Diplomat (a high end life, amazing women and contacts, interesting work)
Some journalists (see a lot of the world you wouldn't otherwise see, with the perspective of being an invited but free third party)
Travel writer (obvious)
Author (A highly creative pursuit that can be satisfying and worldly)
Some types of engineering (difficult (some people enjoy a challenge), precise, very well paid, fascinating, profitable, very useful, lasting)
Sound engineer with a band (fun, women, great stories)
A huge number of expat jobs (the life some people live in places Singapore is amazing. Beyond that, the world is an amazing place and to see as a well paid privileged vagabond is wonderful)
Professional dancer (deep satisfaction, fitness, among the best women in the world with the best bodies)
Fashion photographer/other fashion jobs (hard to get into, but incredible women/fun/parties)
Boat captain, French Riviera (A fun life in a beautiful place - pays around $200K/year after a couple of years of training)
Street/bar musician (avalance of women, travel possible, but poor pay, hard to be talented)

A number of these are within the grasp of a talented, intelligent, self starter at OP's age. This is just a fraction of what's out there. Compare any of these to sitting on a computer as you become 24,25,26,30,35...

I agree that most professional jobs in the US aren't very satisfying. It's a highly competitive, high intensity, high stress place, particularly in the upper echelons. But there's a whole world out there. The US has 5% of the world's population.

OP just sounds depressed in general. And I say this having "followed" his posts on the forum for a while, and being someone who has had similar thoughts and feelings, albeit not about poker. And...I like his personality based upon his posts (I bet he doesn't hear that too often) as he's an extremely logical, cold, realist. Not many people like that, and not many like to hear the truth.

A professional poker player of wholly sound mind and spirit is unlikely to take the view of poker being damaging to someone's life, for a whole bunch of obvious reasons.

It sounds to me like what OP needs is to be completely honest with himself, before he does anything else. It might be worth going to see someone for therapy or something (I'm serious, particularly if you have the money, which I assume you do).

Alternatively, it might just be worth spending time doing something that you love doing, and forgetting about poker for a while (unless that is the only thing you love doing). Take a holiday or something.

This is a silly post for a couple of reasons:

1) Career satisfaction is subjective

2) If your one true passion is [X], then you're obviously going to say that about other careers.

3) There are clearly a whole bunch of kick-ass careers that are comparable or superior to yours, if you are at or near the top of them. One such career I can literally pull out of thin air is acting. If you are a top film or TV actor, you have a pretty sweet career that MANY would kill for.

Equating the best 0.001% outcome of a career with the career is not really fair though.

Calling me a pro is a bit inaccurate (even though I call myself one). I was always splitting my efforts between school and playing poker, so obviously wasn't playing full time (and I was happy with this setup). When I finished school, the natural step for me was to play poker because it allowed me freedom and paid a lot more than a real job. This is what I mean in the OP when I said I feel "stuck". I'm trapped by the perks, and I'm wondering how I can feel more satisfied with the poker lifestyle or how I can move on from it.

Do you know how Money is created? If u want to make the world a better place, i guess you have to ask this question and go on from there.

Why not go and volunteer teaching Maths at a local school or something?

Is this a turn of phrase or how you really feel?

The perks are working how, when, where and how much you want, making more than you would otherwise.

If you describe that as 'trapped by the perks', well, I don't know if the poker pro lifestyle is for you. You make the perks sound like a free gym subscription ;p

Where in the US are you from approx?

I think Henry's posts are spot on here. Volunteering generally is a waste of time. There are a small number of volunteering roles that are fulfilling such as being president of a club like rotary and dealing with other intelligent and successful people to accomplish goals. If you're thinking of donating an afternoon at the animal shelter or the food bank, don't bother.

Most jobs don't have social value. Steve Jobs is revered as a lion of business and a "great man", seems like. Because he successfully cobbled together this little gadget where pushing the buttons to make stuff work is easier than its predeccessors. Sheep are impressed by that kind of thing. Don't be one.

Whatever you're doing outside of poker, push harder. Feel the burn. Do something where you feel the butterflies strongly beforehand and wonder if you can. If you're not doing this at least sometimes, you're not doing it right.

Other than that, there is no solution. Welcome to the modern age, much discussed in the last hundred or so years. Modern technology and capitalism has resulted in lots of ways to make money that don't seem fulfilling, and which result in lots of ennui as humans aren't good at utilizing time free from pain or work. Meanwhile religious and other traditional narratives have subsided. Get used to it. I recommend reading "Sunday Morning" by Wallace Stevens.

It's quite possible the lifestyle is not for me. Plenty of people love it, plenty of people do it because it's better than any current alternative. I fit into the latter category right now, unfortunately.

Said in the OP, Philadelphia suburbs.

If it were up to me, I'd live in NYC/Bay Area/LA area. By that I mean, if the poker landscape was as it was pre Black Friday, I'd live in one of those 3 places.

That was unclear sorry, I meant where do you live now?

Well, no, everyone plays poker because they see no better current alternative. Loving it just sets a higher bar for the alternative.

The key here is how much money you have/make imo (to judge how much finding a way to stick to 2 more years of poker/$$$ will impact the rest of your life). Not that much use in forcing yourself if your ev over the next two years is 250k and you already have a milly.

