[SlowHabit]

I've turned "pro" for about a year after college. My first year was great even though I didn't get to play as many hands as I would like due to carpal, vacations (Hawaii, Vietnam for a month, and Vegas if that counts), and visits to my gf who is currently away for college.

None of these activities would've been possible if it wasn't for poker because I would probably be grinding it out at an investment firm somewhere in New York since I have a bad habit of wanting to move up as fast as I can.

Besides the freedom, poker also gave me a chance to get into the stock market faster than I would have since I have some money to play around with. The swings in poker helped me tremendously while dealing w/ the constant flunctuations of the market. Poker also gave me a chance to look into business ventures and these business ventures (even though none succeed) helped me learn a lot about the business world.

But the greatest thing about poker is that it allowed me to financially support my parents (even though we live a very frugal lifestyle and they don't need much money from me). It makes me happy to see them happy about my success and they don't have to worry about money as much anymore. I'm currently waiting for the real estate market to "bust" so I can make their dream come true. And of course, mine too [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]