Started off with my personal network. (was small start!) Now we utilize our prime broker to get meetings. I also go to 1 or 2 fundraising events/conferences a year that cost about $10k for a seat. Truthfully its only about 1 day a month, if that. Generally if you have happy investors, they tell others, and that's how it grows also.

The strategy evolved very much from my previous experiences as an options trader at a big bank and as someone doing research for a hedge fund. So while we had never done the strategy, I had a lot of experience looking at the types of trades we look for now.

The odds are against you when you start a fund, and they are still very much against me. What gave me confidence? I just saw an opportunity I very much believed in and went for it.

It is hard trading OPM! I don't really know what to say beyond that. There are certainly a lot of costs associated with running a fund that you don't have when you trade your own money.

I don't really have any goals other than to keep doing a good job for the people betting on me.

I can't discuss anything like performance and how we do during volatile times.

How would you compare the psychological toll of trading/running a fund to poker? Do you find it easier, more difficult etc?

I am assuming the burnout rate in the industry is quite high. From visiting your site, it appears that your team is comprised of people under the age of 40. Is it common for most funds to be made up of mostly younger people? Is running a fund something that you would be content doing for 20+ years?

Can you describe an average work day for yourself? Typically, how many hours a week are you putting in?

I think fund is harder, because of the stress of having OPM. But poker is also very stressful, it's pretty close.

We work hard, but it's a very fun work environment and we like to be sharp. Our employees get all the time off they need and work very reasonable hours. Of course, we sometimes stay late to get stuff done, but it's a good lifestyle.

I would say banks love to hire very young (they work hard, cheap labor, etc), but most funds have an older crowd. We are young, but most funds have analysts/portfolio managers in their 40s and 50s and it's not a ridiculous lifestyle.

My day. I wake up 6:30, check the news. If nothing crazy, then I snooze till 7:15-7:30. Get to office by 8:30 (market opens, im in central time). Trading/research all day. Gym at 3 or 4 ish. Another hour or two of reading, then I'm done at 6-7 most days.

Pre Black Friday lots of small/midstakes NL/PLO/MTTs. Post Black Friday I had to quit my gig as Stars team online to grind live. After a year of live poker I got withered. I did not like knowing the life story of every regular in my cardroom. I moved to Mexico to go back to playing online.

The plan post-Mexico was to move to Vegas or go back to school. While in Mexico I heard of a job opportunity from a friend involving a trading firm hiring poker players. I jumped on it and got hired (no small feat being a college dropout). I got insanely lucky to bink that. Moved from Mexico to Chicago and quit poker. This was summer 2013. Been in Chicago since and trading real monies in commodity futures for 2 years now.

The big challenge was the constant uncertainty of "Am I going to make it" for that first year. You sorta assume that you have some kind of "You gonna get fired" career stop loss unless you show potential. Combine that with having all my stuff (car, furniture, etc) stored in California waiting in case I get fired, then having to go out there and sell it all when I'm still not 100% sure I'm even gonna make it. Lots of playmoney and microstakes grinding. It took many months before I was like "Ok I can see this being a lot better than poker". And it is.

I can't really delve into specifics because everyone's sorta learned from the Cardrunners effect (and that is kinda absurd coming from me since I worked at Leggo) but if you know where edge is then it doesn't do any good sharing that publicly.

I'm quite happy with my decision to quit poker because there are just too many negative/taboo stigmas associated with it and I felt like that would only build up as the years went along. That's not to say I wouldn't have enjoyed being with like-minded individuals inside that bubble, but it really is a bubble. Throw normalcy out the window, deaden your excitedness and eliminate anger. grind grind grind. No thanks, I'm trying to phase out of that. I'm just not good enough at developing a well-rounded life that included poker as a profession. That's my flaw.

