return, actually bigger than any I've had before.

I devised this system to reduce a lot of the unpredictible variables in the game. When you're sitting at a table of fish, the variance can be HUGE when not a single one of them has the slightest clue wha they're doing. You can attempt to outplay them all you want, but in the end, you're mostly just going to take your odds against them, because you can't narrow down what preflop hand ranges they will be on in a particular hand.

I found it quite common that there was no way to consistently play FTR starting hand advice because # of preflop callers was too unpredictible. For example, playing a normal game with normal bankroll, I would sometimes go 8 or 9 hands just stealing the blinds or change with a 4xBB raise ($1), catch AA on a hand, raise it $2 preflop, and get 7 callers. WTF!? Play money games are more predictible than that.

Koolmoe: It wasn't "dedicating hours to the strategy with little return" that was the problem. It was putting $10 behind AKs for 3 hours and having it cracked by 5 9s, Q 10o, etc. that irritated me. It's bad luck, not bad strategy that killed me. I enjoyed the game when the cards were holding up, but I tilt HARD and FAST if AK gets cracked by 2 undercards more than 3 times in a row, making me realize that I just wasted the past 3 and the next 3 hours. I'd rather read a decent book than play poker when the cards aren't there. I'm confident in my ability to play poker, but I have no faith in my emotions.

T.J. Cloutier talked about a guy who would play an amazing game of poker for two hours straight; Cloutier was even afraid of the guy for about 2 hours. But at EXACTLY two hours, the guy just fell apart, and T.J. loved to play with him because he knew he could rip the guy a new one every time. I'm that guy. And everyone else is T.J.

We always talk about "that one big game" we play in our lifetimes. You can't just take into account the edge that your skill gives you; you've got to consider other factors affecting long-term outcomes, like rake, tilt, cheating/collusion against you (however rare it may be), dealer tips, deposit and withdrawal fees, etc. etc. etc. I don't think it'll ever be profitable for me personally.

I have decided to limit my poker play to B&M casinos, once a month, strictly for entertainment/drinking purposes. There are some decent casinos around the L.A. area that I would like to explore. I would really like to refine my live game skills, and I'm sure that you can gain a much larger edge in a live game against crappy opponents.

Thanks again everyone for posting.

The end, for real.