[Daniel Hoerr]

[ QUOTE ]
I am going to respond to your post as honestly as I can.

When I was a kid, my mother always wanted me to go to college and become a doctor or a lawyer or some other "honorable" profession so I could make a good living to support my family and I suppose "contribute to society". I always told her that you didn't need college to make a living. Everybody is good at something and it doesn't matter what it is, you just have to figure out what it is and you could make a living at it.

When I got out of high school, I had no interest in college, so I eventually got a job as a bouncer in a bar. Not exactly an "honorable" profession, but I was good at it and it paid my bills. I became a bartender, again, not quite "honorable" but I was good at it and paid the bills.

I played poker "socially" and was horrible. I had no idea what I was doing and consistently lost and lost big. My father had a weekly game that was looking for another player and he asked me if I wanted in, I told him no because I was terrible at cards. A couple years later, he asked me again, and wanting to spend more quality time with him I agreed to the weekly game. I lost. and lost. and lost some more. I couln't really afford to lose, but I wanted to keep spending the time with my Dad. So, I bought a poker book. I read it and studied it. I lost less. I bought another book and started to break even. I bought another book and started to win. That was 10 years ago.

I don't play full time now, but almost. I am a consistent winner over the last 10 years. I am 42 years old, married, 3 boys (17, 6, and 1). They have a house, food, clothes, toys, summer camp, sporting equipment, and vacations. Their mother stays home to take care of them and the house (a very important job all by itself). The kids don't go to daycare and aren't home alone all the time because the parents are always working.

Do I have trouble sleeping at night? No, I sleep fine. Do I have trouble justifying how I get this money? No. I work hard at it. I read and study and concentrate. I work hard to excel at my chosen profession.

I'm not a lawyer suing McDonalds for their coffee being too hot. I'm not a doctor watering down his prescriptions to increase my profit line. I don't work for an insurance company using fear to convince someone to buy a lottery ticket on their health. I'm not some corporate CEO playing fast and loose with the numbers to cook the books and screw my 10,000 employees out of their pension funsd and lay them all off when I have to go to prison for two years du to a fraud conviction.

I play cards. I do it honestly. I am good at it. I take care of my family. THAT is honorable.

I hope this helps you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very nice hand...