Many aspects of trading feel like poker in terms of being a "trading lifestyle bubble" since I've been grinding it a ton but a) you're dealing with the real world, not card games and degenerates, and b) you get to turn it off on weekends. That part is nice. With poker I'd come home and play videogames to take the edge off, but I'd basically never really leave the bubble or learn new things or do enough things outside. Chicago (at least in the 6 months a year that are warm) there's fun things to do most every weekend so I'm relearning how to balance stuff.

Love this thread, it's great to see everyone happy, if not happier with life after poker.

Background
Part-time player throughout uni. Graduated in Finance, Investment and Risk but degree/job took a backseat to pursue poker. Went pro 2012-2015 and made a couple hundred thousand $ and now looking to begin a career in Finance/financial markets.

Why you quit

Games dried up, Pokerstars are less accommodating to regs these days and I don't see that changing/getting any better. Lost the enthusiasm for the game and feel it's the right time to start a new chapter in life.

What you're doing now

Looking for jobs, preparing for interviews. Deciding whether to become a mortgage adviser or go down the stockbroking/financial market route.

Whether or not you are happy with your decision to quit

Yes, I'm much happier. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders - the pressure of grinding for a living and enduring the increased variance (as the games have become tougher). Mentally, I feel more relaxed and less things are clouding my mind.

Challenges you faced while transitioning

TBC. Right now, I'm preparing for interviews and will be adjusting to working within a company.

Anything else you think is important/noteworthy

Trading and understanding the markets is now a passion of mine so I think I'd like to pursue this type of career whether it's being a trader or someone providing investment advice and/or management. Mortgage advising is a good back-up, I believe. Pay is decent and it's a relatively straight-forward job. The only thing that concerns me is that it may become mundane over time and I'll have regrets about not taking on a bigger challenge earlier on in life.

Background
I played pretty seriously starting senior year of high school. Studied the game a good amount and followed my buddies advice that the highest stakes Partypoker games are the easiest ones lol. Played 5/10 nlh 6max on PartyPoker and and then Stars while I was in college studying finance. I started my job as an interest rate trader in April 2009 and started to play significantly less and lowered stakes cause I didn't have time to study or care to anymore.

Why you quit
I only considered poker to be a short term endeavor. It was great money while it lasted. I knew I needed to keep up the grades and had full intentions of getting some kind of job in the capital markets. I didn't think making that kind of money could last that long.

What you're doing now
I'm a trader and portfolio manager of a hedge fund (specifically managed futures in commodities and rates). I also take care of all trading operations and things associated with that. After 2 1/2 years as a prop trader, I didn't like the fact that my coworkers were all out for just themselves and was looking for a better environment to learn more. Also the firm was having serious troubles and looked like it could go under. In the end, the firm's subsidiary bought out the company and completely revamped it.

I knew a partner at the company I'm at now. The owner liked my poker background and my interest rate knowledge was much better than his so it was a great fit. Progressed from an analyst to running a portion of the total AUM.


Whether or not you are happy with your decision to quit
I'm glad I quit and didn't see it long term. I do wish I delayed college by a year to really crush the Partypoker games while it was around.

Challenges you faced while transitioning
I was lucky that every major prop firm was highly interested in poker players in 08/09 and having a finance background helped. I was able to get interviews at most firms I wanted and decided on a firm that seemed like the highest potential payout working under a legendary trader.

Anything else you think is important/noteworthy
I've realized I really enjoy trading and following the markets. Poker felt like a natural transition to me. I also like the fact I get to work at a small company without the regulations the big banks have. I'm wondering if I'll eventually open my own fund but feel that raising money in my particular sector is hard. I wish I had more control over the portfolio I manage as I have fairly strict guidelines and don't really believe in the approach my boss has.

I'm curious, when you began trading, were you basically spoonfed strategies to execute and expand upon, or were you just given basic training and data and told to have a go at it?

Many of us are extremely paranoid about sharing edges, but in my experience it's often the only way a new trading hire has any chance of succeeding. Most people simply don't understand how to analyze data and find an edge. They need a start to finish template. There are exceptions, usually guys that succeeded through failure.

