I am always open to getting feedback from people on here so I definitely wouldn't say your opinion doesn't matter.

I've certainly considered what you've mentioned, and a lot of my time this past year has been spent figuring out what I really, truly enjoy to do. This could lead to a new career path, but will improve my life even if it doesn't.

I agree I could make more money doing something else. I've long said that I'm definitely not maximizing my financial potential by playing poker. I've always been a proponent of sacrificing some money for freedom and I maintain that stance. The exact balance will change, but I will always make this trade off to some degree.

As far as thinking 20-30 years down the line, I think for me personally thats too far out. I pick up things pretty quickly and tend to lose interest equally as quickly. Its possible I may find something that lasts 30 years, but I doubt it. I'll most likely need to find something new every 5-10 years at least. Thats just a personality thing, I'm not the type of person that can do the same thing for my entire life, and I prefer it that way.

Not to mention I've changed a ton personally over the last 2.5 years, so it makes sense that my interests/pursuits/passions would change too. I also predict that I will continue to progress at a fairly quick rate in this respect in the near future so I'm not looking to get into something too long term just yet.

For me its about continuing to improve in all areas of life, finding/doing what makes me happy and making exactly enough money to fund that life. Ideally I'd be able to make this money without feeling like I'm doing any "work" but I'll need to find the right things for that to happen. So its important I spend time looking for those things. Poker was that thing for a while, but just isn't anymore. Though it took a long time for me to admit it to myself, I've realized that that's just fine. I'll go find something else that is that thing. I'll likely have to do this many times throughout my life and thus don't really see myself getting into a long term career. I need to be passionate about what I'm doing and so far it seems my passions change too frequently to have a 30+ year career at any one thing.

Great state of mind you are in Cush, keep it up. The only plan you need for the next 30 years is to find financial freedom via what interests you for the time being. I look forward to more life updates on and off the felt.

most (profitable) poker players could be doing something far more stable and likely much more profitable, but your advice comes from the 'normal' viewpoint and you must realize many poker players do what they do largely to avoid the 9-5 despite sacrificing security and perhaps $. I suspect Cush might answer the question of what he wants to be doing in 10-20-30 years something like "whatever I want" and to that end he might be better served looking into passive income streams he can build some compound wealth from.

Thanks man, I have a feeling I'll be writing some sort of blog like this no matter what I'm doing as it is enjoyable for me to write and has been a great tool.

Yea, bolded is pretty much exactly how I'd answer that question. In case you guys haven't noticed, I tend to ramble, but this is a nice concise version of what I was getting at with that last post.

I value time/freedom over money so passive income is the holy grail for me. This is something I've talked about often as part of my long term plan but quite frankly have not put enough work into actually doing. I have some market/retirement investments, but for the most part its always been something like "when I have $X I'll just invest and live off passive income". I need to spend more energy developing these streams because it sure as hell isn't passive at first, but can pay off huge if done right. I don't know what $X even is or if I have it but I'm in a perfect spot to start doing this so there's really no reason I haven't started.

and to that end he might be better served looking into passive income streams he can build some compound wealth from. [/QUOTE]

Top notch advice whey

Alright first real update of 2015! I played one short session the day after I returned which did not go well on any front. Ran into some negative variance, played not great and wasn't in a good mindset. Proceeded to get sick again so didn't play for a few days.

I've been back at it the last few days and am getting some momentum. Put in 3 straight 6 hour sessions the last 3 days which is great compared to my recent volume. I've needed some music/squid face conversation to get me through parts of the sessions but thats just fine with me.

The results haven't been great but I feel pretty sharp and my mindset is better. Saturday I took the biggest 2/5 loss I've ever had, left the poker room smiling, and came back in the next day like it was just another day. I surprised even myself with this to be honest. After being down over 1k already I took a pretty stupid beat in a 2k pot all in on the turn and the guy got there on the river. I didn't blink an eye, asked how much, and shipped the dealer the money. After the guy left (hit and run obv), a few guys at the other end of the table were talking about the hand and one guy said to me that I "handled it really well and didn't show any emotion". This is a mindset that I used to take pride in having, and lately had seemed to have lost. Lately I had started getting annoyed much more easily at the table, which besides being bad on a poker level, just made me unhappy in general while I was at the table. I was very glad to see that I still had this ability to be emotionally detached from losses because I thought I lost it for a while there. Now I just need to work to make sure I have that mindset all the time.

So I've been playing a bit more than I expected, but as long as I want to go play and am continuing to make progress in other life areas I'll keep going at it. I also confirmed over Christmas break that I'll be taking a 6-week trip to Europe with a friend of mine from college in May/June, so thats definitely been a huge source of motivation for me. I never really wanted to travel until recently, but as a result of some of the personal progress I've made in the last year I have changed my mind on that, and could not be more excited to go on this trip.

When I first started out, my motivations to play were related to poker. I want to move up, get better, beat tougher games, etc. Lately my sources of motivation have been outside poker. It essentially comes down to using poker as a vehicle to give myself the freedom and resources to improve myself physically, mentally and socially. This has been harder for me because playing poker seems pointless when it doesn't directly relate to the goals I have. I just need to remind myself that poker is what allows me to do the other things I want so I don't lose sight of the hand that feeds me so to speak.

