So, brief background about me:

I've been playing poker for about 5 years. I did fairly well at it but I'm not a professional poker player. I have another career. I live in Las Vegas. I make decent money from that career. I used poker as a side income mainly.

Last year, I had built that bankroll up to about 50k and was playing 5/10 at the Bellagio most days. But, then I got divorced. I lost her income. Have to pay alimony for 1 year. Gave a good bit of the cash away. And kept most of our debt. Kind of harsh, but I wanted divorced and it worked out to get it done quickly. Probably should've fought a bit more about how to split up the assets/liabilities but too late now.

I drastically underestimated how much life just completely sucks when you're in debt to your eyeballs. It had been a long time since my debt had really mattered to me given we were making good money together and had poker as a nice side income which kept increasing over the years.

I quit playing poker after the divorce until I could rebuild my bankroll. But, it could never really work out. I wasn't getting anywhere. I tried just paying down my debts, but it will take almost 5 years of having almost no disposable income to get out of debt. I make too much money for Chapter 7. And, Chapter 13 sounds horrible.

I've also met a new person that I like very much. I feel happy in every area of my life except financially. And I want to fix that. I have 23 total creditors. Debt to these creditors range from 300 to 20k. Total debt = approx. 150k. About two months ago, I could no longer make my payments and I was tired of struggling along being miserable and not accomplishing much so I quit. I switched bank accounts and stopped making payments. I'm going to try debt settlement with them. I don't have to worry about the tax implications as I settle this debt because I'm insolvent as I'm settling this debt so I won't actually owe taxes on the forgiven amount as long as I'm insolvent at the time I settle the debt.

Since then, I've made payment arrangements to settle 10 of the 23 creditors. That will take care of approx 45k of my debt. This year, I want to pay off all of this debt. So, I'll settle with those that are willing when I can afford it. I'll work my way down the list. But, I want to be out of this debt hellhole by the end of the year so I can enjoy my life again.

Problem is that I can't afford to do this just on my own income. So, I'm going to start playing poker again to supplement this.

To summarize: I make 80k a year. I have 150k in debt left to pay down. I hate it and want out of this debt sinkhole so badly. I'm going to use poker to help me settle my debts by the end of the year. At the end of this year, I will be broke. Have horrible credit. And starting from zero. But, I'll be out of debt. And I'm not worried at that point because I'll still be making 80k a year (I spend about 2500 a month in expenses) and I'll be able to save up money and rebuild my life.

I'm pretty much making as much in payments to settle the debts that I've already worked out as I can afford until the end of May. Most will be paid in full by end of May. So, hopefully, around that time, I'll be able to start working to settle the other 13 creditors.

So.....step 1: Rest of February. I will begin playing on Friday, 2/17. I will be able to take 1400 out of my paycheck and use it to begin playing cards. I'll be playing 1/2 NL. It's been a long time, but I'm hoping I adjust back down quickly.

I have to pay 2900 by 3/3. It is flexible when I pay because I can move some things around but it has to be paid by 3/3. I then have to pay 600 on 3/9. If I'm able to do that between now and 3/17 then I'll be able to take another 1550 from my paycheck on 3/17 and add that to my "bankroll" in order to keep playing to make the next batch of payments.

I'm hoping to negotiate well and design settlement agreements that are fairly reasonable to afford. And then make sure I meet those payments. All the way until the end of the year when I will have everything paid and be debt free.

I hope that this is interesting to people reading and I'll take suggestions on how to make it more so. I'm hoping that chronicling this will help me stay focused and accountable. It's also a nice outlet for me because this situation is pretty stressful but not really the best conversation topic at dinner with your friends.

My first session will be on Friday. I'll post an update later that night or earlier on Saturday morning.

Good luck man! I know you're in a tough situation, but you seem to be very smart about it all. Hopefully you run good!