the lifespan of a poker player

a few weeks ago, i wrote a small thing on 'the evolution of a poker player'. while i may or may not be correct in my assumptions, i'd like to also discuss the life of a poker player. not necessarily what an average poker player does during the day, but more the lifespan of his career choice.

a poker player's lifespan (or however long he can beat the game) takes on various courses and stages. many do not (and can not) taste success in poker (where success = varying degrees of money). many don't make it past the first early stages where it is a hobby and pasttime, something for enjoyment.

for those beginning a serious approach to poker (reading/discussing/etc), their money is won by taking $ from the fish and other weaker players- poker is predicated on beating those weaker than yourself (through a variety of fashions). some of these fashions include tilt control, game selection, just being flat out better than your opponent, or hundreds of other factors that make up poker. many learn the game to a degree where they are just solid tighter players who have the PF stats down but not much else. those that 10 table eaking out a 1ptbb/100 win monthly and whom are labeled 'tagfish' by their peers. rakeback pros ftw.

a player's skill changes with the games (obviously). back in 2005, all you needed was a decent preflop hand selection and to know when to get it in with TPTK. as the games evolve, so do the players. NLHE is obviously a much more studied game than it was in previous years. people are 3-betting light even at the 10NL games, something unheard of a few years ago.

a player's lifespan in poker is dependent on how many opponents he can beat (and how effective thereof). many winners in past years are struggling to beat todays games. this could be for many reasons, if not for the sole reason of TAGs being better on all levels. some find themselves unable to beat todays games and forced to move down in limits. and then, finallly, when this player is either bored or unable to compete, he stops and moves onto other things (or continues to lose money).

im not sure when poker will 'dry up'. there are obviously hundreds and thousands of microstakes games. this game is still obviously very popular. maybe it'll catch fire in asia or something.