I'm Ready To Quit

A reader praised my books, but said they “depressed him.” Since his email was quite long, I’ll edit it.

“I played over 500k hands of online poker. I crushed 2NL/5NL, but struggled at 10NL, and I am at best a break even player at that level. I am not really a big fan of online poker as the competition is a lot tougher. It’s less enjoyable compared to live.

“I enjoy playing live a lot more and do better there, but that only confirms that I can only beat the weakest of players. I don’t bluff much if any at all. My game is unimaginative and boring. When I bet, I usually have a good to strong hand, but since live is filled with calling stations, I usually get called…

“I quickly discovered that my edge was only as good my cards as I had no other why to win as each pot was multi-way with players who called too much.

“Reading your books made me very depressed because I knew I lacked certain essential traits, had the wrong motives, didn’t really know how to play at an advanced level, overestimated my abilities, underestimated other players and didn’t know how long the long run was, etc.

“I don’t have the time to put in the hard work or the volume due to life commitments, work, girlfriend, etc…. nor do I have the bankroll to play anything beyond 2NL. It’s really sad.

“Maybe you think that’s excuses for not wanting to improve how I play poker (I want to improve), but the reality is I am not good enough. I will never be making a living of poker…

“To think of the money, time, effort, energy etc. already spent to improve my laughable poker skills, I have dozens of books in my room I now wish to get rid of.

“So where does that leave me in regard to poker? Do I become another donator, another losing statistic in the player pool? Do I grind another 100k hands at 2NL only to move up to 10NL where I can’t beat anyone but the softest players? Do I play 200NL live where I will be playing outside my bankroll and taking the occasional shot there once a month?

“Let’s be honest. Even if I trained, got a coach, followed good bankroll management, read the best of books, I truly believe I couldn’t beat 50NL because I am not good enough.”

End of his email.

My first reaction was that nearly everyone occasionally feels this way.

My second reaction was that he is more honest than most players. Hardly anyone says, “I am not good enough.” In fact, I wrote an article you can read at this website, “I’m Quitting This #%&@ Game!” (1/3/03) It didn’t even mention the belief that “I’m not good enough.”

On the contrary, most players aren’t as good as they think they are. They deny that painful reality with bad beat stories and other excuses for their disappointing results. So his honesty is a huge, rare asset. Because he recognizes his limitations, he can make more intelligent decisions.

But that doesn’t solve his problem. It really bothers him to see that his dream will never be fulfilled: “I will never be making a living of poker.”

I can certainly understand his feelings. I’d love to make a living playing poker, but I’m not good enough either. Neither are tens of thousands of other wannabes.

My poker discussion group once spent a lot of time on this issue. Two members are famous pros. They said that an excellent $15-$30 player’s chances of making it as a full-time pro are between 1/200 and 1/50.

That was before people multitabled online and got rakeback. So it’s probably a bit easier now, but the undeniable fact is that most wannabes don’t make it as pros.

So, should he quit? I’m not sure. Let me quote from my article: “Poker is a game, and games should be played for pleasure. If it’s not fun, don’t play. Even if poker pays your bills, you should quit if you don’t enjoy it. Your life is too short and precious to waste on a ‘job’ that makes you miserable.”

Let’s look again at his email. He wrote, “I enjoy playing live a lot more and do better there.” So it sounds to me as though he should stop playing online and play at whatever level he can beat in live games.

I must add that for some people it’s not critically important to win. In DUCY? David Sklansky and I had a chapter titled, “Some Bad Bets Are OK.” It said that it’s OK to lose a little at poker or other games if:
• You can afford the money you lose, and
• The pleasure you get is more valuable to you than the money.

Since his results really bother him, that principle does not apply to him, but it may apply to you. I hope that you think about his email and my comments, and then answer a few questions in the COMMENTS box.
1. Do you think he should quit?
2. If he should keep playing, what would you recommend?
3. Do you ever get so depressed about poker that you think of quitting?
4. If so, when and why?
5. What do you do about it?