I play too many long sessions.
And by long sessions, I don't mean 10-12 hour ones or sessions where you get tired and exhausted and delirious and then leave. I mean sessions where you get tired and exhausted and delirious and THEN play 10-12 hours more. I mean sessions where you play a significant amount of time with someone, they leave for the day, you're STILL playing when they come back, and you play another “session” with them. I mean sessions where you close your eyes for a moment after folding a hand and then it's suddenly the next hand with the action on you and the guy next to you just poked you awake. I mean sessions where you don't just lose track of what time it is, you lose track of what day it is. I mean sessions where you promised yourself that you were going to leave before the next big blind... but that was 8 hours ago. I mean sessions where finally getting unstuck is all that matters to you because ending a session this long back to even would be exhilarating. I mean sessions where you're in a great game, but you're terrified of losing back your profit because ending a session this long back to even would be devastating.
I play too many long sessions.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
One Foot Out the Door...
So I just sent out the email to my coworkers that I am leaving.
I'm really leaving. It's hard to believe sometimes and I occasionally find myself thinking how crazy this is. I'm in a stable job making good money. There are a lot of good reasons to stay. A couple times I'd gone down this train of thought I almost convinced myself not to leave.
But then I think about what my true passion is. What motivates me to try harder every day and learn something new. And that's poker. If I never take this leap into the unknown, I will never know if I can make it. If I look back at my life when I'm 40 without ever giving myself the chance to turn my passion into my career, what will I think?
It's a risk, but it's a risk where the downside is not the end of the world. If I have grossly over-estimated my skills, or if fate frowns on me and throws me into a spiral of bad session after bad session, where will I be? I'll be a 25 or 26 year-old with a Computer Science degree from a leading university looking for a job.
But enough of the worst-case scenario talk. What's the best case? Well, fortune smiles upon me, I crush the 15/30 and 30/60 LHE games and build my bankroll up. I play some $200-$600 tournaments and make a big score in one. I push my bankroll up to 6 digits. I play a $1500 WSOP event and make a final table. I get lucky with AK against QQ and become a dominant chip leader which leads inevitably to my first bracelet and a heaping pile of cash. And that's just the beginning .
Which way will my life turn from here? I'll let you know when I get my other foot out there.
I'm really leaving. It's hard to believe sometimes and I occasionally find myself thinking how crazy this is. I'm in a stable job making good money. There are a lot of good reasons to stay. A couple times I'd gone down this train of thought I almost convinced myself not to leave.
But then I think about what my true passion is. What motivates me to try harder every day and learn something new. And that's poker. If I never take this leap into the unknown, I will never know if I can make it. If I look back at my life when I'm 40 without ever giving myself the chance to turn my passion into my career, what will I think?
It's a risk, but it's a risk where the downside is not the end of the world. If I have grossly over-estimated my skills, or if fate frowns on me and throws me into a spiral of bad session after bad session, where will I be? I'll be a 25 or 26 year-old with a Computer Science degree from a leading university looking for a job.
But enough of the worst-case scenario talk. What's the best case? Well, fortune smiles upon me, I crush the 15/30 and 30/60 LHE games and build my bankroll up. I play some $200-$600 tournaments and make a big score in one. I push my bankroll up to 6 digits. I play a $1500 WSOP event and make a final table. I get lucky with AK against QQ and become a dominant chip leader which leads inevitably to my first bracelet and a heaping pile of cash. And that's just the beginning .
Which way will my life turn from here? I'll let you know when I get my other foot out there.
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