Very nice article Chuck at Upswing.

glgl and hf at the final sunday

But what if your only two options are those sites?

Where do you live, Mars?

Haha rip all Belgians

Lolbelgium

If you truly can't access other sites there I'd either move out or focus all my efforts on opening my own waffle shop

as a big fan of your writing, books and recent Upswing articles, I can't wait for the last (?) one

Thanks for the ride so far, its been enlightening (for me at least) and a very pleasant flash back to our (not so long ago) happy days few years ago.

Thanks man, means a lot to hear that especially from a crusher like you


Not going to be much of a sweat I'm afraid, I've played pretty much nonstop apart from a 5 hour nap for the last 40ish hours. Been pretty much like this without a break:

Guess I'll post this now as I probably cbf to think about poker for a while after tomorrow. I'm not sure what's the fairest way of measuring true EV from a tournament perspective, but filtering for high BB levels seems correct to me. I'm not trying to skew stats in any way here, if anyone wants to see any specific stats from my HEM I'll be happy to post -- I couldn't care less if anyone thinks I'm a huge whale for taking this bet or whatever.

But ya, this is what I think is at least somewhat telling: Filtered for blinds 500/1000 and higher, and stacks 30BB or less. This basically means that these are ~all my all-ins ITM in tournaments -- and by using the 30BB or less filter I get to filter out stuff like Winamax monster stacks that have huge starting stacks and whatever stupid blind levels Party has (I stopped playing there almost entirely midway through the challenge when they changed their schedule anyway).



At first glance running 1000BB below EV doesn't seem particularly shocking, but remember that it's filtered for 30BB stacks maximum, and this is ~all ITM when it matters. Managing to realize less than 20% of your EV in high equity spots matters quite a bit.

That's I'd say 70%ish of my total volume during the prop bet, the rest is on untracked sites where HEM doesn't work. Hasn't been much brighter elsewhere. Total hands played 400-450k.

I think this was a pretty good bet, in hindsight I'd snap book it again at the same odds. I think I was probably a 60% favorite or so.


GG

jeez, gg

Yea u ran really bad - were u surprised at the level of discipline you had and volume you put in? The ability was always there ofc. Great effort.

Final tally was about 7008€, so we managed to 14x but couldn't quite make it. I summarized my thoughts in a Facebook post, but I like to keep my Facebook private so I'll shamelessly use this space and copy-paste it here since the few things I have to say might resonate with a bunch of you.

------

Yesterday I played the last hand of my poker career. It's been one hell of a ride, and while I'm sure I'll be missing the grind to some extent, I'm really happy to finally leave this game behind and move on to other things. Since probably half of my Facebook friends are poker players, I'll share a little story and some thoughts:

Ten years ago I was working at a gas station earning $10/hour. I spent all my free time playing and studying online poker. After a few months of practice, I moved up the ranks to a point where I was winning or losing thousands of dollars in a single session. Working 40 hours a week at my much less exciting day job felt pointless, so I quit despite having no idea if I could actually make this poker thing work or not.

I did make it work. While my career certainly had its ups and downs, overall I have every reason to feel proud of my achievements. I never made it to the absolute top of the pyramid, but I got pretty damn far for a high school dropout working at a gas station. I won the biggest live tournament in my country, a bunch of Sunday majors, the World Championship of an obscure poker variant I had never even played before, I was Finland's top ranked online MTT player for quite some time, and I found my face in the cover of the world's largest poker magazine. But more importantly, I got to realize most of my childhood dreams and life goals thanks to this silly card game. I don't think I could really have asked for much more.

But everything comes with a price, and poker is no different. If you want to reach the top in this game, you need to give it your everything. And I really mean EVERYTHING. For the first five years of my career, I barely noticed the outside world. All I could think of was poker. I was already playing or studying it 60-70 hours a week, and when I wasn't sitting on my computer, I often found myself so deep in thought thinking about poker hands that I kept walking into lampposts. I don't think I was much of a boyfriend to the girls I dated back then, and many old friendships deterioriated. It's just really ****ing hard to live inside the poker bubble and stay up to date with the real world at the same time. I've suffered from a bunch of health issues over the years, too, and I'm pretty sure that the underlying reason behind all of them was the stress and sleep deprivation thanks to poker.

