Originally Posted by cushlash
Hey guys, just got back from a trip to my cabin in Northern Wisconsin. I'm back in my hometown now for a while until my trip to Florida. Hadn't planned on writing on here much but I got some inspiration while I was up north and decided to put some thoughts down.
I went up with my brother and a few friends from high school and a golf course we both used to work at. We also met up with some people who have a cabin near ours that we usually see when we're up there. Basically spent the week chilling on the lake, riding wave runners, playing lawn games, campfires, and of course some beer pong at night. It was a great trip, but what inspired this post was some of the conversations with my friends. They are all 1-3 years older than me, but we are basically in the same phase of life of just starting our "careers".
One is a teacher, two are accountants working on their CPA credentials, another works at a bank, and my brother works in marketing at a vacation resort. Listening to these guys talk about their 9-5 routines reminded me how much the paradigm of my life changed when I chose poker as my route. Now there’s nothing wrong with the path any of these guys chose, but hearing them talk made me incredibly happy that I chose something different. The pros and cons of professional poker have been discussed ad nauseam itt and around 2+2, but listening to my friends discuss their lives made me even happier with my decision to escape the 9-5 life.
Since we were all going out to eat and paying for groceries together, at one point early in the trip I brought up credit card roulette in a conversation with 3 of my friends, already knowing it probably wouldn’t happen. Literally everyone was against it. One of the accountants, who actually just bought in to a local CPA firm, was extremely adamant that he would never do that, saying things like “what if you lose a bunch in a row?” My response was pretty much that you just have to pay for a few in a row.
It just so happened I had lost the last few I did in Vegas. The thought of this made them sick. One said it would ruin his day if he lost. I’d probably be the same way if I had chosen a normal job as well, so I don’t blame them whatsoever, it just highlighted how different my paradigm is from all of these guys. They can’t imagine flipping for a $50-$100 dinner bill, something I do at least weekly. When they asked how much I buy in to a poker game for and I responded with “usually $1000”, they about **** their pants.
I had similar realizations at various moments on the trip when they were talking about their budgets. I track my expenses more than nearly all poker players I know and try to keep my expenses low, but these guys have their budgets down to the last dollar. It was crazy listening to them talk about maintaining a minimum balance in their checking account and pinching pennies at the grocery store.
Its not like these guys are broke either. For being in their mid-twenties they make plenty to play ccr and not worry about pinching pennies, but their relationship with money is just so different than people in the gambling world. I am desensitized to it. Losing ccr or having a surprise expense of $20 might stress one of them out whereas I wouldn’t blink an eye.
It’s really just a different mindset. Poker has altered my relationship with money. In my opinion this has been for the better. Quality of life is higher when I’m not worrying about saving 50 cents here or a dollar there. Obviously if it becomes extreme and people just spend, spend, spend it is bad, but imo the general population worries about money too much in spots where the time and energy spent to save a buck simply isn’t worth that time and energy.
There were also some interesting discrepancies when talking about daily lives. Guys were talking about having trouble getting off work for the trip and budgeting their 2 weeks of vacation time for the year. I pretty much just booked a plane ticket for when I wanted to leave and didn’t have to tell anyone. I’m taking a month vacation and then a month “business trip” to Florida just because I want to. Granted they get vacation pay and a consistent income, but to me that freedom is worth sacrificing those perks. Doing what I want, when I want is important to me and if necessary, giving up income to get that luxury is optimal for me. I don’t care about money, I care about freedom. Money is just a means to that end.
There was a discussion about getting weekends off, as all of them previously worked in hospitality or restaurants where they had to work weekends and holidays, but now get those days off. I was asked if I take weekends off. I tried not to laugh and said I pretty much take off whatever days I want.
One of the accountants mentioned that he gets excited when he gets to wear jeans on Friday’s. I had no words. There were many times like this that I could almost not believe what I was hearing but didn’t really say anything since I’d sound like a complete *******. It’s just a different life, a life I very nearly had.
One of the guys was pretty much directly responsible for me becoming a poker player. A classmate of my brother’s in high school, he was the one who suggested having a poker game in the parking lot of a grocery store several of us worked at. The game was moved to my house the next week and became a weekly thing for the next 2-3 years until I left for college. If that doesn’t happen I’d probably be working 80 hours/week in some finance job.
I’d be lying if I said I loved it right away. I actually quit for a few weeks because I lost every time. It just so happens that this guy beat me heads up once because he kept bluffing and I didn’t understand that I couldn’t wait to make a hand heads up in what was a short-stacked sit-n-go format.
So even though I wasn’t hooked right away, that game is what started it all, and without it I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.
Its mind boggling how easy my path could have been different, and a side effect of this trip was realizing that. Yes, sometimes poker sucks, but hearing my friends talk about the 9-5 lifestyle makes me even happier that I made the decision I did. I know I won’t play poker full time forever, but I’m so glad I did something different. Again, there are lots of advantages to taking the paths my friends took and I don’t disparage any of them for what they chose, but for my personality and temperament, I’m very confident it would make me unhappy.
This isn’t really about poker being the end-all-be-all. Far from it in fact, considering how much I’ve been thinking about alternative income sources. It’s more about the lifestyle it offers. There are other ways to get that lifestyle, but for me right now poker is the best option. As poker becomes less appealing I will look for other things that still allow me the freedom I want, but going after poker helped me to figure out the lifestyle I wanted.
Around the campfire one night, a friend of ours from the other cabin, a teacher in her mid-twenties, was asking “20 questions” type stuff just for fun. It was mostly “would you rather” and other hypothetical-type fun questions. One of her questions was “If you could be doing any other job besides what you’re doing now, what would it be?” I’d never really thought about it that way, but I didn’t really have an answer. Its not always fun and games, but when I really thought about it, I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing. I’m self-employed and find the best way I can to make the money I need to be happy. Right now that’s mostly poker and a little writing and investing.
Everyone else was pretty quick to come up with something they’d rather do. I thought I’d sound like a douchebag if I said I was living my dream job, so I said football coach because I really would like to volunteer with a program, but I don’t actually want that to be my job.
A lot of this year I’ve been thinking about doing some other things. At times I’ve even considered going back to school and doing the 9-5 thing (for like a minute maybe). Being able to take a step back from Vegas and get a glimpse about what that life would actually look like, I’m more confident than ever that I made the right decision to find an alternative way to produce income. My passion for poker may not be what it once was, but my passion for having a life structured around free time, relaxation, self-improvement and just generally doing what I want rather than around work burns brighter than ever.
