I fell in love with poker in college during the boom and played online for a summer and made decent money. Then life got in the way and I quit poker and went from job to job, never being happy or figuring out what I wanted to do. Occasionally I would hit the casino and play 1/2 but never gave a thought to playing full time.

Three years ago my apartment caught on fire and I took that as a sign to follow my dreams and play poker full time. I was unemployed at the time so I went for it. I moved from MD to the Philly area (This was before Maryland Live was open) and I grinded for a few months at Parx. I grinded my bankroll down to nothing, and I humbly realized I was not a very good player. I tilted easily and wasn't ready for the level of play there and didn't really understand the game at a high level.

I quit poker and got a job. I didn't think about poker until January of this year when I watched an episode of HSP and got the drive to play again. I started playing at Parx and Sugar House a few days a week. Something clicked, maybe I was older and wiser, and I started seeing that I could win. I kept track and was winning more than I was making at my job.

I got hurt at work and now I play full time. I was paying my bills with poker but the last two months have been hard. I lost money this month. Had some bad beats and made some dumb plays. I am going to move back in with my parents in Virgina. Luckily they will let me move back in. I am planning on grinding online and making trips to MD live a few days per week. When I build up some savings I plan to move to a better poker area again.

Every once in a while I stress about poker as a job because of the variance. I want to win a huge tournament and be set for life, but that's obviously hard to do. Sometimes I think I should go back to school and be a therapist or something, and do poker part time. But I feel I can be a top player in poker so for now I'm going to keep grinding