When I was 21 and had just quit my day job, all I wanted to do in life was play poker. Just the thought of retiring from the game one day was literally my worst nightmare. But as the years went by, I became more and more intrigued about other things in life, and at the same time grew colder and colder towards poker.

Know the feeling when you've dated someone for a long time, feel like it's no longer working out, but you just don't have it in you to break up because you're afraid of jumping into the unknown? That's how I'd describe my relationship with poker over the last couple of years. And I've cheated on her, too – I've put a lot of effort and energy into other projects, trying to figure out what to do with my life. Since at least 2015 I've known that I don't really want to be a poker player anymore, but I've lacked the courage to pull the plug completely. For someone known for crazy bluffs deep in big tournaments, I sure can be a total wuss sometimes.

Anyway, as of today, I'm officially retired from the game. I'm about as done as one could possibly be, and all I feel is relief. I know a bunch of you still play poker full-time, and here's some wisdom from an old man:

Looking back at the last ten years, everything that happened at the poker tables feels almost meaningless compared to what happened outside of them. It sounds like a huge cliché, but it's true. I played around 5 million hands of online poker and spent many years touring around the world playing live tournaments, but none of the hands or money won or lost really stands out. It's all a big blur of flops, turns, and rivers. The things I remember are the amazing people I met, the countries I got to visit, the roommates I got to live with, the projects I got to participate in, and all the things I got to do behind the scenes in the industry. If someone stripped me off a couple of my online titles, I wouldn't feel much of anything, but I'd be sad if the little footprint I left on the industry was erased. Poker is an extremely anti-social career choice, but just like it is with everything in life, in the end all that matters is the people around you. I've been lucky to be surrounded by some extremely fine poker dudes and dudettes over the years, and it's been a real pleasure sharing this journey with you.

My advice to all of you still on the grind: Take some time off the tables, educate yourself, make friends, travel the world, network, and find a way to give something back. In hindsight, there's not a single day of my career that I'd look back to thinking: ”Man, I'm so glad I decided to play poker that day”. The games aren't going anywhere, but life goes by fast. It really feels like yesterday when the picture attached to this post was taken, but it's been nine years.

Another thing that I'm really happy about is that during the second half of my career, I took interest in various other areas in life, and put a lot of effort into improving myself and learning about the world. I'm now also a qualified journalist, I've written for over 20 magazines, I've created content for several huge companies, I've written and published a couple of books, and I've studied a variety of subjects that intrigue me on my free time. Thanks to all this, instead of being worried about having a 10-year CV gap, I'm actually looking at the job market with excitement and enthusiasm. I'm not entirely sure what I'll do next – besides probably hibernating for the next three months just to catch up on sleep – but whatever my next career ends up being, I'm sure I'm going to kick ass at it. While poker can be draining as hell, it can also give you a lot of confidence and skills that are applicable in the real world. There aren't many careers that are more stressful, and if you can make a living out of something that 99.9% of people fail at, I'm pretty sure you can make a living off a lot of things. Poker has been an invaluable learning tool about psychology, trends, problem solving, and really just about everything one needs to succeed in life. I'm looking forward to being able to put these skills to use doing something completely different.

Alright, I guess that's about it. I was thinking of tagging a bunch of people here who I've enjoyed getting to know the most over the years, but I hope you already know who you are. Best of luck to everyone still grinding, I'll be rooting hard for you <3

You ve probably been the single most enjoyable player to follow since I found these forums. Thank you for sharing your incredible story bro, in many weird ways u ve beeen an inspiration to me and I m sire others as well. Best of luck going forward and that beer we promised to have together is still going to happen!

