awesome question... it just occurred to me that i've known how to play poker for nearly 5 years. i was just starting college and decided to go and buy a poker chip set with a friend. next thing i knew i was making an account on party poker and spewing play money. i started trying to improve about 3 years ago but i still was a huge fish. this length of time playing a certain way created so many bad habits it feels like im taking a lifetime to plug them.... i sat down last year with pokerstrategy and a $30 bankroll and haven't had $0 in my balance since i last cashed out.
what i would do differently:
from the beginning i would read about making money with online poker, look at people's graphs for inspiration and learn as quickly as possible that there is money to be MADE and not WON. i would find a way to study theory and just work on my game. i would also register for pokerstrategy AND USE IT when it first came out - if only i knew about it!!!
in short, i wouldn't do anything differently, i would just cut out the few years of me splashing around for fun with play money/$10 deposits and replace them with me actually learning ♦