i'll no longer be living 'the life'... *updated*

[moneypulator 0]

Congrats on making a good run at it.Congrats also on knowing when to pack it in for a while.Seriously...I definately respect that.

My Thoughts exactly.. :-) ........ just a quick question Dud...what was your BR when you decided to make a run for it?

[Johnny Lately 0]

Sounds to me you could use some self confidence, and goal setting.   The poker mags are full of stuff on bad cards and they state that self confidence is the cure.  I use goal setting this keeps on course to fulfilling your dreams, if you went into it with" maybe if I earn enough" on your mine and that is what happened I would not blame the cards or the game .  Also  in my opion and the opion of many grinders rounders etc. no-limit is the game to live by not limit which is a card game just like rummy no more.  The odds also of poker leave you with what your bankroll is ;not, one group of bad months.  If you are low on money because of only so many bad months of a year which you mentioned quitting is wrong; You could make alot more the next phase. I think the idea is that if you are the better player then quitting is the reason you are losing.   I play internet also and what I play is sit and gos nolimtHE that is a real money machine you can then make tournaments very steady.

You should go back and try and read your own post. Then you too would have a migraine like mine. Then you will be more careful with the two most powerful sides of the force - punctuation and reasoned thought.

[ddudley 0]

The real money machine is plo8.

Actually I've been trying to learn how to play O8 lately. Sometimes I get sick of playing LHE... I've been playing .5/1 O8 on Pacific and Paradise.I'm getting better and have been beating it up pretty good since I started using PT Omaha. Only 200 hands so far but experiencing the upside of varience for a change has been nice, even if it's only for a short period of time.

[guinevar 0]

Check out www.o8poker.com

[jayboogie 0]

It's not such a bad thing to go back to a regular job, for some people, playing poker full-time gets too stressful and that seems to be the case with you. However, it's probably going to suck going back to a regular job when you haven't worked one in so long. I can't possibly imagine myself going back to a 9-5 anytime soon, that's for sure. Regardless, good luck with whatever you decide to do and hope it all works out for you.

[ddudley 0]

Congrats on making a good run at it.Congrats also on knowing when to pack it in for a while.Seriously...I definately respect that.

My Thoughts exactly.. :-) ........ just a quick question Dud...what was your BR when you decided to make a run for it?

I'm not making a run for it, lol, just choosing to play part-time instead of full-time. My bankroll is still 60K, I've never spent a dollar of it. We can call it 50K if you want to take 10K for the taxes I'll have to pay next year.***EDIT*** I just realized that was a flat out wrong... I spent $1500 on a new computer and about $500 on a trip to vegas to see the WSOP and play some side games, I've also bought poker books and DVDs. All that money comes out of my bankroll and is also a tax write-off.Having money was never the issue, I have enough without poker. For me it's an issue of opportunity cost, I want to have a total income of at least 100K/year (from investing, poker and job). It turned out that I couldn't do that with just investing and poker.I was also unhappy... I was up all night and sleeping during the day, I was only up for a couple hours of daylight, I was making less than $1000/month the past few months, I had very little interaction with other people, etc. My good friends at the climbing gym had moved away recently so I wasn't getting a lot of excercise. I think I was getting depressed and couldn't break out of it.Ultimately, I lacked that close group of poker friends to help you through the tough times and help make sure you are playing correctly. I don't know anyone who I trust who also takes the game as seriouly as I do. I think that proved to be my biggest problem.

[ddudley 0]

It's not such a bad thing to go back to a regular job, for some people, playing poker full-time gets too stressful and that seems to be the case with you.  However, it's probably going to suck going back to a regular job when you haven't worked one in so long.  I can't possibly imagine myself going back to a 9-5 anytime soon, that's for sure.  Regardless, good luck with whatever you decide to do and hope it all works out for you.

Thanks, it should be interesting. I'm also not sure I can put up with it but I'll soon find out.

[moneypulator 0]

Congrats on making a good run at it.Congrats also on knowing when to pack it in for a while.Seriously...I definately respect that.

My Thoughts exactly.. :-) ........ just a quick question Dud...what was your BR when you decided to make a run for it?

I'm not making a run for it, lol, just choosing to play part-time instead of full-time. My bankroll is still 60K, I've never spent a dollar of it. We can call it 50K if you want to take 10K for the taxes I'll have to pay next year.***EDIT*** I just realized that was a flat out wrong... I spent $1500 on a new computer and about $500 on a trip to vegas to see the WSOP and play some side games, I've also bought poker books and DVDs. All that money comes out of my bankroll and is also a tax write-off.Having money was never the issue, I have enough without poker. For me it's an issue of opportunity cost, I want to have a total income of at least 100K/year (from investing, poker and job). It turned out that I couldn't do that with just investing and poker.I was also unhappy... I was up all night and sleeping during the day, I was only up for a couple hours of daylight, I was making less than $1000/month the past few months, I had very little interaction with other people, etc. My good friends at the climbing gym had moved away recently so I wasn't getting a lot of excercise. I think I was getting depressed and couldn't break out of it.Ultimately, I lacked that close group of poker friends to help you through the tough times and help make sure you are playing correctly. I don't know anyone who I trust who also takes the game as seriouly as I do. I think that proved to be my biggest problem.

