decreased interest in poker
 

For the past year or so, I've played poker almost every day and had such a desire to play. Recently, I've lost almost all interest in poker.

I think part of the reason is because I am so busy with school, but I know thats not the only reason. I'm just slowly getting the feeling, idea, or realization that poker is mostly luck and only partly skill. Previously, I had the idea that poker was largely skill and that is the MAIN reason which drew me to the game to begin with.

There are several reasons for why I'm shifting my view of poker and feel free to critize me as I know you guys will.

I feel as though there is no such thing as a "poker pro". It SEEMS as though some of the pros got to where they were by getting lucky in huge tournaments and then going on from there. Just look at Jamie Gold. It seems as though he had a huge positive varience swing during the 4th day onward and won. He was the "champion". When I hear people say that I'm thinking, no he just got the luckiest out of the 8,000 or so players. I'm not talking about his level of play. Now he is considered a poker pro, just for this spurt of incredble luck. Look at that Demetri Nobles guy. He proved to all of us that he was not a good player by any means, yet he was the chip leader for some time. And whatever happened to Chirs Moneymaker? Same thing; got on a huge pos. variance swing while the blinds of the tournament where 5 billion and 10 billion. I never see him on the WPT, world series, etc. I only see him drving a fancy car on a poker stars commerical.

There are other reasons for my shift of thinking. One is that I've been on a negative varience swing playing limit hold'em. I feel its pointless to play against average to good players, because it seems as though luck determines who is ahead and behind at the end of the session.

Please don't flame me or think I am a troll. I want people to argue against me to change the way I am thinking about his. I want to have the urge to play again. Right now, the only place that I have the desire to play is in a casio against bad players willing to and don't mind losing. Other than that, I feel like I might as well playing slots.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

Meh. If you need external validation of your choice to play or not play poker you are deluding yourself. No one cares that you don't have an understanding of skill vs luck and short term vs long term. Really. No one does. If you aren't enjoying playing poker, don't play it. There really isn't a wrong answer in what you do in regards to poker.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

I felt this way after playing from feb 2004 till this february. I have quit. Time to move on with life. I stored up all the cash i made (a lot but not that much) into a eloan savings account and started picking up new hobbies.

I just wanted you to know I'm in the same boat as you do. The thing i've learned is that although poker like most strategy games can be great for learning game theory and knowing how to make good decisions....I do understand the negative impact it has.

As a result, I'm very anti gambling right now. Not that we should outlaw it, but on a personal level...it took away too much time than it should have.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

I think if you have lost interest in poker and you have another way to get money, then good for you and move on with your life. When you are older, you will be shocked at how expensive it is to be self-employed and how difficult it is to get necessary health and life insurance at any price if you are a gambler. An employed person gets a steady check and gets those benefits provided without question. Your heart is telling you to focus on school and a career. Have you ever noticed that many professional gamblers are people who are simply not employable by reason of their personality or other issues? They envy you having the choice.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

I'm not trying to become a professional player. I just want to play poker for fun and make a few bucks in the process.

I have another example. I am watching the 2002 WSOP right now. I recognize absoultely no one except the champion, Robert Varconi. I wonder what happened to Ralph Perry, or Harley Hall (you guys are probably thinking who the f***, because I am) Its funny and amusing to see the kind of luck Varconi gets; going to short stack to chip leader all at the final table, hitting every flop, winning every race, etc; Very similar to Jamie Gold.

Examples like this only cement my idea of how much luck plays a part in poker.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

Tournament-wise speaking of course luck has a huge factor because it is a very short time of playing compared to a years of logging hours either live or online.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

This is exactly why I quit playing tourneys long ago. I can't even enjoy a 10-man SNG with friends. Not only does the high variance annoy me, but the play is often automatic.

If I wanted that, I'd play euchre.

Try some deepstack games. It's a whole different world.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

gimmick account?

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

It is possible to make a stable monthly income witrh poker, but it is not easy and you have to spend many hours.

Work-Live balance is what you need yes poker is work part time or full time.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

Seeing as noone has tried to convert you as yet, I will have go...

Big game tournies, the ones you see on tv, have massive varience swings to them. Guys like Gold, Moneymaker, Varconi, I agree had their very lucky moment and won. As much as the glory of winning at the wsop is huge, pro's dont make their regular income based on massive tournaments. They make money playing cash games and a few big sit and gos on the side. Guys like Brunson, Reese, Greenstein, have made millions in cash games throughout their many years at the tables. Even if you put the new wave of player down to luck (which i wouldnt) you would be very pushed to argue that regular winners over decades are just lucky.
Im a student and make a very regular income from a few hours of poker a night. I enjoy mtt's but I consider grinding ring games my second 'job'. Of course I get lucky and unlucky, but long term I find it impossible for anyone to argue poker is a game of luck

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

This is how I feel after a week or two of losing say 80% of the coinflip situations to the "morons" online. I'm just guessing that maybe your in a bad losing streak, like we all have, some worse some not as bad. My suggestion would be take a week or two off, go to a few parties. After that start playing and I think you'll find poker to be more skill than luck.

As for tournies on TV, they do have a lot of luck involved. Calling the luckiest player at the tourny that day/week seems real stupid to me too! A player with good consistant preformance is what is impressive.

Good luck(ironic i say that), hope you find poker to be fun again.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

i was pro for 8 months (played from 5-7 days/week), got burned out, been playing again every now and then for fun but I know I will never ever want to play that much again and definitely not to support myself. I was a consistent winner and made several thousands a month (never in the 10s of thousands though) but it was just so stressful and emotionally draining it made me hate poker/gambling.

currently I have a desire to play once or twice a month, I assume in 6-12 months that I will have no desire to play which is not only expected but intended.

recently I used 2/3 of my BR to pay off my new car (yea) and taxes which was a total a$$[censored] so i'm pretty not happy right now

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

just curious surfinillini, but when you were pro, what games were you playing and how long for at a time. Just curious...

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

I've been making my living from online poker since mid 04.
I keep detailed records of winnings etc.

In 2004 I won 83% of the days I played, & average winnings were greater than average loses.

In 2005 I won 84% of my days played. Average winnings again > than average loses.

I had very similar results in 06 although I never counted the winning days etc. I should as I'm sure it would be near 85%.
Average winnings again were > than average loses.

FWIW-I'm a small to mid stakes NL grinder, & I play a nitty low variance style.

As far as your Jamie Gold example goes, luck plays a far greater part in a tournament. You need plenty of luck to win or place high in a tournament with such a great field.

Tournaments versus cash games are apples & oranges, two different beasts entirely. Far greater variance in tourneys, & luck plays a bigger part.

With that said, I'm tired of poker, and don't enjoy it. I haven't for quite some time.
It's simply a job to me, & I approach it as such.

I'm looking to transition to something else. I'm looking to buy a business, or a franchise, & go from there.

And no I'm not running bad, as the last three months have been my top three months in three years.

To combat burn out, I take frequent breaks, every few months I take a few weeks off to come back a bit refreshed.

Re: decreased interest in poker
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a small to mid stakes NL grinder, & I play a nitty low variance style.


[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry for minorly hijacking the thread, but what is ur vpip/pfr/ta ??

also, what do you do on your "breaks"?