I had a few other poker guys get hired with me, I think that was an ideal environment to learn in the early stages.

Being spoonfed stuff obviously doesnt suck in the short term but I consider it disadvantageous in the long term. I need to trade like myself, not like other people. Its the only way to trust my gut.

edit - There's obviously a fine line. I think if I was thrown in by myself with no help I'd have a much higher chance of drawing dead. But the spoonfeeding really lowers the ceiling I think. Gotta fight through stuff yourself. Shrug.

Online cashgame.
2years FLT 0.5/1->30/60, mostly 5/10
5years NL25-NL5k, mostly NL400-1000

Got bored, didn't improve, my salary was going down, felt I was making close to what I would make at other jobs, wanted to end winning.

Went back to study Engineering, had studied 2 years before so I started at year 3. Got my master and a job developing self driving cars, which was one of my biggest interests at the end of my poker career.

Very. Felt better than I had in a long time the day I finally decided to quit.

Had forgotten a lot of linear algebra, but it came back pretty quick. Was more motivated to studies went pretty smooth. Life is a bit less exciting I guess.

It was a bit depressing having a downward trending career when you are young. Imo if you don't make much more(lets say 2x+) than you would at your alternative job you should just switch career and not grind it out.

Sometimes I read job postings where they are looking for me, but with a few more years experience, and really wish I had quit a few years earlier.


So true!

Thanks for posting this.

I am truly stuck. I played poker since I was 18 and focused on that. I am 22 now and I am almost finished with an Economics degree, with the focus on business and finance. Looking at other students, I feel I am way behind. I do not have any expierence, other than poker. I tried applying for internships but no one accepted it. I figured I could use the poker for a job in trading, but that is also way harder. The competition is hard, with people who have perfect GPAs and multiple internships already.

How did you break this?

I kinda quit cos I'm legally sick so I get the sick benefit, but actually in practice I am in a pretty good shape so I might decide to get back to poker sometime, but there's depression too so I just haven't felt like playing.

Background


Essentially made a living from some form of poker/fantasy sports for 7 years. Played LHE, then NLHE, then tournaments, then opened a staking stable. Also played reasonably high stakes fantasy sports during that time.

Why I quit

The staking stable was a huge success before Black Friday. I had little doubt I could ride out that success until I had enough money to figure out another business to be in. I did nothing for 3-4 months after BF until I got my money back and then decided to just try to have a stable of international players. The players weren't as good, games weren't as good, language/ethical concerns from around the globe made it tougher and we stopped making as much money. I eventually sold off my piece to a group of investors.

What I do now

After I sold my piece I literally had no idea what I wanted or could do. I have a college degree and had a sales background before poker. I also was able to label my staking business in a way to make a presentable resume. I ended up becoming an insurance adjuster while I tried to figure out long term plans.

I was promoted 3x inside of a year and became a claims supervisor quicker than anyone ever had in the company I worked for. That company began going to **** and I moved to a small boutique commercial insurance provider for trucking companies. Now I handle litigated and attorney represented injury claims for them. I'm about 2.5 years into this career and have achieved what it takes most people 5 years to accomplish. Maybe a little less.

How I feel about my decision to quit

Meh. I really had no choice at the time. I was eating through my savings and I was married with a kid, I needed to make a move. The career choice I stumbled into is ridiculously stable and I like the company I work for.

I am also constantly plagued with the fear that I'm not realizing my potential or doing something interesting enough with my life to justify my skills. I realized very quickly that the career I had before moving into the real world prepared me to be amazingly successful in lots of ways you don't realize. I multi task absurdly well, I type fast, I work fast, I think fast. Despite not being the most organized person ever I always have plans for ways to handle situations before they come up...just like we did in poker.

I honestly don't think I'll end up in the exact line of work I'm in for the long term unless I stumble my way into a Director/VP position. I'd love to end up in more of a compliance/analyst role where I can better use my skills and challenge myself a little more.