This post seems contrary to my recent posts which probably sounded like I was out of poker, so I feel clarification is needed. Honestly I really am out of poker as my living, at least mentally. However, given that I still have goals and this Europe trip that require (or at least prefer) that I stack some paper, I'm going to use poker to reach those ends for as long as I need to, all the while continuing to develop an exit strategy from playing as my sole source of income.

I think maintaining that perspective is key to succeeding in the game.

I think that your last update sounds way more poker affine than lately. I like that of course, however, I can totally understand that you are looking for an exit strategy.

What are your plans on Europe? When and where do you plan to go to? I'd be happy to show you some nice german beer, if you happen to travel to western Germany

Cheers and keep up the good mindset

May 11-June 19, Starting in Ireland (Dublin), then Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), France (Marseille, Toulon, Nice, Monaco and Paris), Switzerland (Zermatt) and Italy (Venice, Florence and Rome). Thanks for the offer, I'd definitely take you up on that but didn't fit Germany in this trip.

If anyone has recommendations for things to do in these places I'm all ears.

Technical detail, but Monaco is not in France.

Yea thats right, its basically its own country or something like that. My friend mentioned that but I forgot until you corrected me, my bad.

Sounds like an amazing trip/itinerary. Sucks that it's during a chunk of the WSOP, but maybe given your recent thoughts on poker as a career, it's for the best.

Don't you own a condo and have other living expenses? Not being negative, just wondering how life is being paid from losing at the tables for awhile now... especially since this is your income and heart isn't in it anymore.

I've been to all those places except Zermatt although I'd love to go there and Toulon and Nice in France.

The first trip I went on I visited all the big cities but after a few more trips I have to say I love the smaller cities a lot more. So if you are getting bored since a lot of the big cities are very similar I'd suggest cities like Siena in Italy, Bruges in Belgium are just amazing.

If you are going to Dublin you should try to fit in some golf. I went to Ireland for 2 weeks and we played 13 rounds of golf and they have the most amazing links courses (European club, Lahinch in Ireland and Royal County Down in Northern Ireland) it's not like the golf in the US which is pretty much target golf, these courses you have so many different things to think about.

I'd also second Germany. Of all the countries I have been Germany I didn't have high hopes for but I was blown away. Whether it was driving over 200 km/hr on the autobahn, to drinking in their beer gardens, hiking in the Black Forest or visiting the spa in Baden Baden. The only thing I didn't love was the food. It's very hearty and bland but everything else was awesome.

I am coming over to Vegas for march madness and will be hitting up the $5/10 and hopefully the $10/$20 at the B. will pm you about getting some coaching if you are still doing that as I missed you last year. Really need help transitioning to live as last time I came over I really struggled with the multiway pots which don't happen much online.

If you aren't coaching would love to catch up anyways and have a chat.

Trip sounds neat and I'm jealous

I wanted to do something similar before I reached the big 30

Got a couple more years, so hopefully I can find some time to do it

Enjoy!

He has a sugar daddy.

Yea its not ideal but WSOP isn't enough stop me from taking the trip, at least not anymore.

What makes you think I've been losing? Ironically enough I made some key changes and played some of my best poker last year despite not being super excited about it. Have had some downswings but overall I'm still winning at approximately the same clip, just been playing fewer hours. My monthly nut is very low so the lower volume has been enough to cover my expenses.

I also play over-rolled and my money management skills are probably my biggest asset so when I run into hiccups like downswings or low-no volume periods my quality of life does not change.

I realize that most people that quit poker do so because they could no longer win. I can still win, I just want out for other reasons I've discussed, but I recognize and accept that many people are just going to think I went broke or whatever.

Also this:
Thanks for the tips man, I definitely want to explore some outside the big cities. Don't think golf will happen this trip but one day I'll take a dedicated golf trip out there since I've heard a lot of great things about courses in Europe.

Yea feel free to hit me up when you're out for March Madness, would be happy to meet up and do a few sessions.

Thanks man, I'd definitely encourage you to do it. I've not been outside the U.S. yet, but everyone I've talked to that has tells me its awesome and I have to go.

Wrapped up my first full week of poker in a long time this week. Played 30 hours over a 7 day period which while far from high volume, is more than I've done in a week in a long time. Despite losing for the week it felt good to play normal sessions again. I got on a good routine and would like to keep going with it. I did have to put my headphones in quite a bit, but I think the EV I miss by doing so is more than made up for by being able to play much higher volume. I'm not much of a headphone at the table guy so I probably used headphones more this week than I had in my entire poker career combined before.

Have only played one session since finishing that full week on Thursday but it has been mostly for productive reasons. My goal is to play 100 hrs/month between now and my Europe trip and despite getting sick early in the month I am on pace to get that so I'm satisfied with that progress.

I have a poker-related writing assignment coming up and another opportunity which if comes to fruition may hinder my ability to reach this hours goal. Since these things are productive on multiple fronts, if they cause me to play less its not only fine, but probably preferable, so I'll have no issue adjusting my hours goal if one or both of these things come into play.

hey if you get too bored or jaded you can some splash pots and crush souls in sloppy 3rd tier 1-2 game with me for a session

there is no soul crushing going on in the 1/2 arena...

so negative

lol I wish I had this in me. The nit in me won't let me fish it up on purpose pretty much regardless of stakes.

Just booked flights and got my train pass for Europe, so much excite

Gunna b 10x funner than teh pokerz!

oh yeah!!!