[Bob6149]

I'm thinking of quitting my job and playing poker for a couple of years. I know you've read that opening line before, but hopefully this post is a little different, though I dunno if I'll get any useful advice here.

I am thinking of buying a nice-ish car, driving somewhere warm for the winter (like Portugal or the south of France), and living there for three months. Then I shall drive someplace else in Europe, or even further afield, and live there for three months. I will attempt to learn the language, learn the city, and have adventures. Repeat until I stop winning money at poker/get bored.

Most poker pros do badly because they get over-stressed or they get bored. I won't get over-stressed: I have plenty of savings and I have played poker for a living for two years before, 2002-2004. I make a lot more now and have a better idea of how to go about it. I hope to avoid boredom by travelling around - infact, that's the main aim.

I'm not that good at meeting new people and I'm not well organised - I will have a hard time looking for somewhere to live in a new country, particularly with the language barrier. In part, I want to do this because it will put me in a situation where I can learn these skills.

This is a second account here - I am quite good at poker but no superstar. I can easily hit $100/hour, and can probably hit $150/hour. I can put in 20 hours/week for a long, long time. This is (legally) tax free for me.

The problem is that I'll be earning ~$100k pa in the new year at this job. I don't have a degree, but I am smart. This job is specialised enough that there aren't many like it, certainly not in this country. I quite like this job. I don't know what kind of long term future this job has, I may have already hit my ceiling. I'm being purposely vague for the same reason I'm using a second account, I'm sure some of you can figure out why.

So what do I do? Do I take the risk? Do I decide to run around for a few years or do I decide to build a career? I can imagine myself doing either, which is how I usually make hard decisions.