I've lost the desire to play poker

Tizerd · #1 03-05-2007, 07:36 PM

I thought I would post this here to get some of your thoughts.... I see alot of posters I don't recognize, for those of you who haven't played with me I was a long time regular, winning player on the party 5/10 and 10/20 games, under the names "liquidfarts" and later "tizerd." Been playing now under "mizzles" on FT. I'm sure at least some of you have an idea of who I am...

Not sure the reason but over the past 6-8 weeks I've lost all desire to play poker. WTF? I've gone from a "can't wait to get in there" 12-tabling freak to almost nothing. I play for 10 minutes now and I want out. I guess it's no coincidence I'm running horrible, but I've been through bad streaks before and never lost the urge to play like this. I've even stopped monitoring (for PT) which is something I've never done. And there have been no significant changes / distractions in my life I can blame it on.

In a way I guess it's good (frees me up to do other things), in many ways it's bad, regardless I just don't understand it.

Have any of you been through anything similar? Just a phase? Permanent? Should I force myself to play? Try changing it up to stars? I was so into this game, I think I still love poker and "want" to play just don't have the desire anymore. I think the loss of sparks has affected my game (dropped a notch), no longer do I analyze my mistakes, think about ways of improving my game, etc...

Obviously impossible questions for you to answer but just wanted to get your thoughts...

Thanks

Prevaricator · #2 03-05-2007, 07:37 PM

mizzles.. i knew it

aejones · #3 03-05-2007, 07:44 PM

yea, i've got school to try and deal with but i'm going through some of the same things. i don't mind talking about poker, but when it comes to actually grinding, i really don't wanna [censored] with it.

AZK · #4 03-06-2007, 12:27 AM

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yea, i've got school to try and deal with but i'm going through some of the same things. i don't mind talking about poker, but when it comes to actually grinding, i really don't wanna [censored] with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

beachbum · #5 03-05-2007, 07:46 PM

A lot of it for me basically since October is that the government has sucked all the fun out of the game.

billyjex · #6 03-05-2007, 07:58 PM

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A lot of it for me basically since October is that the government has sucked all the fun out of the game.

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this is 100% me as well

it's not just that i've lost the desire.. i really hate the game.

AZK · #7 03-06-2007, 12:44 AM

[ QUOTE ]
A lot of it for me basically since October is that the government has sucked all the fun out of the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

I quit playing about 3 months ago. Completely. More or less cold turkey. It was at that point that the game actually became a grind and I was required to "work" for my money. Since quitting I have not looked back. I read HSNL maybe once a week. I mostly spend an hour every other day on OOT/EDF. I have not been happier. My life has totally gotten back to the way it was circa 2 years ago. I sleep right, I eat right, I am working out a lot, I have to study a lot (but I don't mind that, it's why I'm in medical school), but I am also meeting a lot of cool people, seeing a lot of cool things, party and meeting tons of girls. In short, life rocks. At first it was hard to imagine how I would fill my days without the 8-12 hour blackhole that was 2+2/multitabling. I experience non of the emotional high's and low's like I did before. I feel like I am returning to being a normal human being compared to a mulitabling numb to everything robot. Getting tired of poker is NOT a bad thing. For some of us (I don't know your background), especially me, poker wasn't meant to be the end all be all. It's ok if this part of your life is coming to an end, you will find other things to do, even if it doesn't seem like it at first.

The only problem I have right now is that my tastes are still too rich for my current income ($0) so I am spending lots of money like I am still playing, slowly though I am correcting this and maybe becoming less materialistic (ha. probably not. but I no longer overnight ship everything, it's a start).

I scan the forum once a week and see the sick amounts of money that everyone is making. I am envious. I am not envious enough to resume playing. The 5 figure weeks were awesome, but the idea of grinding them out is no longer appeals to me in the least. I refuse to play, simply no desire. I have thought about returning in the summer after school since I won't be doing much, but I really don't think I could ever immerse myself in the world like I did before. I was really cut off from so many wonderful things life has to offer that you sort of take for granted when you live on the computer 12 hours a day. It's a paradox because I normally don't half-ass anything, so if I came back, I would want to get back to the level I was at, but I'm not willing to give up my "life" again for it. So I probably won't. If the games somehow get ridiculous again I might start playing, but I've effectively tied up the remainder of my bankroll on a new car/mortgage/ medical expenses/ investments (speaking of which, I forgot what it was like to lose 4 figures in a day or almost 5 in a week, ah memories), but yeah, don't force it, if you don't want to play, don't. Poker isn't going anywhere and if your mind/heart aren't really into it right now you are only going to lose more. Breaks work, but they have to be complete and long (6 weeks backpacking europe is about the time it took for me to get over my one major multimonth tilt episode). So take some time off and see the world.

Isura · #8 03-06-2007, 12:59 AM

AZK,

Nice post. A lot to think about y. I took basically september to december off of poker to refocus on grad school, and I didn't miss it at all. It sometimes sucks when you need to cut expenses, but its really humbling and refreshing to get into a routine and enjoy other things in life. OTOH I think its possible to obtain a balance, by cutting out the mindless 2p2 browsing and just playing when you feel good about it and are focused.

edge · #9 03-06-2007, 01:06 AM

Yeah, I don't like poker at all and I only play because I feel like I'd be wasting a huge opportunity if I didn't. A 1.5-hour session has always been a long session for me, so I don't even have the perspective of some of the people who 8-table for 10 hours.

I find that when I take shots at higher levels it's more fun and absorbing, but I really hate losing or even the possibility of losing so I don't take shots that much anymore.

You were definitely one of the top 5 players at Party 10/20 though.

Edit: Please don't move these kinds of threads to Psychology because I don't read it and I doubt many other HSNL guys do.

Lefort · #10 03-06-2007, 02:02 AM

I don't understand some of the things said in this post unless people are referring to live poker. If you're 8tabling for 30-50k hands a month and spending 30 minutes a day on 2p2, you're spending 3 hours a day on poker, at most. With this there's plenty of time to do all of the other fun things in life. If anything, poker frees up time for me by not having to worry about a job. But hey, the more of you good players that drop the game, the higher the percentage of fish in the pond. So yeah, quit.. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]