Frustration...

melioris · #1 05-30-07, 12:45 PM

I hear you TP, and I think my situation is relevant to yours. I wrote up a big long thing and was going to post a new thread, but I will paraphrase here instead.

A couple of days after this , something came up and the family needed some money. At the time it made sense to pull the money from my online bankroll, so I pulled everything out (mid 4 figures). I thought about rebuilding with May's RB payment, and dicked around with that idea for a couple of days. But the joy was gone (which made it an easy decision to pull the BR in the first place), it was all about the money and that is when I knew it was time to move on. How? Well, for a lot of reasons. First, and most important, is time. Life is short and getting shorter everyday. There are a lot of things I want to do that I am not getting done right now. Each time I fire up windows and play poker, I am not doing those things. Then there is the fact I am not that good. Then there is the fact that my dayjobs (lab and kids) are taking up more and more time and I can't really let poker infringe on either. The list goes on and on….

Poker has been good for me and I have learned a lot about myself and human nature through online poker, but if I think about it, most of the things in my life that bring me happiness are not currently limited by money. So why should I spend my time pursuing money (poker) when the only correlation that money (and the pursuit of it) may have with my happiness is negative? It doesn’t add up. So with the chump change I still have online I mess around with HU SNGs every now and again and since I am not playing with proper BR management I will burn through that and be done for a while.

As I get older it becomes more and more clear to me that I am incredibly lucky to be able to, more or less, choose how I spend my time. Look around the world, not a lot of people came say that. So I try not to do anything that I do not truly enjoy. I still hack away at home games and such, and maybe we will need the money or I will re-discover my joy of online poker, but until then it isn't in me anymore.

Talking Poker · #2 05-30-07, 01:28 PM

Wow.... This comes as kind of a shock to me. Believe me though, I hear ya. There have been times where I thought it would be great to average $10k a month playing online poker. But to be perfectly honest with you, if you don't enjoy doing that - or worse yet, if you are hating it - or worse yet, if you are hating it AND NOT DOING IT (as in, "losing") - it loses it's appeal very quickly.

I'm still very much undecided, but I think the timing of this Vegas trip is just right for me. I think things will be much more clear to me when I return.

One last thing though melioris - you are a much better poker player than you are giving yourself credit for. I think you are one of the most underrated players on this site, right up there with meanness. I say that based on a number of things, but primarily the posts you both have made in the Hand Discussion section. I can tell when someone "gets it" and when they don't... and you two (and others, but especially you two) both have the foundations needed to become very good players, if that's what you want.

GL to you. I hope you don't feel the need to leave us just because you are leaving online poker. Come on now - we don't take up that much of your time.

melioris · #3 05-30-07, 02:09 PM

Don't worry, you can't rid of me that easy, just because I suck at poker and am not playing much doesn't mean I won't post like a fool around here. If that is good enough for RD it can't be that bad

. I kid, I kid.

Thanks for your words TP. WSOP sounds great, kick some ass and work out in your head what you need to work out.

Also, I don't know what is going on in your personal life and I don't really what to pry, but if it is an issue, go out and get laid. Tends to provide clarity.

Talking Poker · #4 05-30-07, 02:19 PM

Nah... personal life is fine. But thanks for the tip.

Reel Deal · #5 05-31-07, 09:23 AM

Ass Face, we are happy to welcome you and your fancy Liberace lab coat to the Dark Side. BTW, what is this "get laid" you speak of?

omahilo · #6 05-31-07, 10:14 AM

Ask boobie, he would know.

melioris · #7 05-31-07, 02:43 PM

Clearly I was trying to sounds cool there.

I have read about it and can email you some pictures I found on the interweb that can explain better than words, although whenever I look at them I feel a little funny in my pants. A guy in the lab next door claims to have a girlfriend in the Niagara Falls area, but I am not sure if I believe him.

Reel Deal · #8 05-31-07, 03:52 PM

Mr Eaton · #9 05-31-07, 05:53 PM

I'm a small time player, but I got to where I was playing everyday online and the weekends at different venues. I was floating above even most of the time and learning alot. But in March I decide to take a week break, well that week turn in to five. When I started back up I was fresh and started to see things in a different light. You know how you hear something from your wife a 1000 times tends to it looses meaning, but hearing that same advice from someone else opens your eyes. Thats what a break did for me, if that makes sense to anyone else.