I freaking quit! i hate poker! humor me...

[bholdr]

...well, not really.

Early this year i'd realized that i was becoming a decent poker player, and i loved the game, so I decided to use online play (+bonuses and rakeback, and a little casino whorin') as a kind of second job to pay for my beer, computer, cable bill, etc.

It worked out pretty well... i set a goal of 10k in earnings for 2005 and reached that mid-august. a massive downswing followed (natch), which i've since recovered from: the process of which made me realize a couple things:

A: my hourly earnings, though slightly better than my square job, weren't/aren't all that great (@$25/hr)

C: I just don't like LHE. at all.

B: trying to earn money was making me hate poker


So:

I quit.

not poker, but i quit trying to earn as much as possible while playing. I quit trying to cram in 5 hour sessions trying to clear a reload. I quit 4 tabling low limits. I quit stressing about my SD and my PT stats, etc... I'm gonna pick up some overtime to compensate for the potential lost income, and start having fun and learning again. I'm gonna take some shots at bigger games (BR be dammed, i can afford it), play at B&Ms more often. I'm gonna finally learn the Omaha variants and TDL, try some sports betting, and so on.

It's gonna be just a hobby, at least until 2006. I'll re-evaluate later, and i hope i keep making money, but for now, i'll play to PLAY. i am already more excited about playing than i have ben in a while.

anyone else gone through this? thoughts?

[DCWGaming]

I went through the same kind of thing...

Except it was a full time job for me... Once you get over the transition of thinking its a game and thinking its work, its alot easier to put in the hours.

But you obviously dont want it to be work, so rock on and play for enjoyment. dont stress over it.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]

I went through the same kind of thing...

Except it was a full time job for me... Once you get over the transition of thinking its a game and thinking its work, its alot easier to put in the hours.

But you obviously dont want it to be work, so rock on and play for enjoyment. dont stress over it.

[/ QUOTE ]

right on, ty.

i just remembered some Robert Frost, form 'two tramps in mud-time':

My object in living is to unite
my advocation and my vocation
as my two eyes make one in sight

didn't work with poker, for me.

[DCWGaming]

i really like that Frost quote

alot

[bholdr]

okay... here's another:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


heh. not sure if that applies.

[danvh]

I went through a kind of similar thing..

Personally, I just decided if money comes from cards, itll come. I make enough money for my lifestyle from my job and was happier not grinding.. So screw it

And btw..Coming home from work..Drinking beer, playing low limits and donking it up..Pretty fun

[jman220]

Sounds like a well reasoned analysis with a logical conclusion to me.

[playersare]

I'm a low limit grinder and whore myself. I still have my regular job and I'm generally happy with the results from my online side hustle.

the main development over the past year or so I think, is that more and more newbies (read: fish) are going right into No Limit ring games and tournaments, and bypassing LHE competely. in the long run, an skilled and experienced player will probably make more money in actual play, and have larger game selection overall, at the big-bet tables, then even hacking away at $15/30 (just my theorem though, I don't know for sure). the potential ceiling for earnings could then feasibly hit not just $10K per year, but $10K per MONTH.

anyway, this is all coming from someone who hasn't even mastered $25 max with a short stack yet. but reading other people's experiences and analyzing the math myself, it definitely wouldn't hurt to learn NL sooner rather than never.

[bholdr]

[ QUOTE ]
the potential ceiling for earnings could then feasibly hit not just $10K per year, but $10K per MONTH.

[/ QUOTE ]

a year of grinding has convinced my that i will most likely never get good enough fot that. if i thought i could, i would definitly keep playing for income. oh well.

[Beavis68]

You go girl.

This is the whole reason I stopped playing SnGs and started learning other games. I was too worried about results.

Now I can play Limit, PLO, O8b and S8b passably, and have fun still.