Winning too much to quit
 

Jason posted his dilemma here, so I thought I'd give mine a whirl. It is perhaps not that different. I've got an MD and am supposed to be working as a junior doctor "training" and working long hours for at absolute most $50k/year net (optimistic). Online poker has proved one hell of a distraction, here are my results:

2004 Up 90k (6 months) part time whilst working fulltime. Earnt about another 25k net from work. Total 115k
2005 Up 200k (full year) part time from poker whilst working fulltime (about another 45k). Total $245k
2006 Up 400k (10 months so far) fulltime from poker whilst working part time in medicine (another 15k). Total $415k/10 months.

All up i've made over $650k from poker. Last year I nearly pulled my hair out i was so busy between work and poker I had to cut down on one.

Here's the thing - I'm getting pretty bored of poker. The way I see it, poker doesn't help anyone, and it makes for a pretty lonely, selfish life. I have paid off my mortgage and have some $ left over so the money is a bit less important to me now.

My family think I've just been successfull as a doctor - i haven't told them i've made so much elsewhere and I'm not sure they'd be that happy about it. They've figured out something is up because everytime they call me i'm not at work anymore (big change).

My peers are getting further ahead of me in their medical training. I don't want to be any sort of fancy specialist and the way I see if i was able to make 100-150k/year from medicine when i've finished my training i'd be doing very well.

It's amazing the different reactions people will give you. Say "I'm a doctor" and you are universally met with a level of understanding and respect. Tell someone you play online poker for a living and they look at you like your bananas. Up until this year it's been something i've largely hidden.

I'm tempted to just quit the poker idea and return to my training but I know i'll be taking a huge pay cut and working 70 hours a week in pretty stressfull conditions. I've sort of expected the poker craze would die off or i'd stop winning big money and my decision would be made for me. So far that hasn't happened and I've only had one losing month out of around 30. What do people think...should I focus on my career or should I keep playing and not feel so guilty about it?

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Mainly 25/50 THNL but also some higher and some lower. I've done pretty well from 10/25 and 50/100 as well.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

This is not the place to ask. Ask yourself. It sounds to me as though you will not be happy with either pursuit.

Life is short.

"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time." - Joseph Campbell

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

the way i see this (and my winnings are absolutely nowhere near yours, and im only a junior in college with an undecided major so maybe i dont have much to contribute)
BUT
if i were you, id spend some more time playing poker, if you are making a few hundred K a year, then spend some time playing poker, put money in the bank, buy a nice house, live comfortably, then once you are financially set for a while decide if you would be in a better place if you were doing something else

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

No-one can make sure choices for you, but you've got the reactions you've had partly because being a Dr is a respected and valued way to contribute to society. Being a poker player isn't, plus people assume if you are playing poker you either are loosing now and if not you soon will be.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Jive: Thanks for the advice. I do hope your wrong though as I'd like to find happiness somewhere between the two.

ManChild: I guess i've reached that point where I'm financially fairly set (for a twenty something year old) have nice house etc. Hasn't yet made the decision easier.

Danped: I think i'm playing off the respect against the lifestyle and (so far) cash with poker. Haven't trouble balancing both.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

This piece of advice from the Apple founder Steve Jobs has followed me from job to job. I am very happy working where I am now. I hope this advice will help you:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1422863/posts

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Great link Cye.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

it depends what you want, financial security, which youl have either way, or something that will still stimulate you when your 50. personally, i think poker will get boring for anyone winning as high as you very quickly because the challenge has gone. however being a doctor helping ppl, doing research, or problem solving to diagnose a disease in my opinion will be interesting for much longer.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

[ QUOTE ]
The way I see it, poker doesn't help anyone, and it makes for a pretty lonely, selfish life.

[/ QUOTE ]
You have got to be kidding me. It's not poker that doesn't help anyone, it's YOU.

If you want to help people, donate charities your winnings. Buy gifts for your love ones. Send money to third-world countries to help poor childen. You can always go back to the low limit tables and "help" out the grinders by donating it to them.

I don't mean to make a personal attack but this type of thinking really annoys me. If you want to "help" people, you will always find a way. You're a doctor right? So you must know how much medical bills cost. Offer to pay their health insurances and bills. I am sure they won't reject your kindness. I surely won't.

Lastly, if I have a choice to be a doctor or a poker player, I would definitely choose being a poker player. Why? Because I have my own schedule. I can do whatever I want without being on calls. I can retire early. And if I feel the urge to help people, I'll give money to my relatives in Vietnam. And if they are well off, I can always go to Asian countries and "buy off" little children who are forced to be prostitutes and give them a free life. That sure as hell make me feel good. May I dare to say it might actually be better than saving a person from a broken bone or the flu or whatever disease that doesn't cause death.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

What makes you happy?
Financial security makes people comfortable, providing the necessary backgound for pursuing happiness.

Some people are only able to achieve happiness through material pursuits. You do not seem like the type.