Peace bud take care

Have really enjoyed your writing and advice over the years, and I'm glad the text you've created will always be around even though you're stepping away from the game.

Wishing you all the best with your next adventures!

Best of luck in your future endeavors.

Always enjoyed reading your posts, gl in whatever you decide to do next. gg wp

Impressive result on the challenge! It's a win in my eyes fwiw.

I enjoyed reading your facebook post, well written as always. I somewhat feel the need to say something re the part where you describe how meaningless the time spent at the tables was.
While that might be true, I think there is a high chance you wouldn't have gotten to do all the things you mentioned if it wasn't for poker. So I wouldn't say it's meaningless. It really is relative to the way one puts things in perspective.
Think of all the 9to5 corporation jobs or all the dead end jobs so many people get stuck with and stop working on their self development because they have a "safe" job. That leads to negative things like depression, lack of motivation etc.

If one loves the game, I say poker is a good option for free spirited people who want to avoid settling for dead end jobs or just any job they don't feel good about. Sure, there are other options as well. Much better ones too, I'm aware. That's for everyone to decide for themselves though. I for one am really grateful for all the people I've met through poker and all the experiences it lead me to and I really think some of them would've never happened if it wasn't for this game. In the past 2 years I played professionally I've been much happier than the 5 years before that, when I worked normal jobs. Also, I think a major reason for you making this decision is the current state of online poker, correct me if I'm wrong though. I see some scenarios where it might change to the better though, call me a naive dreamer

It really looks like you have made the right choice though and you are setting a good example regarding quitting when the time has come. I hope we will get the chance to meet some day, would love to party with a legend.

Congrats on your long and successful career and best of luck on your new path!

Hey dude, could not agree more with this. There's tons of skills you learn at poker tables (both online and live) that you can apply to real life, patience is a big one I noticed. As for the rest skills to apply in real life from poker, I will not spoil and let you see for yourself

I am sure you will find something to be even greater in than poker, and as I said in beginning of this thread, there is nothing stopping you from lol'ing around in 1 tournament here and there if you play casually just for fun. It's a change in mentality, and for me that made the game so much more fun again (used to do poker for a living as well many years ago but quit and got a job, now playing only as a (probably losing) rec player just for fun )

much love man, GL in life! <3

congrats on your accomplishments, good luck with the next ones

all the best for the future

I'm very happy that you feel comfortable with yourself moving on in life. I think you'll end up still attached to the industry in some way but with a guarantee paycheck to go with it.

A big congrats on your career. We actually have a lot in common... never making it to the top, or to the point where the stress is gone financially, but far from the bottom. 10 years is a long time to live under constant stress where you're first waking thought in the morning, (or whatever time you wake up) is I got to make some money today.

Take a few months off and reach out to people in the industry or contacts you know and try to line up a job. But make sure it's one you'll be ok with.

The poker grind is a life with obscure chains that you see more clearly as time passes, whereas a cubicle is obvious to everyone. -Sect7G

Best of luck in the next chapter of your life m8 - onwards and upwards!

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

You have some great blog posts Chuck.

Just wondering, why does it have to be all or nothing for poker? Is it possible that maybe you play part-time while you look for another job? (Generate a small income while you are looking for work). Do you think that you will play poker occasionally a few years from now (eg. 5 years from now)?

Anyone else think coding is about 80% of the way there to being a really fun, engaging occupation? Some of the newer languages are much easier to write - unfortunately it's a bit slower moving than one would like - Java being the obvious example.

Think the likes of Chuck have a great potential for this field - high logical ability, flair for abstract solutions.... solid work ethic

gg, I enjoyed a lot of your posts and stories here. wish you all the best

gg boss, always enjoyed ur posts and like ur books, glad we met once or twice a seemingly long time ago. Respect and admiration for that sick pleb grind aswell (jealous!) i knew back in the day i was playing more mtts than anyone else except uredeadlol but i just cant do it anymore :/

all the best! pretty sure u gunna crush and dont forget to publish part 3 soon, glgl! <3