Sorry Dud..i think i worded it wrong...what was your intial BR when you first started playing full time....

[MikeR 0]

The real money machine is plo8.

Dude, shut the **** up. Don't tell people that.

[steve7stud 0]

Great thread. One of the things that you need to be careful about when having a job, and playing poker, is fatigue. Some people play better when they don't have to worry about poker as an income. But others feel like they don't have enough time to play, and feel constricted by the hours of a normal job. If and when you play part time, try not to push it, playing too many hours etc. Although, that doesn't seem like a problem, which brings me to my next point.If you ever do go back to playing again for a living, you might need to put in more hours in order to show a steadier profit. 30 hours a week is just not enough IMO. A great thing to do when playing online is to break your sessions up. Play for 3-4 hours. Take an extended break. And then play another 3-4 hours. That is a system that I reccomend for a lot of online players. It seems to work well. Especially if you can do it 6 days a week. It's less of a grind that way.Good Luck with the new job.

[ddudley 0]

Sorry Dud..i think i worded it wrong...what was your intial BR when you first started playing full time....

No problem, I had alotted $2000 to start playing. If I lost that, I would have had to quit and find something else to do. I've since taken that money out of my bankroll, so the 60K is all winnings.I think I lost about $500-600 the first five weeks. Luckily, I was able to see something was wrong and I made some adjustments to get things headed in the right direction.

[Gene zzz 0]

Sounds to me you could use some self confidence, and goal setting.   The poker mags are full of stuff on bad cards and they state that self confidence is the cure.  I use goal setting this keeps on course to fulfilling your dreams, if you went into it with" maybe if I earn enough" on your mine and that is what happened I would not blame the cards or the game .  Also  in my opion and the opion of many grinders rounders etc. no-limit is the game to live by not limit which is a card game just like rummy no more.  The odds also of poker leave you with what your bankroll is ;not, one group of bad months.  If you are low on money because of only so many bad months of a year which you mentioned quitting is wrong; You could make alot more the next phase. I think the idea is that if you are the better player then quitting is the reason you are losing.   I play internet also and what I play is sit and gos nolimtHE that is a real money machine you can then make tournaments very steady.

You should go back and try and read your own post. Then you too would have a migraine like mine. Then you will be more careful with the two most powerful sides of the force - punctuation and reasoned thought.

As for your self ingrand aattute my edukaed lowgik may be too hi 4 u The hed ach is only the empty of brsain on it You are both dead wrong and losers!

[ddudley 0]

Great thread. One of the things that you need to be careful about when having a job, and playing poker, is fatigue. Some people play better when they don't have to worry about poker as an income. But others feel like they don't have enough time to play, and feel constricted by the hours of a normal job. If and when you play part time, try not to push it, playing too many hours etc. Although, that doesn't seem like a problem, which brings me to my next point.If you ever do go back to playing again for a living, you might need to put in more hours in order to show a steadier profit. 30 hours a week is just not enough IMO. A great thing to do when playing online is to break your sessions up. Play for 3-4 hours. Take an extended break. And then play another 3-4 hours. That is a system that I reccomend for a lot of online players. It seems to work well. Especially if you can do it 6 days a week. It's less of a grind that way.Good Luck with the new job.

Thanks for the insightful post (as usual).It always bothered me that I could never get my average hours/week higher. When I did push myself to play more hours, I felt like it really affected the quality of my play and also made me an unhappier person. Same can be said for multi-tabling. I tried a lot of different things and never got completely comfortable with balancing work hours, hands played, income and quality of life.

[The Bwaves 0]

Honestly, you just need a break.Work is great for you. I know everyone has problems with the 9-5 lifestyle but all in all it's not that bad.60k a year in corporate america is definitly decent.60k BR, nice.Just enjoy waking up and drinking that coffee on the way to work. Enjoy getting your teeth cleaned twice a year and vision and health insurance.Enjoy the job security and the bi-weekly paychecks.When you get home at 5; sit down, watch some tv, relax, hop on that computer and rip up some easy games and pocket a few extra bones.Sounds like a great life to me.Good luck.

[ddudley 0]

Honestly, you just need a break.Work is great for you. I know everyone has problems with the 9-5 lifestyle but all in all it's not that bad.60k a year in corporate america is definitly decent.60k BR, nice.Just enjoy waking up and drinking that coffee on the way to work. Enjoy getting your teeth cleaned twice a year and vision and health insurance.Enjoy the job security and the bi-weekly paychecks.When you get home at 5; sit down, watch some tv, relax, hop on that computer and rip up some easy games and pocket a few extra bones.Sounds like a great life to me.Good luck.

I like how you think, that was the original idea. I think I was pushing myself too hard to win and I hope the regular income will help me play more zen-like poker.Unfortunately, I'm already having 2nd thoughts and I still have 3 more days before I start. lol I have this sort of "sick to my stomach" feeling about going back to work and I expect it will get worse before Monday.

