There's a lot of people out there that invest without any prior knowledge at all, I wouldn't doubt that many of them don't even realise how much there is to stock trading. I have known someone that put down £30k without understanding even the basics, and obviously they lost it all. I don't think you have to beat the pro's, you just have to beat the idiots, and be blessed with some luck.

I agree with other comments, you have to be ready to lose the money, hopefully in exchange for knowledge. If you can't afford to throw the money away, don't risk it. But you never know until you try..