You won't be happy if you're ashamed of what you do. You are scared to tell your family that you play poker. If you don't change this fact then you'll likely regret playing poker later. Either stop playing or stop being ashamed.

It doesn't seem like you'd be happy just playing poker.

Just pursue medicine and play poker a little to suppliment (double?) your income.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Cye,

Awesome link, thanks.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Have you considered finishing up your residency "whenever" and then simply opening a solo practice? There are lots and lots of doctors that do just this and set their own hours.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

[ QUOTE ]
This piece of advice from the Apple founder Steve Jobs has followed me from job to job. I am very happy working where I am now. I hope this advice will help you:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1422863/posts

[/ QUOTE ]

Awesome read

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

[ QUOTE ]
Cye,

Awesome link, thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Hi Doc,

[ QUOTE ]
It's amazing the different reactions people will give you. Say "I'm a doctor" and you are universally met with a level of understanding and respect. Tell someone you play online poker for a living and they look at you like your bananas. Up until this year it's been something i've largely hidden.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah--people are hypocrites. People are ignorant. People are both. Why do you care? This next statement is definitely just a supposition on my part, but it doesn't seem like you'd add much to the world as a doctor, either, since you've really only talked about it in your post in terms of the money involved, the hours involved, and the respect you "earn" from others for being a doctor. IMO, you can give the most to the world by being a positive factor in your interactions with others, and this doesn't have to have anything to do with your job.

You ought to find something that actually motivates YOU in life, and do that-seeking others' approval doesn't count. You're in the perfect place to do it, too; you're young, educated, and financially secure.

Good luck.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Glad you liked the link. This advice prompted me to move from the UN (where I felt I ought to be happy but wasn't) to the poker/bg industry - where I am very happy.

As Steve jobs said in his speech sometimes you've got to join the dots backwards and go where you fit.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The way I see it, poker doesn't help anyone, and it makes for a pretty lonely, selfish life.

[/ QUOTE ]
You have got to be kidding me. It's not poker that doesn't help anyone, it's YOU.

If you want to help people, donate charities your winnings. Buy gifts for your love ones. Send money to third-world countries to help poor childen. You can always go back to the low limit tables and "help" out the grinders by donating it to them.


[/ QUOTE ]

Donating poker winnings is simply redistributing funds. It does not make poker playing a productive endeavor, unlike being a doctor.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Yes but if you are making way more money as a poker player than a doctor, it gives you more power to be able to help people.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

only if you are being more generous with your money than the person(s) who would otherwise be winning/controlling the poker money that you are winning.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Trying to fit in and do what society believes to be the "right" thing can stagnate your own progress and hide your individuality.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

[ QUOTE ]
This is not the place to ask. Ask yourself. It sounds to me as though you will not be happy with either pursuit.

Life is short.

"If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time." - Joseph Campbell

[/ QUOTE ]

nice, campbell pwns all

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

Healthcare is highly socialized and regulated. Because of this you will not be providing anywhere near as much value as in a free market.

Also: plz don't give away money. The best thing you can do with your money if you want to help others is to be an entrepreneur and create jobs (or join the voluntary society movement).

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

It blows me away that so many people here think that "doesn't help anyone, and it makes for a pretty lonely, selfish life"

AS *I* see it, poker allows me to only work 20 hours a week instead of 40, allowing me plenty of time to volunteer with just some of the MANY organizations doing wonderful work that are desperate for help. Charities, soup kitchen, food banks, community police stations, animal shelters all dearly need volunteers.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

stop viewing your life as others perceive you.

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

[ QUOTE ]
stop viewing your life as others perceive you.

[/ QUOTE ]

qft

Re: Winning too much to quit
 

[ QUOTE ]
Yes but if you are making way more money as a poker player than a doctor, it gives you more power to be able to help people.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, if you are doing something that is productive it increases the overall wealth of society, which poker does not (with some exceptions.) If you do a particularly good job at redistributing money for the greater benefit of mankind, however, then you are doing something productive -- just as the manager of a well-run charity is. You'd have to take that task of redistributing money seriously, though, making sure to put it to use in the right ways.

My guess is that most poker players give a very small (if any) portion of their winnings to charity (just like most people), nor do they put that much thought in how they redistribute it (such as hiring the most needy illegal Mexican housekeepers).

I'm not claiming you're a horrible person if you live life for your own benefit without considering your effect on society as a whole, but I try not to make inconsistent rationalizations that put my activities in a better light than they deserve.

As for the OP, there doesn't seem to be any easy answer. One comment though: I think people can be divided into two groups -- optimizers and sufficers. Optimizers try to make the best decision possible at every point in their lives. They are never satisfied unless they are convinced they have made the best decision for them. A sufficer simply finds an option that seems sufficiently appealing and chooses that, not giving much (or at least any agonizing) thought as to whether there is something a bit better out there. Optimizers might be more successful, while sufficers are almost guaranteed to be happier.