Challenges faced

Nothing really major. I'll chime in on the fact that despite our former career being entirely on the up and up, tons of people you meet in the real world just simply don't want to understand what we did. I don't think it's really a moral situation with most people, it's just lack of education on the subject.

Getting used to going into work everyday wasn't a big adjustment for me(I thought it would be). I'd say the biggest adjustment is learning that money is a very standardized dollar amount once you work for a salary. It isn't a situation where you can work more next week and buy yourself that new toy you want.

Other noteworthy stuff

The only real thing I would say to someone still living the poker grind is that you need to have an escape plan. A real one. If you don't have a degree, get one. I wish I had an MBA SO BAD. Find something you enjoy doing and do it in your spare time. I used to have COUNTLESS amounts of spare time where I could have bettered myself and I didn't do anything with it. I regret that very badly now. I was very lucky that I had a business my last few years and had a degree, otherwise there's no telling what I'd be doing right now or how bad I'd be struggling.

Brief background and what you were playing (live/online, cash/tournaments)
I played online LHE from 3/6 -> 10/20 on Party and Stars. I was a big winner in 2004 (3BB+), so after college, I went "pro" in 2005 + 2006. I didn't take it seriously. I would play like 10-20 hours a week, which was enough to pay rent and give me some spending money, and that was enough. I was living like I was still in college, hanging out with my younger friends and just being an early 20s goofoff instead of working on my game and banking money.

Why you quit
After UIGEA passed, my winrate dropped dramatically. Party was gone, so I went to Stars. I never learned NLHE, so I was stuck playing LHE - and everyone playing it knew the basic theory now. I wasn't that good. I was a rakeback pro. I eventually went to WPEX and started propping for some extra money. In late 2007 I was putting in 12 hour days, every day, just to survive and I was ecstatic when the grocery store had a sale. Clearly no way to live.

What you're doing now
In college I had worked part-time programming for a nearby company. I called them up and asked for a full-time job; they said yes because they knew me and liked me.

I'm still a programmer now; I'm not good with people so I don't want to be on the management track. I'm developing my skills nicely and I'm quite good at what I do. However I'm worried what I will do when I'm 40, or 50. Programmers seem to have low status overall and ageism is a problem.

Whether or not you are happy with your decision to quit
Definitely happy that I quit. In an office, the work is much easier and the pay is steady and pretty nice.

I'm not happy that I didn't take poker seriously when I was younger. There was so much money just sitting on the table, waiting for me to take it and I didn't. I imagine what would have happened if I put in sick hours and study and put the extra all in SPY/VTI and weep.

Challenges you faced while transitioning
It was really hard getting used to the office schedule. When I drove to work in the morning the first 6 months or so, I would think to myself: "I need out. I need to find a way to be free," just because I was so used to not having an alarm and doing "whatever I want". Also, I was a bit of a loose cannon my first year in the office and cursed, etc.

Anything else you think is important/noteworthy
Toothsayer has said that he thinks poker makes more sense as a side pursuit than a main one. I agree.

Cool stories, I'll toss mine in.

Why you quit
I binked some bodog tourney around 2006 for about 25k and that gave me my bankroll to quit my job in the non-profit world. Grinded SNGs and limit mainly and just got burned out after a couple years. The SNG games got really tough and I wasn't putting in the volume to make it worth while.

I had a 5k college scholarship burning a hole in my pocket from a year of Americorps VISTA I did after undergrad and decided to head back to get my masters degree. Fell in love with the college environment again and decided to stick with it and get my PhD in sport management.

What you're doing now

Currently an assistant professor in a sport management department. Love the job, kinda hate my location.

Whether or not you are happy with your decision to quit

The professor lifestyle is actually kind of similar to a poker player. You can work as hard as you want. Some weeks I work 80 hours, some weeks I work 10. I have weeks where I love research and hate teaching knuckleheads, and I have weeks where I'm inspired by my students and hate the research process.

