The Poker Life - A Double Edged Sword Part II

Building on my thoughts and my history with poker, I have been pressed to consider what path my competitive poker playing should take in the future. In the past the consistent losing in my gambling made the logical choice easy: don't play any more -EV games, including at one time, poker. Now that I have worked very hard at my game, both with cash and tournament play, and have become a consistent winner in the games I play in, where should I go with this endeavor? There are no more economic reasons directing me not to play. However, what about family pressures? Or career pressures? Or time pressures?

Family

What does your family think about your poker playing? Well with mine, it is not entirely positive. In fact, I have a family that does not understand where I am coming from with regards to poker. My wife, as stated before, is devoted to me IN SPITE of poker. She accepts my playing. She very rarely encourages my playing (understandably so), and does not impede my playing time. I have many times lost balance with poker and have devoted too much time to the game. While that time devoted to the game has caused poker to become a +EV game for me, which in turn has created the opportunity for future significant financial gain given the current boom in the poker world, it has caused me to neglect my family (significantly neglect them sometimes). This is something that every serious poker player faces and must address at some point. My wife and I struggle with how to balance the time I devote to playing, studying and thinking about the game. It is hard, especially so when a career is added to the equation.

I love my family and do not wish the pain that the game of poker causes family members. I have devoted my strengths to find a balance to provide my family its husband and father while continuing to develop my game. I have promised my wife that I will not end my career to pursue this game before my daughter gets to college, regardless of any financial windfalls during the next few years that may occur. In all honesty, and if for no other reason, I do not want to force my daughter to tell people that her father plays poker for a living.

Career

As I have shared before, I am an attorney. I have established a very successful career in a very short period of time since graduating law school. I am an attorney for a very successful company that presents me unprecedented opportunities for advancement. It is something that would be very hard to walk away from ever, even (or especially) for our silly game if presented the opportunity. It is not a hard decision if required to be made from me, I would chose my career over poker everytime.

In fact, to some extent it is a choice I am required to make, at least with regard to the extent that I play poker in Nashville. In February of this year, several of my friends were arrested for playing in a poker game in Nashville. The arrest was plastered all over the evening news, with pictures of the players and the guy running the game. Their names were published in the paper. This is a situation that if I were caught up in, I would most likely not have the career described above in its current state. I have restricted my play locally GREATLY. I only play one night a week locally and it is in a very secure location in a private home, a place very unlikely to attract the interest of the authorities.

Time

Poker, and the time required to play it successfully, is not a friend to people with other lives. We all live in awe with regard to the professional poker player that travels all over the world, lives in nice houses, sleeps late and generally appears to have life by the cajones. One just need read Daniel N. or Josh A.'s blog to get those feelings of jealousy.

But what about players like me. I play every Tuesday night locally. I play from 6:00 PM until 1:00 AM. I will drive home get settled and be in bed by 2:00 AM. Come Wednesday morning, I get up and I am out of the house by 7:30 AM. This is the life of the semi-professional poker player with another career. On all other nights, I have limited my poker on line to one tournament per night that starts no earlier than 9:00 PM (family balance). If I play well, these tournaments last well past midnight. More lost sleep.

And travel to tournaments take away from your family and you vacation time. I have three weeks of vacation each year at work. This year is a good example:

WPO - Two Vacation Days
Las Vegas - Two Vacation Days for Super Bowl
WSOP - Two Vacation Days

15 days - 6 days for poker = only 9 days left for family vacations. AND next year, my wife and I have agreed to limit the use of vacation days for poker to the WSOP (I am going for 10 days, which will cause me to use 5 vacation days). This take a very understanding wife.

This analysis does not even include the countless times each day I am thinking about the game and how to play in certain situations. This is distracting from both my wife and work at times.

This game is wonderful and a great hobby if handled as such. I am as guilty as anyone by allowing it to grow into something larger and more encompassing than that. It is something that I must keep focused on to keep it from overtaking my life anymore than it already has.

I am playing in a 15-30 limit game tonight. I will update you on the results in the next entry. Until then....

Good Luck and See You at the Felt.

PS - The gentleman arrested described above got a very light slap on the wrist and all records of the arrest will ultimately be expunged from their respective records. In fact, the judge laughed at the prosecuting attorney when the players were brought before the court. Poker really is getting big.