Quitting my job for poker was a great idea

[Pokeraddict]

I figured with the "quitting my job was a bad idea" thread I would start one about a success story. I hope I do not get flamed for this as I know poker is not a job many can do full time. As a matter of fact I would discourage most people from doing it. You better have great math skills that can work in a split second and the patience to deal with the massive suck outs that have caused me to break a mouse every few months. But those of us who left their good jobs, or in my case bad one, poker has been a life changing career.

I did not go to college, went into the work force delivering pizza and eventually managed a Papa John's. I managed and delivered for them for nearly 10 years. They were once a company that took care of people but this changed as, in my opinion, people who have no idea what they are doing took over the company and now have left it in shambles. I was injured in a car accident on the clock and had to take time off and after a while went part time. I had endless problems getting them to even pay for medical bills, something under the law they are obligated, especially since the bills were from the people they sent me to and agreed over phone with the providers to pay. The bigger the stink I made about these unpaid bills (I was receiving late notices in the mail) the more hostile the work place became.

During this break 2 years ago I started playing poker at Americas Card Room. Like many others I did not tell my wife I was playing online. I was already a Betcris customer so transfers were easy. Old schoolers will remember the 4 nights a week of free $50 for 200 hands. I had played poker all my life but not holdem. I know I was a fish. The only thing that kept me floating was all the free money.

After a while I established a decent game. I took a prop job at Big Bet and turned a few hundred dollars into over $10,000. I was starting to really feel the push at work to get me out the door as I could not manage anymore due to my back injury. Finally after they made up some total BS I quit and told my wife what I had been doing. She was pissed that I had been "gambling" online as she is very conservative. She got over this when I showed her I had 5 digits in my prepaidatm account. This was about 14 months ago.

After a few months I got so comfortable with poker income I made a sucks.com to my employer to tell the world how poorly they handled the situation and also as a joke. What a better way to tell an ex employer that screwed you how you feel right? I never could have done this without being self employed.

Now I am a full time 5/10 and 10/20 player. I am a 2+BB/100 winner full time and prop on the side still for extra pay. I am making more money then I ever dreamed. I even opened up a successful poker website which I have busted my ass in the last week to completely overhaul to make it look more professional. I will not post the link as that is spam but I am allowed to say it is in my profile.

The point after reading the horror story in the other thread is it can be done. I was once that fish that called raises with any ace, or after a berating after bad beating someone had the "It was suited" comment for my J2. Remember that idiot in your PT that is a -15BB/100 loser can always learn and become the next online poker pro. So can anyone who really puts their mind to it. Just remember that the best way to take the fun out of poker is to do it for a living.

Anytime I think about how well this has gone I still have to thank Jek for all his help, I may not have made it without his insight to proper play and how to keep in the anger at the fishies. At the very least it would have taken longer to get where I am.