I Might Quit Poker
After a predictable, beat-strewn, -11k session on Stars, I am now closer to ending my career as a professional poker player than ever before. I am seriously considering quitting. I'm not just saying that. I've made a lot of money with poker, and now might be the time to get out of Dodge. It's crazy to think about doing something else, but there are a number of options I have been thinking about lately that I could see myself doing.
I am not a religious person, but I am somewhat of a believer in things like omens, signs, paths, and fate. There have been many crescendoing signs pointing to a trail away from poker for me. At some point I feel I am no longer going to look at the signs as adversity that makes me stronger but rather a message to get the hell off the tables.
Maybe I just had a bad, unlucky session. I ran really really poorly, took two hideous beats for monster pots, lost a 4k coinflip, etc. Maybe in a few days I'll log another session and make it all back. But maybe a higher power is trying to tell me that my time has expired, or maybe other players are cheating, or maybe the sites are rigged. It's amazing what kind of crazy thoughts a gambler gets when the chips are down.
Despite this nasty run, I am not unhappy. I feel pretty okay about my life right now, and maybe even a little excited about moving on to the next portion of my life.
posted by GnightMoon @ 2:57 AM
8 Comments:
If you want to quit b/c you just don't want to do it anymore....go for it. However, if it is because you feel you cant cut it...STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF! You have made a fair amount online this year (probably more than 99+% of players). A slight cold run is nothing new for any player who plays for a living. Last January you ran cold and you cleared a few dollars by the end of the year. Sure you have yet to do well at major tournaments (you have been successful at smaller ones). I personally feel that is lack of experience at tournament play and finding the right formula. This can be helped by practicing small buyin tourneys online or live. You seem to be letting your tournament failures rule your thoughts, and trust me you can run cold in tournaments for a long time even if you are one of the best in the world. Cash games always were and always will be the bread and butter of most poker players. Over the long run, you have always made good money there.
Once again, if you just don't want to do it anymore, quit, but do it for the right reasons.
I am quite familiar with this feeling myself. The best medicine is a long walk, a good night sleep, and putting a two outter on a regular for a 15k pot. Call me if that doesn't work.
Are you moondog on Stars?
C'mon dude. You had a 5 buyin loss...really not a big deal AT ALL. Especially considering your self-described "I am the most aggro player at these stars tables" of COURSE you are going to swing both ways. If you can't handle a 5 buyin downswing you should either change up your style and go the way of the nit or like you said...quit poker...but not because of "rigged sites". It's just so silly to talk about the sites being rigged when in your last post you mentioned you are up a significant amount from playing online. Get a grip sir. I have had two 6 buyin downswings in the past 3 days...and the second came immediately after I had finally clawed back my losses. Depressing, yes. Sites rigged, must quit poker? NO
You shouldn't do something that makes you unhappy but I'm warning you, it's not a lot of fun out here in the real world. Sure you might have enough money to live on to make it cushy but that strikes me as cheating.
odd that we seem to have the same kind of posts a lot...
reading this about a year after you wrote it--
what cviox said. Noone does this to us but ourselves. If every decision is not a conscious one, then yes, we should quit. Poker is getting popular, and the players are going to get better. We'll either have to adjust, quit, or go broke, that's really it.
Quit, who cares! If you've never lost a couple of buy-ins before, you must have been running very hot indeed. Maybe you should "get out of dodge".
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