Quit Poker

I think it's really impressive that you have such a realistic idea of your own limitations in poker. From what you wrote here, it sounds like trying something new right now is probably for the best. Good luck!

cool. I came to the same realization last year and I'm the happiest I've ever been. The lack of stress from poker is amazing. Your brain is free to think about so much more instead of constantly replaying hands in your head.

Network and find friends, groups of people that will inspire you to a career.

Trust me you won't regret this decision.

You are quite in a good situation to still have so much saved. You have the luxury relaxing for a extended period of time while considering your future choices. Really think about what job you would enjoy more. A finance degree at my school(Michigan) generally leads to a job in consulting or I-Banking. Consulting is somewhat normal with sometimes extended hours. I-Banking is like 100 hour weeks insane hours. A teaching job is nice is that it is usually not too stressful and doesn't require too many hours a week and allows for summers off. You can still play the poker you desire and maybe that is the best option.

why arnt you just crushing like 5/10 or 10/20 donks live with your 110k bankroll wtf?

live games are like 20x easier.

What do you do now royalsu? And ya acdawg, i am looking into teaching mainly because of hours and stress level. If something is high stress it is ok as long as you love it or are ambitious about it imo.

nice pics

GL HF, you're one of my favourite LPers as far as people I don't talk to much with goes. Hope all works out.

I thought u were bigger =[

but oh, good read - it's probably a wise decision and you are smart enough to have realized it.

lol ya in like 5'10 180, big_rob was such a shitty screen name for me because it makes me sound like such a meat head. I love sports, swimming, and running, but obviously I am quite nerdy too. I just made it big_rob because that was my nickname in high school mostly because it was goofy sounding.

ever try live poker?

given your experience i think you could easily manage an hourly of like ~$100 at 5/10 if the game has a reasonable buy-in cap

oh but i guess i missed the point of your post lol nvm

ya man, live poker would be kind of depressing, driving to a casino all the time to make $100 an hour, I think I would take a third of the pay and do something a bit more forward looking, wouldn't you?

insightful blog post. interesting to read your opinions on how tough the games are now, do you think the games will continue to get tougher, and maybe eventually die? if you no longer have the passion to play poker then i guess it is a good decision. Still, $100k in the bank as a 23 year old, not many people can say that. Best of luck in any future endeavours.

you think poker is more stressful than teaching?

I think that the state of the games will never get better. That was one important thing I have been thinking about that has weighed me down so much the past few months. The games will never be as easy as 2006 imo.

I think that a teaching job that involves interaction and a daily schedule would be less stressful than the way I play poker, which is 10 tabling 1k hands an hour for 20-30k hands a week. I hope this is the case and I am not just naive, though.

yeah it's super time consuming. i mean if you get a good game running, it's pretty much obligatory to stay for like 10~20 hours at least as that's where the majority of your profit is going to come from.

it seems like you'll have to make a ton of sacrifices to transition into a 9-5 job. i really like the high school teacher idea though cause you can get way more time off during holidays and vacations.

Hey BigRob,
I remember you from 3 years ago, when you were on your rise from 50nl to 100 to 200nl and I think I saw you at 400 a bit too. I am exactly on your boat. I was a fixed regular at 200nl for a year and half playing FR and even tried 400nl for a bit. I use to crush 200nl and easily win 400nl, just 7-8 months ago i stopped learning poker and took some breaks for traveling, then at one point I realized I cant beat the games... I started again, learning, improving, playing very focused, still just a marginal winner IF... poker is getting harder and harder, I was never really good but I went from crushing 200nl just to break even in just 2 years.

Right now I play lower stakes, just for fun basically and until I find job... I will always play poker but definitely not for living. If I feel any stress from it, I am staying away from that limit.. move down until I feel comfortable.

Anyways, like royalsu said, you wont regret this decision. You have made some money from this game now its time to move on.


One thing I want to add, for me when I was a student poker was just a game, thats when I was winning maybe, I think its same for alot of people as soon as poker because THE priority everything sseems to get alot tougher... not like oh well this isnt working out, ill just continue my school and dont care about poker.

and as for live poker lol... this guy is sick of poker you really think live poker is for him?
Fuck casinos, drive 30-40min wait for a game, pay extra rake get nothing back. get your money in good get sucked out on try to convenience yourself its a small sample loose focus and loose some more.

congrats on the success and if you feel like it's time to move on then go for it.

Thanks guys, really glad to hear someone like you, Xanthos, has similar experience. Definitely playing poker as your only responsibility is taxing

i think ill be quitting next next year. it shouldve been next year but meh, life's been so fucked up i kinda screwed myself with the quitting so i guess ill have to be tough enough to put up with another year of this shit lol