Becoming a better poker player?

For me, poker is a hobby, it's fun, it's challenging and (like it or not) it's definately addicting.
So, poker is in my head a lot of the time, to be honest a bit more than I'd like it to be, but I'm like an addiction-magnet.

At this point, I'm crushing the very lowest limit (2NL), which of course has no merit at all. Only one stake up (and thus still at the very bottom of poker levels) at the 4NL, I'm breaking even after some 13k hands, which at worst means I have no talent at all and at best may indicate I'm a slow learner. At least, I think that's what it means. Perhaps it's absolutely normal and I should not expect to have improved significantly until having played at least 50k hands. I just have no idea.

Poker is about making the right decisions and, especially online, being able to make these decisions very fast. When making a decision, sometimes knowing the strength of your own hand is enough. More often, it involves being able to estimate what your opponent is likely to have. Sometimes it involves even more: knowing what you opponent thinks you might have and beyond.

A lot of factors are to be taken into account: hand ranges, playing style, betting patterns, table image, outs, people still to act behind you etc. etc. You need to be able to analyse your opponents: what hands do they play and how do they play them? How do they think you play?

There's just a ton of information that needs to be noticed, analysed and remembered so it can be used in future decisions. Now, this is a challenge for one opponent and there's up to 9 opponents at the table. And you might be playing 4 tables at a time................

Can I learn this? Will I be able to get better at it? Do I have the right qualities to become even a mid-stakes or low-stakes winning player? And what are those qualities? An eye for detail? An excellent memory? A lot of experience? Strong statistical and mathematical insight? Patience? Discipline? Stamina? Can you train that stuff? Is becoming a great poker player more difficult than becoming a chess master or is it easier? Can almost anyone become a decent player or will most not even get much better than a total noob?

I'm reading the books here and putting in a lot of hours and thought (for a mere hobby that is), I'm reviewing some of the hands where I made mistakes. I'm watching some video's, practising calculating odds and hand ranges... Will that make me a better player?

Often when I read a hand review or an explanation of hand by a top player or even a mid-stakes player, I'm thinking: how can he think about all that stuff in a couple of seconds and while probably playing at least 3 other tables at the same time?

Well, obviously I have a lot of questions. Maybe I'm just being impatient and I'm overestimating the 'learning' ability of other players and most people don't improve faster than I do. Or maybe I should quit playing multible tables and really focus on one table to improve on all aspects of the game first and then try playing more tables at a time. Or maybe, I should head back to the play money tables and just have fun without the pressure of having to win, but also without any reward or feelings of accomplishment.

So, if anyone out there has the answers: tell me :)

For now, I'll just keep trying...