My Semi-Retirement from Poker (again)
The biggest news in the world of poker this week is undoubtedly the Safe Port Act, HR 4954, which may potentially be the end of online poker in the United States. Several poker sites have already banned US players and a couple of others (most notably Party Poker) have stated that they will ban US players once the bill is signed into law. Although my personal opinion is that the law will have little effect (check out CardPlayer's website for more details), the world of onlineis certainly in a state of panic right now.
Even so, this ground-shaking news in the poker world could not have come at a better time for me, personally. My poker play has been awful... I am running bad and I am playing poorly. I am losing money out of every orifice in my body. I am angry, annoyed, and irritable.
The Safe Port Act, however, has forced me to question why I am playing poker in the first place. Do I want to keep playing online poker, potentially circumventing the various safeguards specifically designed to prevent me from playing? Is it worth it to me to break laws to play poker?
As is often the case for me, the best answer to a difficult question involves avoiding the question directly. Instead, I answered a much easier question: Why do I play poker? I play because I like winning and I like playing. I hate losing; I despise it, in any form. Lately, I have been playing poker to win money (i.e., focusing on earning the MONEY), which is not why I play. I honestly would be happy playing for play money if people took play money poker seriously.
So, I cashed out virtually all of my bankroll and I am going to start over. Right now, I have less than $50 in three different poker sites and $600 in my Neteller account. I have cashed out everything else and it'll never appear in the world of online poker.
What is my plan for the future? I plan on going back to playing $25 NL or something like that. I might start playing some of the non-hold'em games. I really need to relearn that poker can be fun to play. When I do that, I am sure that I'll start winning again. In fact, I'll probably start playing really well, and eventually I'll repeat my cycle of playing for higher and higher stakes until I hate playing again.
After having these thoughts and cashing out most of my bankroll, I noticed something really cool. I have won a lot of money playing poker since February, and this time I am not going to give my poker winnings to my wife. No offense to her, and I really like our new kitchen floor and everything, but I genuinely believe that my poker earnings should go to something fun (in her defense, my wife truly loves her new floor). Instead, I am going to buy a fishing boat with my money. I had planned on buying a boat once I had won $10,000. Unfortunately, I never quite got there, but I am sure that I can buy a nice boat with what I have.
So, with apologies to CTBob from the Poker Forum and especially to R.E.M., it's the end of the world as we know it... and I feel fine.
Even so, this ground-shaking news in the poker world could not have come at a better time for me, personally. My poker play has been awful... I am running bad and I am playing poorly. I am losing money out of every orifice in my body. I am angry, annoyed, and irritable.
The Safe Port Act, however, has forced me to question why I am playing poker in the first place. Do I want to keep playing online poker, potentially circumventing the various safeguards specifically designed to prevent me from playing? Is it worth it to me to break laws to play poker?
As is often the case for me, the best answer to a difficult question involves avoiding the question directly. Instead, I answered a much easier question: Why do I play poker? I play because I like winning and I like playing. I hate losing; I despise it, in any form. Lately, I have been playing poker to win money (i.e., focusing on earning the MONEY), which is not why I play. I honestly would be happy playing for play money if people took play money poker seriously.
So, I cashed out virtually all of my bankroll and I am going to start over. Right now, I have less than $50 in three different poker sites and $600 in my Neteller account. I have cashed out everything else and it'll never appear in the world of online poker.
What is my plan for the future? I plan on going back to playing $25 NL or something like that. I might start playing some of the non-hold'em games. I really need to relearn that poker can be fun to play. When I do that, I am sure that I'll start winning again. In fact, I'll probably start playing really well, and eventually I'll repeat my cycle of playing for higher and higher stakes until I hate playing again.
After having these thoughts and cashing out most of my bankroll, I noticed something really cool. I have won a lot of money playing poker since February, and this time I am not going to give my poker winnings to my wife. No offense to her, and I really like our new kitchen floor and everything, but I genuinely believe that my poker earnings should go to something fun (in her defense, my wife truly loves her new floor). Instead, I am going to buy a fishing boat with my money. I had planned on buying a boat once I had won $10,000. Unfortunately, I never quite got there, but I am sure that I can buy a nice boat with what I have.
So, with apologies to CTBob from the Poker Forum and especially to R.E.M., it's the end of the world as we know it... and I feel fine.
posted by frazwood at 11:32 AM
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