There are still some sites that will give you a free $50 to start playing. I made more money exploiting affiliate schemes like that than I did playing poker. For a while, Party Poker required a $50 minimum to open an account and paid out $65 for referred account + around $25 in bonuses + free polo shirt, hat, and jacket. So I bought a Fark ad and gave out a bunch of Party Poker accounts.

Party Poker wouldn't pay me my money for 6 months, but they got a new affiliate manager who eventually cut me a check. I wonder if they cut their losses or if my players actually generated enough rake to pay me back.

He he. Some time I'll tell you the story of why I would be a millionaire many times over by now if Neteller had not stopped accepting Americans. And why, after they did, I ended up driving home from Canada through a blizzard.

And why I own a whole bunch of cheap Dell PCs and registered copies of VMWare.

I had a similar setup back in the day, and I think you did just tell the story.

Online you could turn a $2k bankroll into six figures in a year, and it's actually fairly easy.

It's only easy if you have an extraordinary amount of self-discipline. I couldn't do it, though I am sure many here could if they really worked at it.

True.

Please show me how..I'll be eternally grateful

fairly easy? How do I go about doing this?

Edit: Never mind - realized this does not scale.

The advice comes down to "Start at a low limit. Win consistently. Move up to a higher limit. Win consistently. Move up to a higher limit. Win consistently."

It's the winning consistently that you have to worry about.

Also, if you want to start playing poker using someone else's money, I would recommend these guys -- http://www.pokersourceonline.com/free-poker/money. They give you free money at one of the poker rooms.

It's pretty easy really, and nothing secret. Read good books. Practice. Discuss with friends. Start off low, build your way up using proper bankroll management (which is found in said books).

The hardest thing I found was building up my way with proper bankroll management.

I played too high of limits for my bankroll, so I would do well but my negative swings would deplete my whole bankroll.

That, and I found myself cashing out because I was in school at the time.

Would you care to elaborate? Which books are good? What kind of practice? I'm sure many here are interested.

Thanks.

You can see my list of recommended books on my blog. They really are the books I endorse.