Is there a well known pro who was a loosing player over a long period (say 3 years ) and became successful?

Why ? because you are a long time loosing player and want to get pro ?

I think Chris moneymaker lost some in the beginning

Study the best books and play what u can beat. But yes, it is close that future pros should be losing when they are moving up as one cant spend too much time in every limit. It is a subtle balance but starting a next level as a loser is very acceptable.

Of course, there must be. With enough time and attention I think a complete novice should be able to reach a winning game at decent stakes within a year but only if he is motivated and puts in the hours. There must be people that are faster or slower, some might have taken 3 years for sure. Some landed on an insane heater for 100k hands and think they're good when they're not, others who started may have run ice cold while actually being insanely good players.

So many variables that determine when someone has success, you can never tell for sure.

if you are losing for three years you may have so many leaks or not enough ability or discipline to ever win.

if you study and pick good games and can play under control a person should be a winning player right from the get go.

Can someone with decent intelligence and discipline and hand reading but bad at poker strategy improve his game and become a winning player?

I doubt someone whos a losing player for 3 years has any of the traits needed to be a pro. I was a losing player for maybe a week. Maybe i have actually never been a losing player at all. Hard to say with variane And im not even a pro.

The most important trait you need is wanting to be the ***** best. Every game i played before poker, i was in the top 5%, sometimes the top 1%, in 1 civ3 i was actually the top 10 players. (there arent so many who take civ3 serious, that helps) This mentality i think is universal among poker players. You study poker not primarily because you want to make money, but because you want to be the ***** best.

Being a poker pro only requires you playing poker regularly and having no other means of income. So anyone can be a poker pro.

Sustaining as a losing poker pro for three years is a different matter. On a theoretical level, it is possible to lose for three straight years overall. You can run horribly bad. However, almost no one can live on their own savings and fund poker loses for 3 years. They are driven out of poker by the lack of cash flow, ultimately running out of people to borrow from.

The hardest part of being a poker pro is the discipline. People dream of being a poker pro because it is perceived as an easy, carefree lifestyle. The reality is that it is difficult to keep going into the poker room week after week for 30 hours+. Your highest earning times are when everyone else is partying. Poker will become boring after listening to the same bad beat story 40 times.

There's also the discipline to not lose your money to drugs and women. Casinos attract leaches and anyone with money is a target.

actually his names dylan

"What is the tough part of becoming a pro?"

Convincing the wife.

In my experience, people that can't spell the word "losing" correctly (and there are a lot of them) tend to be losers. :/
FWIW, WCGRider was stuck in the micros for considerable time (although he definitely didn't lose for 3 years), and now he's arguably the best player in the world.

I stopped paying attention to high stakes stuff around Black Friday, and it's still insane to me that a dude I remembered best for his $10k at 25NL prop bet is now this high stakes crushing monster.

- Lots and lots of work to get good at poker

- Mental toughness, discipline, dealing with the gap between expectations and reality

- Building a bankroll

- Variance

- Good location(s) to play at

Probably

ive known a few guys that were bad players and after losing for years decided to learn how to play after staying broke for so long. then they became good. but they dedicated themselves to getting good.

lol what a funny old person joke

Lol, yeah, I'm kinda old, but my wife and I agreed that I would take half of my poker roll and put it in an irrevocable trust for my two kids before quitting my job to pursue poker full-time, so no joke intended, actually.