To answer your question regarding how many years I've been playing poker. I've been playing for over 15 years. I started playing in my 1st year of university. It was offline poker. At first it was tournaments in different cafes with friends and acquaintances with a small prize money. And then I started playing in different poker clubs in my city. I played mostly cash games and was quite successful (quite often I managed to get triple and after that I took my money and went to night clubs with my friends and girlfriends). Then I started playing online poker. And yes, it was
pokerstars. I loved the idea of being a PokerStars team player someday. How much money have I won in all that time? Not enough. Yes, I had successful tournaments, but I never won more than $400 at one time. I also have my own golden rule: don't invest a dime in online poker! That is, I don't do rebuys or addons. And, accordingly, I don't pay for buy-ins with any money. Of course, it's hard to play freebuys (when all the players at the table are rebuys and addons), but it's easier for me to play tournaments where there are no rebuys or addons. I would even compare it to swimming. You practice swimming with one arm (with the other arm tied to your back, for example), and then you untie the other arm and swim much faster. Same thing in poker. I feel my domination in those tournaments where there are no rebuys or addons.