Utterly embarrassing and honest confessions of a 1 year pro

[EStreet20]

Hey TStone,

Some of your posts have heled me in the past so I figured I'd try some words of encouragement. First off, cut out the sleeping the day away. Summer's here, wake up and run on your treadmill, go outside and enjoy the weather. No BS, you'll find it helps you relax and feel better.

As far as getting down about poker and not finding it exciting I'll tell you my motto regarding work when people complain about their jobs, all of which pay more than mine. I say, "The worst day of vacation is better than the best day of work." IE, remeber you are a professional, this is your living and you have to grind it out, even if it sucks. Then step back and realize that there are far worse things people do for a living, and it should help you feel better. Also, schedule in some vacations and breaks from poker. You need to every now and then in order to refresh yorself mentally.

Also, don't forget to stay in touch with your old friends, even though you've moved away. During one of your vacations you can visit with them, take a trip to AC or Vegas with them etc.

Last, thanks for the contributions you've made on this forum that have helped me out. I finally have a stable poker dedicated BR that I havne't had to touch for unexpected reasons and I feel like I'm making great strides as a player and I remember your name as one with some good points in a lot of discussions.

Good luck dude,
Matt

[TimM]

I'm struggling with some of the same things. But my situation is a little different, since I'm 38 years old. I did the college thing and had at least 5 very different jobs over the years. If I never had to work for anyone but myself ever again that would be fine with me. My goals (J V style) for this year and probably next year too are: putting away as much money as possible, losing weight, and getting my teeth fixed (about one year left of this). The "F as many girls as possible" goal is on hold for now. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

I do feel a little like I am always waiting though - it gets depressing. I do the whole "wake up at 2PM, don't leave the apartment for days sometimes" thing. This is why I made sure I got out to Vegas for the 2+2 thing, and I will be taking a trip for 5 days next week where I will play no poker at all. In fact I kind of regret the amount of poker I played last Sunday at the Wynn. I should have gone over to the Rio instead.

Anyway, I'm only about 5 months into this thing, and still in the bankroll building and moving up stage. Maybe I will figure out what I want to do about these other things before I get to the one year mark. If I can get to a decent win rate in dollars per hour, that would definitely help.

I don't really have any advice other than what was already said. I hope you listen to it, even the stuff that is not sugar-coated.

[wildwood]

"Twenty years from now you will be more dissappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones that you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

[ThreeMartini]

Great post. Here's my $.02

Buy a Harley. Join the country club. Don't sleep more than 8 hrs a night. Get up early. Exercise. Get some sun.
Eat healthy. Basically take some time off, your in an enviable spot.

[RYL]

Hire a psychologist. That's the only advice I can give you.

[RYL]

[ QUOTE ]
Hire a psychologist. That's the only advice I can give you.

[/ QUOTE ]

When you get more money, hire a lawyer.

[Greg J]

There is a lot of great advice on this thread. There is also a lot of crappy advice. I'm not sure which this falls into (hopefully the former):

Take a college class in something that interests you. Colleges are a great place to make friends and meet chicks (or dudes if that is what you are into). Plus the class itself will hopefully be a source of intellectual fulfillment.

If that doesn't sound great, a martial arts class might be good too. That will get you some pretty good excercise. Yr Racquet club idea was also good.

Whatever you do, good luck. Being lonely sucks. It really sucks. Just try to do something that will make you happy.

[CourtesyFlush]

Great post TStone. I was really looking for someone to talk honestly about social isolation that can occur when playing poker professionally. Thanks for this. I think you received some great advice from others that you will hopefully gain from.

Best of luck,

CF

[Buccaneer]

TStone I read your post a few days ago and was impressed with the naked honesty in it. That must have taken some motivation to do that. You touched somewhat on the effect that egos have on this board. Basically you said that some of the posters here can be insensitive jerks, that thier jerkie post affected your quest for poker knowledge in a negative way but in your quest for social acceptance here your post became curt, condensending, and attacking as well. You also appoligised which took balls. It is disturbing that you were attacked in your post yourself and they only thing that I suspect this accomplished was the bloating of many ignore files.
I have learned a lot reading your post and I am glad that this site exist. I get what I come here for when people tear apart hands and explain options. I don't get anything out of it when people tear apart each other.
Good luck in the decisions ahead of you. We all have several of these moments where we look inward for direction. You are about to make some decisions in your life. Take your time and make the ones that are right for you.

[CanIPlay]

Go to college, live in a dorm, play 20 hours a week to support yourself. You will meet people, you can exercise at the rec center, you will be investing in your future, you might find your passion in your life.
College is the best 4-6 years of your life, do not miss it. If I could have played online Poker I would have went to school for 10 years. I put my 40 hours a week in at Jack-in-the-Box, now that sucks.