I've lost the desire to play poker

[whaahhahahah]

i don't get the addiction references here. seems like op is the opposite of addicted.

for others, i think the lifestyle, specifically feeling like you can do whatever you want whenever you want, can be extremely addictive. since the legislation and especially neteller, i've been much less enthusiastic about poker. i think this is because i lost my sense of control over what happens.

not sure if this is part of the issue for others, but i think people get too attached to winrates. a couple times in this thread, people have mentioned that they make 300/hr or 1000/hr or whatever. when you sit down, play for a few hours, you'll often miss your artificial target even if you play well. the problem isn't just losing; it's making a couple hundred in a few hours and feeling like you wasted your time.

[jmxthievez]

Great thread, I play poker for the enjoyment of the game in addition to the money. I feel like if I ever lose either, I would stop playing, which is why I never understood the kids who dropped out of college to play poker and regret it a few months down the road and by then its too late to reenroll. I feel like it's a great time to make a quick buck while in school, and it sure beats waitering, etc which would probably an alternative for most college kids.

[carlosj]

I rather play poker than slave away at a 8:5 job were I'm severely underpaid and my boss has as much talent as my pinky.

Of course in poker as in a lot of other jobs you aren't actually producing anything to increase social utility.

But its challenging because you are completely on your own merits. There are no biases, no races, no religions. You are as good as your game is.

On the otherhand, in poker like other things, different people have different potential. Look at Lolo and EM2.

If you are not making atleast $200,000 a year playing poker, you should probably be doing other things considering its effect on social utility and its redundancy.

[RaiseAndPray]

Very interesting thread. A lot of us are obviously relating very closely to it. We can babble on and on and on and on about this, but honestly, what does it all boil down to? It has already been said, and it's really the only reason this thread exists: the games are WAY tougher now. I made about $150k the 2 months previous to the US ban, and I felt I had just started really knowing the game. Since the ban, I know for a fact I've actually improved my game (you've had to, right?), yet, I think I'm barely up in the past few months (it it weren't for a quick 30k I made on Betfair I'd be way down for sure, but that site is tougher now too). I can analyze it until I'm blue in the face, but it simply boils down to the fact that I'm not winning as much anymore (not really winning at all). What I have been doing since the US ban is DESTROYING live games, and each time that happens I'm an inch closer to giving up on the Internet game (or just playing recreationally here and there when I feel the urge) and scoping out any and all juicy live games I can. But, I have a young son and commitments in my hometown (which has one juicy monthly $10/$25 NL game and that's it), so making regular trips to Las Vegas and Los Angeles just isn't in the cards (no pun intended). I want to play poker more, I want to enjoy it, I want to improve my game more. But without the profits coming in the desire to play gets flushed down the toilet. Sort of obvious I guess, but I thought I'd take the chance to vent a little too. I'm just going to suck it up whenever I do play and try to improve my game more because it has never been more apparent that I'm getting outplayed than in the past couple months. Come back fish, please come back! I love them so much!

[RaiseAndPray]

come to think of it, i guess weed helps quite a bit too...

[Tizerd]

Very interesting responses. I am quite surprised at the volume of people sharing similar feelings. 10 days after my original post -- still no urge to play, in fact, with the exception of following this single thread, poker doesn't even seem to cross my mind anymore. Mind you this is coming from one who was not too long ago borderline obsessed with being at the top of his game.

At a minimum I think I have confirmed what I always suspected - that I am NOT addicted to poker. Although I always strived to be the best, playing 3-4 hrs daily, I never put the game over more important, pending life issues. Being single and working only 25-30 hrs a week, 3-4 hrs was very comfortable. I always suspected I wasn't addicted, but could never "prove" it to myself. I was never really sure what would happen once I got married, family, etc. At least my recent feelings hopefully settles this one internal debate.

After reading the responses, I wholeheartedly agree that the recent law changes are a major part of the declining interest.

-- Not so easy any more
-- More boring -- not as much action
-- More losing sessions means more feelings of however each of you feel when you lose
-- Increased frustrations

I'm still wishful I will get back in there one day, hopefully soon, but I'm not going to force it. One thing I'm pretty sure about -- I will never play for purely monetary reasons. That's never the reason I played before -- the money just kind of happened and was a great "bonus." I'll play when the passion returns, if it ever does.

Tizerd