Youy guys who are in op's situation should watch the eightfold path to poker enlightenment by tommy angelo. i don't give a *** if you don't tho.

I think your problem is you were trying to be the next poker super star, and when things didn't go as planned you became negative and down. If you look at poker as a hobby and not a way of life, you may just realize playing poker wasn't causing your life to be so bad, it was your failure at poker that did... FTP give me my friggin MONEY !

I didn't want to be a superstar, but I did take it closer to a way of life as opposed to a hobby. I was trying to pay my way through school. And I didn't necessarily fail at poker, depending on how you define success. I made some money, but my life was substantially worse for the experience of investing so much mental effort into the game. I am not saying my case goes for everyone, I am saying it goes for a lot. Life gave me a second chance, a lot of people won't get that and will grind their life away unhealthy and alone. If you aren't going to be a superstar and it's not a hobby, I'd suggest quitting. Obviously just my opinion, but an informed one.

this thread would've been interesting if you were making lets say 100k+/year and even though that you decided to quit, you probably were not making not even 1k/year which makes this thread a failure

I do find it amusing that the majority of posters attack my personal experience and don't really provide any contributions beside trying to belittle any informed advice I may give. Reminds me of the hostility and the negativity of it all.

I find it amusing that you are wasting your time making threads on a poker forum, something you claim to hate, so WTF are you doing on a forum of something you dont like i mean are you either masochistic or stupid... If i dont like cooking i just dont join cooking forums....

I sit down at my desk at work and have a cup of coffee in my hand. Then I have half an hour to burn while I think of what I'm going to do for the day. 2 minutes is posting here, 5 is youtube concert videos, 10 is snes roms, and the rest is mostly asian porn... if you must know.

Relax bud. It's the psychology forum, everything op has said relates to psychology and in some way is refreshing to hear. Hit the nail on the head about all of the negativity and douchiness but I'm not sure if that's related to poker itself or just the 2p2 trolls.

That was pretty sick.

wat

Interesting. I have a job making six figures and just took up online poker a few months ago. I don't really care about the money. I just enjoy winning.

I'm sorry but there's nothing quite like getting someone to stack off and cleaning them out.

I just stick to micro stakes so I don't have to worry that I just took some poor bastard's last month's rent or child support.

How ironic it would be if you contracted a venereal disease.

exactly the negative attitude I was talking about.

Anyone is different.

And it depends how much time and stress you invest and how large the reward is.

Do you spend 50 hours / week at a fast food shop for 8-10$ / hour or do you get a job that pay 60-90K / year.

And how much time do you spend with poker ? Playing 50 hours / week for 35 K/year is crap, playing 20 hours / week for 100K/ year is great.

Myself played at the hardest time 20 hours / week and worked 30 hours / week parttime.

Now i play a few hands per month work full time and make with 38 hours / week much more than in my poker time.

I see it only from the ev side, its better to work 38 hours than 50 and added i have more social contact and more money.

you know you can think of stuff to do while working (Im sure there is stuff to do).

Poker is not for lazy people, people like you always quit poker.

You are lazy and most likely incapable of adjusting to beat poker games that would provide you with a reasonable living. Furthermore you could not balance poker with other elements in your life. Like alot of clowns, you need to be told what to do with your life (structure/job) as you cannot properly balance your priorities otherwise. GG sir, hopefully you find success outside of poker. Don't feel bad, most players do not succeed to reach the professional level.

BTW did you quit cold turkey or use the help of a support group like GA?

There is a lot of pain in poker. Losing a pot is painful. Losing a big pot is more painful. Losing several in a row, even more. Add to that the egoic embarrassment of "being run over in front of other players", and there might be a lot more of them based in distinct types of personalities. You should accept pain from the get go. If you don't, you will struggle. You will struggle every time you have a losing session or lose a big pot. You will struggle to recover from losing sessions and bad beats.

Think of the ridiculous image of a kickboxer worried about the pain he will suffer on the ring. How would his everyday life be if he was constantly worried about avoiding pain at all cost in an activity where physical pain is unavoidable?

There is a lot of pain in poker too. Losing at poker and losing pots IS painful. Accept this fact and you will live a happier life.

LOL

So, just because we're not all agreeing with you, that makes us negative? If you read the comments objectively, they're actually not negative at all. One poster advises you to watch EFPTPE, others posts such as "good for you op ". IMO its you with the negative attitude. What more do you want? Why are you preaching on the biggest poker community forum on the net and (seemingly) expect some sort of praise for your condemning ramblings?

Poker is not for everyone. It clearly isn't for you. IDK your situation, but it seems like you've grinded a substantial number of hands over the years and have little to show for it. I can't blame you for feeling depressed. You're clearly not a successful player, given that money = success in this game. To invest your time into an activity for many years and have little to show for it, well, it's probably best you don't play again.

Just because you don't enjoy Poker, given your mediocre success at it, doesn't mean that Poker isnt an enjoyable pastime for the rest of us. There are many poker professionals out there who wouldnt trade their 'job' for anything in the world.

Even if I never reach the high stakes, or I never play another hand again, I'll be glad to have been introduced to this marvellous game.

Quitting poker was the best decision of my life too!

I think that the worse thing that can happen to you is to be a slight winner/break even player.
Because it makes you think that if you put in more volume and study more you will improve but that is not true. You will never improve at the necessary rate to see yourself become a baller instead you will see yourself wasting the best years of your life hunched in front of a screen.

Also. The hate and toxicity at 2+2 is real.

2+2 = Bad Vibes to be honest.

I think if your main goal for playing poker is to make money, you should re-evaluate. There are much better jobs out there with much better and stable pay. Grinding away day after day thinking you might be rich one day is a sad waste of life for 99.9% of people who try.

But if you're main goal is to play a deep and nuanced strategy game and pit your mind against other players with something exciting at stake, then poker can become very fun and infinitely interesting.

I used to get so mad at bad luck and bad beats and so angry at losing money, and so happy at good runs of cards, and absolutely both those feelings still exist, but more and more now I'm finding I purely appreciate the game and the mental competition and the concepts at play.

The rush is less about being dealt a great hand and more about "I've figured you out and I can outplay you right here." Poker is becoming more interesting for me as I practice and learn more, and as I play against better opponents.

I've recently started dabbling in 2/5, and that's where I want to be not because of the the money at stake but because there's an actual strategy game there. 1/2 is easy to beat but wtf is the point if all you can do is sit and wait for good cards and bet for value? There's no game there.

Maybe OP could have said quitting poker when it has occupied such a centrally huge role in one's life leading to unhappiness, was the best decision ... Simply playing recreationally a few hours a week doesn't even resemble the experience he is writing about. Neither does semi-professional, low pressure, high entertainment play. Different animals.

yes 2+2 is bad vibes, there are pockets in the forum that i like but in general the culture is toxic. it wasn't always this way according to the old timers lol

when i look at this thread it reminds me that we are all looking at the game in different ways: some play for money, some like the action, some like the strategy, etc.

this is an old threadd, i would love to know what OP is up to now...

There will still be some love/hate involved but not near to the scale he is describing.