thunder,

EV is an extremely important "term." it means Expected Value. its a way of calculating your equity in the pot.

if you have more of an "equity stake" in the pot, then you need to stick as much in as you can. because while you may not be getting all of your money back, neither are they. and they are making worse mistakes than you, at the moment. therefore, in the long run, the money comes to you. you need to be able to find situations where you are making the smallest mistake at the table, and jam the money in. thats where your bread and butter lies. sometimes you will both be making a "profitable decision," but yours is MORE profitable (like AA v KK preflop). therefore, your opponent still made the bigger mistake for that particular situation.

try not to get caught up in your session's winnings. they will swing back and forth. and, no offense, but at a 10 cent/20 cent table, you cannot take home $50 per session on the average. God forbid if its a limit game. its not possible to hold that kind of winrate over 3 months, let alone a "career." it is, however, one hell of a heater.

if you want to make a living, you need to look at $1/$2 limit or $100 NL at a minimum, imo. otherwise variance will crush your "paycheck" from time to time.

and, one other thing. factor out what you "need" to make and double it. if you NEED to make $500/week, then get to where you can make $1000(including rb/bonus). that way you can still take the $500 without dipping into your bankroll. besides, if you need a $4000 br to play 100NL, and you make $500 one week, you shouldnt take the $500......you still need to grow your bankroll, if you ever plan to move up higher.

grab a pen and some paper, and start "crunching numbers." you need to know EXACTLY what you need to make, right down to the BB/100 or BB/hour, how many tables you need to play, how many hands you need to play in a day, etc. and you need to know them EXACTLY before you consider doing this for income.

if i can find an article by daniel negreanu about his "hourly job," i will post a link to it, but it may take some time.

btw, if Ash is playing NL, his BB's are doulbed....or $1 and $2, not $0.50. so, 3 BB's/100 would be $3, not $1.50.

and to complete that exercise, you need to know the average pot size to calculate rake....and rakeback. plus, with 8 (not 18) tables open, he is jamming about 500 full ring hands or 800 6max hands per hour!! that may be a bit high, but not much. if you look at his winrate (using your 3/100), 5 blocks of 100 at a 3 is 15 BB's/hour...or $45 (remember, its $1 for a BB, not $.50). add in rakeback (which i dont care to figure) and its WAAAY better than a day job.

however, he, too, has days where he loses money. that $45/hour is an average. he only thinks of that. if he plays an hour and wins $200, he says to himself, "thanks for the $45." if he loses $200 in the next hour, he says, "thanks for the $45." while his computer tells him he has only broken even.....he knows he has actually made $90. see that? thats how you need to think about things.