5 Things I learned when I quit poker Part 2

In part 1 of this series I discussed the first two things I learned when I left the game of poker, and in this installment I’ll cover the final three pieces of wisdom I discovered after leaving the game.

#3 — The rest of the world is nothing like the poker world

The poker world is an odd place to reside, which is why even the best among the poker community would be considered self-absorbed, obsessive, opinionated, and far worse by most of “mainstream” people you encounter in your day-to-day life. When I was playing poker I never stopped to consider how strange my life must have looked to these people, or how my straightforward, logical, EV-driven, thought processes made me look –if you’re wondering the answer is somewhere in the neighborhood of narcissistic.

Even now I realize how different my thought patterns are from virtually everyone in my life (which I consider a good thing) and have realized that I have to tamp down some of my thoughts and opinions even when they are dead on balls accurate, simply because unlike in the poker world, feelings rule most people’s lives; brunt, honest advice like, “you played that hand like shit” don’t fly in the real world.

#4 — If you’re Jonesing to play poker, play poker… just tone it down a bit

While I managed to avoid the game for nearly two years, this was probably a bad line to take looking back on it. Not only did I miss out on financial gain (I still could have played here and there) but I also let the game completely pass me by when I did start playing again in 2008, and it took me months to even start to get back up to speed.

As long as you realize you’re no longer capable of playing where you once did, and that your game will be somewhat rusty, I find my life now, which includes random online and live poker sessions far better than when I just wrote the game off as bad for my mental health.

#5 – Don’t think you can pick-up right where you left off

Keeping with the theme, when you take an extended break make sure you realize how fast this game changes. From late 2006 when I quit up until my return in 2008 my skills were so outdated it was as if I was playing 5-Card Draw and my opponents were playing PLO8.

So when you do return, make sure you are up to speed before you try to pick-up where you left off; it’s truly astonishing how fast the poker world changes (especially online).