1EQQ8ZzGD

and family. You can sleep in. You can craft your schedule
around your hobbies and outside interests. You can travel and
take vacations whenever you want. These things are HUGe
in the grand scheme of life and happiness and are things that
most people in the workforce can only wonder about as some
lofty conjured pipe dream that is unattainable. At its best,
poker as a career didn't always feel like real life. It felt unfair,
like some cosmic loophole that nobody else was seeing.
I once made $109k in one day, when I was twenty-one years
old. Some people never make half that in a year. And what
did I do to deserve that? Just some study here and there in a
pedestrian game of cards. My previous job before poker was
at Baskin Robbins where I made $6.75+tips/hour. Suddenly, I
found myself jetting all over the world for tournaments, meeting
interesting people, staying at nice hotels, eating at nice
places, wearing nice clothes, and more importantly being able
to pursue my hobbies and interests on the side, such as blogging,
acting school, and various sports.
The only downside to poker is a lack of fulfillment when
it comes to feeling constructive and productive. Anybody who
can battle the competitive arena of poker and come out ahead
has to have some inherent creativity, creative energy, or just
mental wherewithal in general and there has to be something
or some way in this world for that to be channeled for something
bigger and greater than being good at a game. This last
reason/caveat is precisely the reason that my poker career is
now over and I am looking on to the next chapter of life. But,
when it lasted, and at its highs, poker taught me a ton of life
skills, things I will keep with me forever. It forced me to grow
up at a young age and be involved with stressful, marginal decisions
involving a lot of money against opponents who would
leave me for dead if it was their choice. I am more attuned to
social cues and ebbs and flows due to poker. I am more analytical
and methodical when making decisions due to poker.
Poker as a job was stressful but it prepared me to move forth,
and while it lasted, allowed me to fashion an extravagant and
unique start to my adult life and have an exorbitant, unbelievable
amount of fun.
http://www.quora.com/l/boq-michael-shinzaki
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