[Dratj 0]

After 18 months of playing full time, I've decided it's time to go back to a real job. blek!!I've made 60K while playing poker but ultimately it proved not to be enough money to justify playing for a living. I'll be making 62K with benefits in the new job. So, I figure I need to make at least 75K with no benifits to continue playing poker. I just wasn't able to get that done.It's especially been tough this last 6 months as I've only made about $4500. I've been through most of that period getting killed by the cards. I had no idea the cards could be so cruel for so long. I'm sure there has been some less than optimal play on my part and I'm sure the competition has gotten much tougher the last 6 months but it's mostly been sick cards.It's been a tough day for sure... but I'm still going to play part-time. And who knows, after 2 weeks, maybe I'll be sick of it and quit (the job, not poker). I'm not giving up the dream entirely, I guess I'm just putting it on hold for now.If you have any questions for someone whos been through the grind, fire away. I'll do my best to give honest answers about what's important and what's not.

why don't you go and play higher limits to increase your bankroll? You could easily play 30 60 or even 50 100 with your roll. Just wondering.I found it very cool that you can make that much playing online. I've been playing on and off for about a year and never get anywhere but I work fulltime and make decent money. My dream is to win a WPT event or the WSOP one day of course.

[bdams19 0]

Peter Gibbons: Let me ask you something. When you come in on Monday, and you're not feelin' real well, does anyone ever say to you, 'Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays'?Lawrence: No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

[bdams19 0]

sweet, didnt even have to do anything to the word ass and its still uncensored

[ddudley 0]

why don't you go and play higher limits to increase your bankroll? You could easily play 30 60 or even 50 100 with your roll. Just wondering.I found it very cool that you can make that much playing online. I've been playing on and off for about a year and never get anywhere but I work fulltime and make decent money. My dream is to win a WPT event or the WSOP one day of course.

I have played 30/60 occasionally but, it's tough to find the juicy games I'm used to. It's even hard to find those games at 10/20. Also, poker is played much differently at 10/20 and above. You see a lot more people betting with 8-8 and 2 overcards on the board and that just the tip of the iceburge.The last 6 months have been terrible and I'm not sure I have the confidence to play those limits right now. Also, it's not completely clear that I'm a winning player at 10/20. I just don't have enough info yet. Bottom line, there is no use in playing 30/60 and 50/100 unless I'm a long term winner. Maybe I'm too chicken to find out, but my feeling is that I'm not good enough to beat those games yet.

[ddudley 0]

Peter Gibbons: Let me ask you something. When you come in on Monday, and you're not feelin' real well, does anyone ever say to you, 'Sounds like someone has a case of the Mondays'?Lawrence: No. No, man. censored, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

Hopefully, Architecture won't be as bad as doing TPS reports. But, believe me, I'm worried I will miss my freedom and not be able to deal with such a structured lifestyle again.

[getarealjob 0]

After 18 months of playing full time, I've decided it's time to go back to a real job. blek!!I've made 60K while playing poker but ultimately it proved not to be enough money to justify playing for a living. I'll be making 62K with benefits in the new job. So, I figure I need to make at least 75K with no benifits to continue playing poker. I just wasn't able to get that done.It's especially been tough this last 6 months as I've only made about $4500. I've been through most of that period getting killed by the cards. I had no idea the cards could be so cruel for so long. I'm sure there has been some less than optimal play on my part and I'm sure the competition has gotten much tougher the last 6 months but it's mostly been sick cards.It's been a tough day for sure... but I'm still going to play part-time. And who knows, after 2 weeks, maybe I'll be sick of it and quit (the job, not poker). I'm not giving up the dream entirely, I guess I'm just putting it on hold for now.If you have any questions for someone whos been through the grind, fire away. I'll do my best to give honest answers about what's important and what's not.

Good for you! Great topic/posts.

[AlohaBruce 0]

Have you considered playing any live tourney's? I also live within 10 minutes of Bay 101 and they have some pretty good tourney's going on during the weekend. I've only played the cash games there, but within the next few weeks I'm going to play in at least one weekend tourney. 60K may be good in other states, but isn't much in CA.

[nutzbuster 7]

I have a good deal with workin for da man. I've got 3 more years and then I can retire with an 80K pension for life, + beni's. Very lucky to be in this position. I currently play live N.L. B&M games approx. 15 hours a week and ususally end up around +$500 per mo. average. It's the experience of playing and not so much the income for me. I do plan to play more when I leave but I also am an artist which helps me stay grounded. I need a job, a hobby and poker. To much of any one thing is no good for me so I force the art diversion. So far it's working out great (although the last 2 days have been absolute He11 at the tables!).Good luck at the new job. You'll love it.Best...

[allinbluff35 0]

any job you work is a grind no matter how you look at it, good luck.

[Highlow16 0]

Im actually considering taking the plunge in the next few months. Moving to Vegas and just going for it. I would have a sufficient bank roll (10k), a supportive g/f, and i know that i have the skill sets to do it. Im proficient in all the games. I would like to play 10-20 and move up only in excess of a 400bb bank roll. I do recognize the downsides... i could get burned out, and i will struggle at times, but i feel if i dont do it now i never will. I need to work on a few things.... staying focused longer, and trusting my instincts just a little more to save those few extra bets a session. Good Post, thanks.