I thought some might find it interesting to learn that I'm quitting poker as a professional player...I'm getting a job on Monday.

OMG BLACK KNIGHT I MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU AND I'M SORRY IF ME EVER DISAGREEING WITH YOU HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU LEAVING.


GOOD LUCK WITH THE JOB

No, you had 0% with me leaving.

April-May:

This marked my move from 100NL to 200NL and quickly to 400NL. Things were VERY promising. Also, it was pretty sweet to run decent/well right after having a wedding and tonnes of bills.



June:

I started the month with a 3k downtick at 400NL, dropped down to 200NL and had a further 1k downtick. Things looked very bleak, but started to turn around. With RB, I barely made my monthly nut of 2k.



July:

Coming off of a brutal month overall, the saving grace was a fast uptick of >2k in the last couple days. So, things were looking up. The first half of the month was just awesome, with me being on pace for a 10-14k month - by FAR my best ever. However, things started to cool off and I was slightly worse than break-even for the whole 2nd half of the month. However, with RB, I was +7k - my best month ever by just over 1k. So, things were still pretty good. However, because of how stressful June was, EVEN though July was just screaming along, I became VERY depressed halfway through. I've never experienced depression before, and it was just so utterly bizarre to feel depressed while having my best month. So, it seems that the professional life with new variance was starting to take it's toll. After all, it was only last July that I was 12 tabling 100NL FR for 7ptbb/100 and 100% RB and booking 40k hand months with utter ease. Then I was forced to move to 6max, made the transition fairly smoothly, and was crushing it for 5-7ptbb/100 with very little variance. Suddenly, I'm moving up/down and having real swings for the first time.



August:

Thank the poker gods for RB! This would've been my first LOSING month EVER (in 3yrs) if it weren't for RB. As it was, I made about $200. At this point I drew down my roll (since I wasn't playing 2/4 anymore and I still would have 8k for 200NL) and managed to still have enough for our bills, etc. Not only was the beginning/middle of the month shitty, but I went on an utter downtick and the deck went arctic on me...even Shobute would just shake his head at how sick it was when he would sweat me. Life started to suck here.



September:

Things started off okay - not stellar by ANY means, but at least it was relatively steady upwards and I was poised to have a decent month (i.e. >3k), but then the swings started to really affect me. I actually nearly had a full blown nervous breakdown around the 11k mark. At that point I decided to drop down to 100NL so that the swings wouldn't affect me as much. For awhile, things seemed to get better - at least mentally. I didn't make a lot, but the emotional swings were smaller. I had to draw down my roll by 1k because I didn't make enough this month. However, that still leaves me with 7k for 100NL - more than enough.



October:

So, I'm feeling optimistic because I'm running at >6ptbb/100 since returning to 100NL and the games are SO MUCH SOFTER than 200 NL. Like, STUPID soft. After 3k hands, I'm thinking that I can pretty easily make at least the 2k I need for the month...but then the swings start again, and I finish the last two days that I've played with a 6x downtick - yay me. And after the last day (yesterday), I flat out declared that I fvcking quit poker (professionally, at least). I email a couple relatives for job suggestions (one works high up in a bank, the other is the top rep for the top local office supply company). One gives me an awesome lead, and I'm going to be talking further tomorrow.

The job is working for a local mobile knife sharpening guy on commission. Far from glamorous, but the job suits me - apparently he's so busy he's turning business away and is desperate for a 2nd person, and I hear the pay is quite good. I'm hoping to be able to make >2k/month. I plan to still play 5-10hrs/week of poker, and either supplement our income, or just blow it on fun. I'd like to still make 1-2k/month from poker. I plan to draw down my roll to 3k. I still owe my dad 4k because I had to borrow some since I couldn't get my money out for a month in June, but I was borrowing against a 16k BR, then proceeded to have that stupid fvcking downtick and said that I couldn't pay him back...then proceeded to have all the shit detailed above - to the point where I don't have the spare income to pay him back yet. He's not concerned in the least, but it REALLY weighs on me that I owe someone - especially when I said I'd pay him back within 4weeks.

Good luck dood, real jobs have their downsides too but being able to know you are going to get paid even if things don't go great for a week at work is something that most people don't really understand when they want to be a professional poker player. The constant stress was to much for me and I only did it for a couple summers, I don't even want to think about what it would be like full time.