Its a little frustrating to be "underpaid" for someone with three college degrees. I live very comfortably, but I will certainly never get rich off this career path. But that's what you sign up for regarding the academic lifestyle.

I had never had the time or opportunity to travel in the past. The academic calendar has allowed me to finally do some cool backpacking trips for 4-6 weeks (with Peru and the Galapagos coming up this winter).

Challenges you faced while transitioning

Location is pretty sub-optimal. For your first tenure track position at a research heavy institution you pretty much take whatever you can get. Typical jobs I apply for may have 50-100 applicants for 1 position.

Brief background and what you were playing (live/online, cash/tournaments)
SSNL/MSNL 6max/HU online 2007-BF. Live @ Commerce 5/10 post-BF for a year

Why you quit
Was in the process of quitting by 2010 anyway, BF was just the nail in the coffin. I tried to start a company afterward, but failed (although I learned a ton and developed experience that would be relevant later). Played for a year at Commerce to just make money while learning how to program in the interim.

What you're doing now
Full-time software developer in San Francisco

Whether or not you are happy with your decision to quit
Absolutely positively 10000% happy. When I played poker I tilted on a daily basis. After quitting I haven't felt tilted more than a handful of times over the course of a few years.

Challenges you faced while transitioning
None really, I just applied my grinder mentality to a new field and worked hard to improve. I've caught up really fast because I treat programming like a zero-sum competition, whereas a lot of people in the industry just coast.

Anything else you think is important/noteworthy
I really enjoy programming, which made my transition much easier. I played poker for the money but never enjoyed the game. I thought people were missing out on the easy money, but in hindsight I was stupid to have done something for so long that made me so miserable. Nowadays I never go a day without enjoying my work, which makes me very lucky I suppose.

Sirasoni -> Did you have a degree/formal education in software/programming ? Or did you transition into it by self-learning. Just curious because it's probably the field I will try to get into once I want to quit poker (Well I'm already starting to learn stuff, just to be doing something else on the side). I have a degree in economics but would rather not go back to University.

Brief background and what you were playing (live/online, cash/tournaments)

Played PLO, Stud and mixed games (later on) primarily cash games from 2004 to 2011. Won some tournaments
on the live circuit in Britain and didn't like the scheduled nature of tournaments as well as the notoriety
that came with it, so primarily played 1/2 to 5/10 for PLO and NLHE and 4/8 - 40/80 Mixed Games and Stud. Live played at the WSOP cash games, Bellagio, Canterbury Park (MN), Broadway Casino (Birmingham,UK), Grosvenor Victoria (london).

Why you quit

Black Friday pretty much meant I had 0 access to any online games where I felt I had a large edge. I also didn't really like playing live 100% of the time. Have my degree in Math/Comp Science so played a little bit live while I refreshed my skills (self-taught). Got really excited in 2011
at the style of development that was coming out of Netflix (working with AWS/cloud computing). Started
working with start-ups around the world developing code in that style in late 2012. Developed recommendation systems, search engines, image recognition algorithms, development platforms etc.. Around 2014 started working with companies locally in MN.

What you're doing now

Senior Software Engineer at Zubie (www.zubie.co). We make a vehicle tracking device as well as maintain apps and cloud infrastructure around tracking and usage based insurance. It's a pretty exciting time for us, and its the stage of company I like to work for (early to mid stage). We're always developing new products (our latest combines vehicle tracking and a wi-fi hub) and will go live on the Verizon network this week. Definitely don't see myself as an engineer when I'm 40 -- likely going to go for/be approached for more cloud architect roles. I'd like to my own startup and see market niches, but having been through the process 7 or 8 times now know how much more than ideas you really need to get things going and be successful. So concentrating on investing in real estate / real estate builders at the moment.

Whether or not you are happy with your decision to quit

Given how the environment changed I'm very happy with quitting. The stress level is far less than poker. I also have a family now so the more scheduled nature of work fits in better with my families schedules.

