You know ironically, I have a hard time letting people know that I play Poker for a living. It bothers me to introduce and brag about it to others because I understand the allure of quick and easy money. Yet, the truth is… making money with Poker is often not quick nor easy.

And I feel that I am ultimately responsible for the losses of those that started playing and losing because I may have given them that brush of inspiration to get started down the treacherous path of a gambler.  Unfortunately, more often than not I know they will lose.

Poker is no longer an obsession of mine. Admittedly, there was a time when it dominated my everyday conscious awareness…  but those were my days of severe degeneracy. Now Poker means so much more to me than a surreptitious addiction disguised as a necessity in order to enable me to pay bills on time (paradoxically bills were always late).

Poker represents self-empowerment and self-emancipation; the ability to smack societal norms across the face with a big, “f*ck you, I’m all in.” But in order to be able to achieve this level of competency in Poker where playing Poker for income becomes the logical choice, untold miseries must first be endured. I am not going to lie, in retrospect it has all been worth it. Nevertheless, 86% of the people that attempt this quest will quit prematurely, for the heartbreak can be overwhelming.

The following quote comes to mind. It is something that has helped me through the numerous bad-beats, financial swings, and the emotional rollercoaster that inevitably will be experienced:

“The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them, but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.” - Aristotle

I have been through it all and I am still standing. This is precisely why I have been able to make as much money as I have (lifelong cash game winnings are close to $1M). Those that make it through the initial battles will continue to have to endure countless more. However, those that make it to this point will also have gained a deadly arsenal of experience which manifests into a level of Poker dexterity unreachable any other route. This is where the final payoff really begins.

Indeed the path to Poker dominance requires that you be a person of high and heroic temper. Before you decide to play Poker full time, contemplate long and hard if you really have what it takes. If you do… I welcome you to realm of limitless possibilities; a life in which you control your destiny.