I've been playing poker for a living for 8 years. I am in my 30s, married.
I make approx. 100-150k/year playing 5/10 NL Live.

I have a bachelors and a masters degree.

I started a part-time internet business 2 years ago, it's now making 100k/year profits with me working on it about 1 day/week - while I continue to play poker 4 days a week.

I want to expand this business and grow it to make 500k/year profits.
I know 100% this can be done if I put in the time and effort.


My problem is, I'm addicted to poker. I can't stop playing, week after week.

For over a year, I've been telling family and telling myself that I will stop poker and focus on growing my business.

But, my business is boring compared to poker. It's not thrilling or exciting like poker.

I DO NOT want to play poker for a living for the rest of my life.

I want to be a business owner and provide for my family using my business income only.


But, I've been saying this for a year now and I just can't get myself to STOP going to play poker, week after week, I just make excuses and put off growing my business ...


I am always mentally struggling - poker vs business.

I want to focus on my business, but then, I go on a downswing for a few weeks and all I want to do is grind and get back into the green, and then I do...and then, it's on to the next month,, and over n over it goes.



If I was a losing poker player, it would be so much easier to stop.

How can I say no to 10-15k/month and give up what I have spent so much time learning?

I feel like I need some guidance or learn from other winning players who have quit the game and moved on to other things.

I am in the same situation as you are. I am 42, no degree though, I have a 50K pension annually, I make 100K from a side business, and I make $75-100K a year playing poker. I had a very long detailed answer to your question but it logged me off. Very annoying.

We are doing better than 99% of the people out there. It appears you have some decisions to make, and I think I can offer you some guidance. Also, you already know the answer. It's right in front of you.

I am not overly familiar with this site as I have rarely visited it. But if you want to private message me (if I can even figure that out), I can get into more detail. I am still so annoyed this logged me off.

If not, I can take another 30 minutes and write it all out again. You let me know.

Maybe this seems to simple, but if your heart isn't in it the business will keep feeling like a side hustle.
When I quit poker years ago, I picked up trading cars and parts, but I never really got over the "this is a side hustle" mentality, so I never opened an actual shop.

It's come to a point where I actually want to start playing poker and tone the car parts business down to a point where it's jut a hobby again.

My heart is 100% into the business.

5-10 years down the road, I see the business making 20x my best poker year’s income.

And it’s not just the for money, I really enjoy the business and find it allows me to use my real skills.

But, it is boring at times - and the road ahead means long hours in the office...

I feel like poker has almost numbed me too much, whereas I don’t find stuff exciting that normal people would.

Poker also is my main form of social interaction, since I don’t really have close friends.

I feel like by stopping poker, I’m cutting off all social stimulation too




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Well you're married, that's pretty much the point in life when you're over friends and social interaction outside the house anyway.
Why not just keep poker as a weekend hobby that still makes money.
That's how I'm doing it now, just playing fridays and the weekends.
It sounds like you're more attached to it as a passtime than as a money printer anyway.

The social aspect is awesome when you play with really cool people...unfortunately that isn't too often. Six months ago I came to the conclusion that I really do love the game of poker. It's a blast.

Bro you make $150K a year playing a ***** game that you enjoy playing and you are good at. Why would people be telling you to stop?

If you want to actually do your business, take 6 months off of poker and do the business full time. Nothing in entrepreneurship is 100%. If it fails, go back to poker. If it succeeds, then make time for poker in the future. Poker will always be there for you.

Let's look at this issue objectively because it is an interesting thing...

A human being is drawn back to playing poker even though they figure it is not the best use of their time.

Can this person see the root of the problem here is the mind? They are acting automatically based off the stimulus of winning and making money, which is effectively created from stored up memory.

Can this person observe this as a fact by observing their behaviours throughout the day?

There is also the issue here of conflicting desires. So how can this person resolve this?

By thinking about it, this leads to confusion. Because as mentioned in the post there are these two opposing desires. So let's scrap that.

If this person goes to ask someone else for advice then they realise this is limited because whoever they ask cannot have a close understanding of what's best for them. So that is scrapped.

So can this person go to a quiet place and simply observe what's going on for a few minutes. And then ask themselves when the mind is quiet:

Between poker and the business, what is the best thing to do?

And perhaps ask: Is carrying on in the way I do between the two in my best interest?

And then observe what honestly comes up.

That part is easy.

Acting on "what honestly comes up" is not that easy.

By easy I'm assuming you mean automatic.

Do you mean following what comes up doesn't come automatically?

If a human being keeps falling back to automatic patterns when what is he/she to do?

Break automation of course. Meditation, precisely, is a breaking of automation.

And practically: the honest answer that does come up should of course act as a guide. A person can make written plans to follow if they find themselves not able to stick to this honest rational answer.

No one is telling me to stop. I want to stop, myself.

Because I feel there is much more I can do than poker.

Great analysis.

While I do not meditate, I have done what you are alluding to - go to a quiet place and contemplate what I REALLY want.

The answer is: no more poker and focus on growing a business and making millions.

I agree with the answer but I'm having trouble accepting it because it would require me to LET GO, letting go of this steady, comfortable world of Poker and into another world of uncertainty.

I suppose I just need to suck it up and do it. There seems to be no better way

The answer is easy and the work is very hard and slow: get professional help. It will take some time to find the best help for yourself but off the top of my head gambling addicts anonymous or any professional counselor/physiologist/psychiatrist. If you are religious your church should have people they can refer you to. Keep looking until you find someone who you think can help and don’t settle for anything that promises a quick fix.

You’ve already tried to buckle down and ‘just stop’. Time for some deeper help. Good luck man. It’s very freeing to be open with someone and finding real issues. Counseling has been a key part of my adult life for all kinds of different reasons and for different seasons and I’d suggest it to anyone.

I don't get why you would need to drop playing poker altogether?
You're not going to be spending literally every waking hour on growing your business are you?