Challenges you faced while transitioning

Generally, getting my foot in the door and slowly chipping away at the 6 year gap on my resume to the point where my employer now didn't even notice or mention it.


Anything else you think is important/noteworthy

I'm not sure if I would have quit under a different regulatory environment but you just have to respond to the situation.

Brief background and what you were playing (live/online, cash/tournaments)

SSNL online. Mostly 1/2 but also lower and occasionally higher. I played for a living from fall 2007 until black friday.

Why you quit

I quit because of black friday. I was already pretty burnt out by then, only playing around 10 hrs a week. It sucked at the time but it was a good kick in the ass to go get into something else.

What you're doing now

After BF I got a job working as a contractor in Afghanistan. Ended up spending around 2.5 years over there. The first year was working in postal operations and the second year was working on a DARPA program. I'm back in the states now working for one of the larger defense contractors.

Whether or not you are happy with your decision to quit

I'm happy. Poker was great but also way too stressful. For example, a lot of bases in Afghanistan get hit with "rocket attacks" fairly often. Which is basically just Taliban launching mortars onto the base from the surrounding mountains. In my first month there I discintly remember thinking it was funny that going through these rocket attacks were less stressful than playing poker for a living.

Challenges you faced while transitioning

It was a surprisingly smooth transition. I was worried I was going to end up working some ****ty minimum wage job for a while but I got my job overseas in less than 3 months after black friday.

Anything else you think is important/noteworthy

In hindsight, I should have done more things when I had the chance while playing for a living. I had plenty of free time and flexibility(which I lack now) and I feel like I wasted most of it just partying or playing video games. Should have done more traveling and/or worked on hobbies etc. Been making up for that the past few years.

haha, wow

I have no degree or formal education (my two years at school I was just taking art classes while playing poker for the most part). It's a noticeable hindrance in finding a job, but has very little bearing on my ability to do work on the job.

Because a degree doesn't really matter for on-the-job success, a lot of companies (startups, consultancies, etc.) don't really care for it. Of course, if you apply to Google, you absolutely must have computer science fundamentals down. In other words, it just depends on the type of company you want to work at.

Full time UK poker pro from 2008-2015 right through the golden years of crypto, ongame and ipoker. Always a cash game player but dabble in the live events every so often. In 2008 I bought my first Buy to Let property in Glasgow where I live and continued to buy one every 6 months (using 25% deposit, 75% mortgage) or so with the money I was making from poker. Fast forward to 2015 and I own 13 flats which I manage fully myself and have started up a letting agency, based from my office at home and started taking on new clients and landlords. Reached the point now where growth is slow but steady for the new landlord side of things taking on an average 2-3 listings a month. Really enjoy what I am doing now, poker over the last 7 years has been great to me, not so much in the last 2 years but its given me the finances to create my own business, get settled into a family home and travel the world whilst playing.

You seem to have missed this question from the thread you made:

Brief background and what you were playing (live/online, cash/tournaments)
Started in Uni back in 2005. Played almost exclusively LHE, and mostly 6-max.
Made decent money almost from the beginning and decided to go pro in 2010, as the job i had then was turning into something i didnt enjoy very much. Played fulltime for a little over 3 years.
Was very disciplined with the money and only withdrew what i had previously made at the old job. The rest went towards paying off house mortgage and then eventually buying some stocks and then a model S for YOLO purposes
Went back to a regular job in 2013 as an engineer. Pretty much havent played a hand of poker since.

Why you quit
Too much of the same every day eventually got to me. Needed some different stimuli and to work by yourself on the computer everyday is just not healthy for the mind over time imo.
Also the games were getting worse and worse i think the potential over time for the future was definitely negative.

What you're doing now
Document and systems manager of a company making sensors for tough environments.

Whether or not you are happy with your decision to quit
Very happy overall, despite taking somewhat of a paycut.

Challenges you faced while transitioning
Nothing major