Sounds like a good experience, but one you also have built on after 17 years of specialized focus.

Good comment about "big life pivots and pursuing longer time horizon endeavors". Neither of those are inherent in either poker or crypto, it is you who realized what you wanted had changed.

Good luck.

I don't understand why more pros don't reinvest their earnings into other endeavors. I view poker as just one piece of the financial puzzle. Put that money to work while you grind. - Makes your downswings much easier. I've never been a pro by any stretch, but I'd venture to say most of them probably don't have any long term investments other than possibly real estate.

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Everyone goes through an obsessive phase with poker. If you can capitalize on this and take full advantage studying and grinding for a few years till the obsessiveness wears off, make/save a ton of money, then quit and do something else, you've won the poker game. If you're 10+ years in as a pro and still rely on grinding full time just to pay the bills with a waning interest in the game you've ****ed up.

This is definitely the case, but it's not exclusive to just poker players. Unfortunately there's not a lot of financial literacy out there. They generally don't do a good job of teaching kids about these things in school and it can be kind of intimidating when you start to learn about it. This causes people to just put their head down and ignore things which obv ultimately harms their finances long term.

Yup, if you are not making enough to save a bunch of money to help set you up for the future than you are prob doing yourself a disservice playing professionally. There are people who don't have better options but that's a small percentage of people nowadays imo.

very good post

I'm 10 years in and have never been more motivated/fascinated by poker.

Why would I want to quit something I love and can make good money from?

I personally invested in several start ups, crypto, stock market and real estate, lots of poker player just punt their money though, eating restaurant everyday, going out very often, traveling and just spending way too much money in general

congrats but you're a unicorn

i've been a poker pro since 2008-2015 then took a 3 year break and here i am, thrown back into poker. i quit to take on other business ventures that kind of blew up in my face. i'm in my early 30's now and back on the felt.

they say you should never life your life with regrets however my life is full of them.

i wasted years of my life grinding poker.. while others were traveling and getting life experiences.. i was sitting at a table for hours a day.

i think this is the illusion most players have these days. they dream of hitting it big and living the "ship it holla ballas" lifestyle. poker isn't that easy anymore.

sadly i would say 99% of aspiring poker players today will not make it. they will eventually fade away after years of abuse and won't be able to endure(variance).

i'm speaking as a cash game grinder.

if you can make it as a poker pro, you'd probably be great at something else which isn't as soul sucking as poker.

I played for a living from 05-2015. Mid 20's until my late 30's. I played solely in Atlantic city.

I read most of these posts and I get the sense that most didnt do much except grind. What about the clubs and women and food?

I'm in shape but not muscle bound and I'd say average looking. I was getting laid by a different girl just about every week for years. Maybe my experience in Atlantic city wasnt typical across the country? Every weekend especially the summer, thousands of girls to chose from. Was like spring break every weekend. I know I wasnt the only one doing that.

There were some excelent restaurants as well. After 2 weeks of poker always had enough comps for old homestead. And the other times I'd have to pay cash. Not that I ate out like that a lot, but enough to enjoy myself.

I never made it big at poker. I dont know how this stacked up to others but i averaged 150k a year playing. Nothing to brag about. I certainly dont regret my time playing.

I wasnt going to bother sharing my story but I'm curious, did the rest of you guys go out? I didnt read about how fun it was. I cant be the only person who enjoyed himself.

Sure in the poker world you came across scumbags and we got burnt for money eventually. You grow up fast and become aware of what's going on quick. Sorry to hear people regretted playing for a living. I enjoyed my time.

I'd really like to hear more on this topic if you have the time to expand. Have been thinking of things to invest in for a long time, perhaps suffering from analysis paralysis.

Real estate for rental seems like a good idea, but seems like a large egg in one basket for someone with my (lack of) wealth (certainly could not buy outright). Also living in a different country to my home complicates things re managing property.

Am invested somewhat in crypto like most other grinders.

