[Pokey]

I'm uber-discouraged right now. Can somebody give me a reason not to quit playing poker?

I'm not running badly or anything like that; I'm just so emotionally drained by the bad beat that "my" country put on me (thank you, Mr. Frist!) that I'm just having a hard time deciding why I should bother playing.

- My only hobby was just declared illegal.
- The nearest legal NL table is 500 miles away.
- Live poker rake is huge, the closest thing to a good game is 5-150 spread limit with blinds of $1 and $5 (UGH), and you get 30 hands an hour.
- I can still play online, but cashing out will become extremely hard.
- I run the risk of up to 5 years in prison if I continue to play online (thank you, Mr. Frist!).
- Even if I DO manage to play online and even if I DO find a way to avoid getting thrown in Guantanamo Bay with the other terrorists when I cash out, all the other good and decent law abiding citizens of my country (a.k.a., "the fish") are not going to go to all that trouble just to continue paying me money.

Ugh.

Combine that with finding out that the girl I'm interested in looks like she's got a boyfriend and my life just got markedly crappier in the last 24 hours.

I cashed out 90% of my bankroll, and I'm not going to redeposit it until I figure out what the future will bring.

(Very, very, very, very, very depressed right now.)