Utterly embarrassing and honest confessions of a 1 year pro

[mickey]

Turning Stone,

You've received some great advice here, to keep up
the exercise program, get out of the house with a part
time job or volunteer work, or take a class, and taking up
golf.

Golf seems very suited to your personality - it rewards rewards devotion and singlemindedness. The best way to get started
is to find a local golf pro and sign up for a series of lessons. It won't cost much, you'll enjoy it, and it will get you on the right track for what will become endless practice sessions and relentless game improvement.
You need lessons, it is pretty hard to teach yourself to play golf.

[JunkHead]

A couple of things.

- Why do so many have to be raging dicks when replying to posts? What's the point, really?

- You're young. You need to get out of your house and socialize with people your age. Get laid, get drunk, act stupid. This is the only time in your life when you can really get away with that sort of behavior.

- The loss of your deposit is a short term negative towards a long term gain. Eat the loss and move somewhere else. Closer to family and friends.

- All jobs suck from time to time. Everyone suffers burnout, regardless how cool their job seems. Find ways to combat burnout. Take a vacation.

- Working for the man sucks. Making someone else rich is enslavement. You're free, man, relish that freedom.

- Running is great, but it's a lonely way to stay in shape. Join the Y. Running on a treadmill at the Y is so much more pleasant, what with all the eyecandy about [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

- A great running resource is CoolRunning.com. Check out the C25K (Couch to 5K) program. It's great.

Sorry for the long post, but you had a lot in there to respond to.

JunkHead

[1800GAMBLER]

I think people are coming down way to hard on you. Yes, you may have made some bad decisions that are affecting your mood now but eff it, you're 20 you are allowed to [censored] up.

I feel about poker the exact same as you, 8 tabling 30/60 or 1 tabling PLO whatever it is bores me to death. I enjoy learning the game and i love to have a flexiable life style, if you don't enjoy any of that just find something new or go back to college.

I think most 1 year pros feel the same as you, poker is just a card game.

[PorscheNGuns]

Dont listen to assholes like this who continue to encourage young guys like yourself to piss away their lives. You still have a chance at a normal life, maybe.

-Matt

[Al Schoonmaker]

Thank you for an unusually frank and balanced post. You have clearly grown as a player and a person.

Keep thinking about longer term issues. Far too many players focus only on the short-term.

One thing you MUST do is get more connected to real world people. The racquet ball club will give you both exercise and people to talk to.

Keep us posted.

Regards,

Al

[SL__72]

I also think people are being hard on you. From what I've read I think maybe you weren't ready to be a professional poker player when you made the decision to be one, but you obviously made it work.

Being burnt out on your JOB isn't exactly usual. I like my job, I like the people I work with, but that doesn't mean I'm looking forward to getting up and going to work every morning, or that I'm not super ready to leave by the time 6pm rolls around.

I can also understand what you said about not having the social life you had but you are still happy. I just finished college and started working and overnight my social life shrank to a fraction of what it was during school, yet I think I am happier as a person overall.

[Ulysses]

My content in life is dwindling as my devotion to improving with poker is starting to fade.

When I first started learning poker, it was fascinating. And I even thought to myself, hmmm, if someday I decide to take a break from business again (I took about 2 years off to travel and hang out after my last company), maybe I'll be a pro-poker player for a while. However, once I got to a certain level of poker skill (though there are plenty of higher limits and tougher games to conquer if I so desired), my interest in poker definitely started to wane.

One thing I've said in the past is that many of the young people here, especially those who quit college to play poker, will never have a chance to be exposed to many really interesting careers - whether that be in business, finance, academia, art, science or whatever else. Now that you've spent some time as a poker pro, I'd encourage you to pursue an education that will allow you to try out a bunch of different areas. Getting a college degree and working for a consulting firm is one good way to get exposed to a lot of different industries and see what lots of different roles do on a day-to-day basis. There are many other routes you can take as well, that's just one. Then, hopefully, one of those things strikes you as something worth really focusing on.

Good post. Good luck.

[CallMeIshmael]

[ QUOTE ]
Not even 21 and you've completely thrown your life away. "Rounders" will do that to some people.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you wouldnt mind, will you please you kill yourself tonight? Its probably best for all parties.

[TStoneMBD]

Some of you had some really excellent things to say, I appreciate that. Some of you had some really negative things to say, that do not benefit me in anyway, and I do not appreciate that. Hey, negative comments are bound to come with a thread that contains so much open material that it makes it easy for someone to take shots at you. Some people get their kicks off of putting down others. They feel sorry for me, but maybe they should feel sorry for themselves. To those people, I don't appreciate your comments, but at least it makes me realize that maybe my life is better than I thought it was. Thank you for that.

Some jerkstore even mentioned suicide! I am nowhere close to suicide my boy. Life is good. Yes things need to be better, and maybe there is a small level of depression as there is with most people. It's more a level of unsatisfaction, which no matter where my life leads me I may always have. It's a motivation that drives me, not a motivation that drives me into a tree on the side of the highway.

I am not entirely bored with poker. Poker truly is a good road for me, but it is mundane and it is not purposeful. Those are really my only concerns. It's about money, I'm just coming to realize that there are things in life worth more than money, which I think is something that most people only figure out once they have it.

I'm the type of person who doesn't lead a balanced life. It's the way that I am. I set my mind to one thing, attack it, and move on to another area of my life once I feel that I am finished. I have pretty much been a workaholic this past year. I've attacked poker, now I need to attack other areas since my dedication to learning has diminished quite a bit. I can only hope that I regain my motivation for poker in the future, which I almost certainly will.

[CallMeIshmael]

[ QUOTE ]
Someone even mentioned suicide! I am nowhere close to suicide my boy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Keep in mind, that the person who mentioned suicide, appears to be partially retarded.