What I'd like to hear about are other options. Dividend yielding shares appeal to me, blue chips like GSK etc. What are your thought on these types of investments?

If there's any literature out there you'd recommend I'd be down for that. Have read stuff like rich dad poor dad etc. Somewhat helpful with general tips but still doesn't tell you all the answers of where to put your money.

Cheers

Same here.

personally i hate clubs, but i like bars.

what made you quit poker and what do you do now?

seems like you made good money and enjoyed the lifestyle.

i want to learn more about real estate but since i started in poker funnelled money away in index funds, mostly on vanguard.

I've played poker as sole income for 10 years. I honestly love it still. I'm proud to play poker as my living. It's definitely not for everyone and it's not always good times. In my opinion it's far better than the alternatives.

The question should be more - do you enjoy poker, and if so, are you prepared to work hard enough so that it affords the life you want? You already know the pros and cons of the lifestyle. Which way does that scale weigh-in for you?

I would ask yourself the same questions about your current field of work.

The insinuation by others that your time is best spent any other way than the way you want it to be is a disservice and a lie.

Eckhart Tolle has a simple quote "The past has no power over the present moment." which is a solid reminder to try and value the now and avoid living with regret because it's pointless. Easier said than done but helpful nonetheless.

Not saying this for your job now, for poker, for anything specific but if you're wondering about it - go find out for yourself. You're not guaranteed tomorrow.

I find it hard to feel any sort of pride over playing poker for a living, I mean in the end it's really just taking money from players worse than you at a game of cards, I thought I was so cool back when I was 22, I don't feel that way anymore

What kind of start ups did you invest in if you don't mind me asking?


Business, food, security, movies, projects, stuff like that?

Just curious man

What about chess pros? Tennis pros? NFL players?

They all excell in a particular game and profit from it.

At least they contribute something to society.

Go do some back breaking work for **** pay over the next 12 months and give your opinion then. There are some people that don't have the options that others do.


For some people making enough to support yourself without grinding your joints to dust is pretty good option.

I don't understand what your point is, I didn't say poker wasn't good money, I said I didn't feel any pride from making money from it

How about pride from studying hard and putting the hours in playing?

Between a choice of being a beat up old dude like the ones I used to work with or working an easy job like poker, you can have pride in the intellectual challenge and reward of it all as well as not grinding your body into oblivion.

Seriously go take a hard job, you will have pride that your not being ground up like coffee beans. I think your perspective is just narrow if you can't see that. Did you even have a hard job cuz if you don't see the pride in it I'm guessing you just had a lot of jobs that leave you hands baby soft.


I can see your point, my point is the poor people can have pride that they rove above the bull**** jobs sector. 8 hours of poker is insanely easier than a lot of jobs. I've known lots of people that have gotten mangled in 1 or more ways from their profession, walking around with a whole body and a decent income is something to be proud of for a lot of people.

I mean I'm glad that I don't have to do these soul sucking jobs but I'm not... proud? I don't feel accomplished from it anymore, it's just sort of a grind to make money, both the studying and playing part

Did I read a post by you somewhere that you mentioned working or worked at borgata? If so perhaps you remember the walkway near main cage heading towards the hotel. In between blackjack and roulette tables. Workers called it the strip haha. All the drunk girls would walk down it after a night out.

Gypsy, long, and b bar were ok too. I wasnt just meeting women at clubs. Was mostly outside the clubs on casino floor actually. Trop was a good spot to go too. Harrahs as well weekends.

I enjoyed it a lot, cant see how any guy in his twenties wouldnt. But im not seeing that in other posters. Why I shared my experience. Wondering why no one else is commenting about all the women, good times, and nights out.

I quit bc I eventually reconected with a college friend. She worked in philly. So I moved to philly, got married, started family. I rarely play anymore. Dont miss it but when I do play I enjoy it.

I now work a job paying 50k a year less at an insurance company. I get full health coverage, pension, profit sharing, all that good stuff. Still isnt as much as poker paid but the trade off is worth it to me.