But yeah, idk. Maybe it has to do with the tougher games, maybe you feel your edge decreasing, maybe you aren't working hard enough on your game? The average person works ~50hrs a week maybe (including commute)? Spend 35 hrs of that on poker and the rest towards making you happier (learn something new maybe? educate yourself further about this finance stuff? start a business on the side?) - with the same focus and determination. If that's not enough to make you feel like when you were in school, idk.

I don't really live anywhere. I just move around as necessary.

Totally agree here, EV much higher.

Edge is no doubt decreasing due to sites removing higher stakes, reducing rb, etc, but still not enough to push EV down to the "it's not worth it" range. At this point, with no alternative jumping out at me, I will "have to" stick it out for a few more years until EV is reduced enough.

Is not being close to family/friends a problem?

Yes and no, as it's very difficult to establish a new circle when any arrangement you make is so temporary. What I'm saying is if I was settled somewhere I wouldn't mind if it weren't where my existing friends/family are.

So why not settle somewhere?

The places I'd consider settling in outside of US (Vancouver, for instance), I can't due to visa restrictions.

So you're travelling to random countries/cities you can't stay more than x months in? And there's no interesting places in the countries you're allowed to stay longer in?

Afaik there are some places in South America (and possibly even Mexico) where I can stay pretty long, but I really have no interest in going to any of them.

Toothsayer I think you're just talking out your behind with most of the professions you listed. Author, fashion photographer, diplomat, expat, basically most of that list you're just making stuff up. Additionally, wanting to get a job because you tend to meet physically attractive women is indicative of a small minded person. Beer commercials appeal to such people.

There is only one great profession, that of artist. Someone who expresses themselves in a creative medium to produce aesthetic works that display a timeless quality of excellence. 99+% of those who try fail, but the ones who succeed are like gods. That's a fact.

Poker came secondary to your education back when you were enjoying playing poker. So your #1 goal was college and all that comes with that. It can be daunting at first to be out in the real world outside of the structure and safety of school. You also do not have any stability with your living situation and rarely see family/friends. Losing the structure of school and having to move everywhere and not having a social circle....well....even if it wasn't poker and you introduce those things I doubt you would be feeling much different. I think everyone goes through an adjustment period when finishing school and starting work where you start to realize that you have responsibility and major choices to make about the direction you want your life to go.

LOL your last paragraph is pretty much the definition of an opinion.

When it comes to feeling guilty at taking money from players you need to change your perspective. You have worked very hard to become a winning player, have you not? At times it probably feels like it is too easy to make money so it almost seems as though you are just taking it but you need to remember how hard you worked to get there. Just because you have a greater set of skills at the table doesn't change that everyone sitting down is hoping to win just as much as you are. When it comes to people that are addicted, poker isn't the only place where addicted/degen behavior can happen. Just take a look at alcohol in our society and how damaging that is but does that mean we should never have another alcoholic drink just because X% have issues with it? Should we stop playing poker because X% of players have issues with it? I think the responsibility for issues like that lies with the regulators and sites themselves. You could donate money to organizations that help gambling addicts or to places that study the problem if you want to help.

Why don't you go back to where your family is in the U.S. and get a job in your degree while playing poker on the side? The poker won't be as lucrative but you at least get to see what a "normal" job is like while waiting on regulation to pass in the U.S. and having a more stable living situation. When further regulation passes you can decide if full-time poker is for you.

Above all though don't be too hard on yourself! You are young and there are very few if any people in their 20's that really know what they want to do in life. People change the most in their 20's.

I wanted to ask the others on here why they believe giving up your time to volunteer is a waste of time?

tell me what your diet looked like this past week. list exactly what you have been eating.

In my experience all organizations that accept volunteers off the street are sick and even the organizations that are more selective about who they allow to work for them are pretty ****ed up. Every time it has been a huge waste of time and money to do very little if any good for anyone and I've walked away thinking how much people suck.

The people I've met who do these jobs are happy, or at least deeply engaged and functional and fulfilled. Most people I've met who do poker long term are miserable and/or creepy and/or incompetent.

OP is in his early 20s I believe. The advice is most relevant. And women are one thing that make life wonderful/worthwhile. Beer commercial men might be happy with any pair of breasts, but more intelligent men want a lot more. Aesthetics. Intelligence. Class. A gentle heart. That's a hard thing to get as a poker player as you get older as these women tend to need status and connectedness for everything else to flow properly.

You are delusional, sir. There are many great professions and many ways to be fulfilled. Some people enjoy the certainty and depth of appreciating timeless truth and precision and design - engineering or physics. Some people enjoy playing with ideas - professors. Some people enjoy the energy and possibility and difference they can make to youth - teachers. Some people enjoy the thrill of playing social games - lots of professions. Some people enjoy interacting with amazing women. They are all timeless things to do. Ultimately, nothing leaves a permanent physical trace.

Just because someone plops some stuff on something else doesn't make them timeless or excellent. Creativity takes many forms, and only small minds (think:beer commercial types at heart who believe they are not) think that only the tangible forms of creativity are great.