I have been meaning to make a post since last year that I have quit playing online poker, despite being consistently profitable every month. I have raked in over $2000 in a single month playing online poker at my peak, usually I averaged $400~$500 ish but I have since quit playing after making my move to Japan. There are people that can't walk away from a game after losing, but you'd think I would be crazy for walking away from a winning game, especially where I can make $20~$30/hr playing-- and there is a reason for that.
Since moving to Japan, I have dabbled with online poker from time to time, but I ultimately decided to drop it. I reasoned that I would be losing so much out of my Japan experience if I spent most of my free time inside my room just making cash online. Then it dawned on me, that there is more to life than just making money. Considering the adventures I've done and the people I've met, a few extra thousand dollars could not even come close to replacing these experiences. I spend most of my time outside now with people or traveling around. Money alone, does not bring a quality of life, though often is it only a tool to allow you to do things. Like many tools, it does not have to be necessary to realize your end product-- and I think that there are many that don't realize that.
But still, I do play poker from time to time just socially. The last time I played was in September where I had the opportunity to play with Matt in Calgary and walked out with a whopping $600 in profits, it was certainly a great poker game. Since my return to Canada on Tuesday, I have only ventured out to the casino just once to try my hand at the poker tables and after a 5 hour stint at Riverrock, I can say that I still have it because I played my cards and the people right.
I played at the $1/$2 no limit tables and made some great plays, (despite losing a few hands at first) where I put a player on nothing with my AK after a hefty preflop bet. The flop and turn was junk and I was betting the crap out of him and yet he still called to catch something on the river. Out of my $200 buy in, I managed to lose $120 and brought myself down to $80 in about 2.5 hours. Fortunately, I had a great QQ pocket pair and people were betting it up preflop (2 people at $30 and a few others at about $15 each and some extra cash in the pot) where I just took the remainder of my cash for an all in and took the pot down to bring myself to about $235.
I was thinking of quitting after a few more revolutions because I was back up and wanted to quite while I was ahead (and keep my record of never losing cash at a casino) . But then I was on the button and then I got Q9 suited hearts on big blind with barely over $200 at this point.The flop came out with a J74 with 2 hearts and I was on the flush draw. There were a few players left at the time and there was a $20 bet which me and a one other player called. The turn was an Ace of diamonds where my opponent decided to bet $40. I put my opponent on the J trying to force the other players and me out. I reraised to $80 to put pressure on the better and represent that I had something, like a J or just hit the A. The river came with a 5 clubs.
My opponent checks the bet to me and after considering that I had a tight image the whole game, I decided to take my remaining $140 and put myself all in on a bluff. My opponent had more than enough to cover my bet. Should he have called, I would have lost everything. He hummed and hawed at me and even called out that I was playing like I was on a flush draw but missed (which was exactly right), but everytime I got called that game, I had something pretty good, even when I lost. I shot back at him that I was reading him playing on the Jack pair, but he had to fear me playing on the Ace... and my gut knew that I was right about what he had. The problem was if this guy would back down and let me take the pot; my heart was racing.
Given my poker image and that he would have to risk $140 to make the call, he backed off letting me take an additional $100 in profits after that hand. I played one more hand which I immediately folded preflop, which was unfortunate because I would have hit a straight on the flop but hey, I was just happy to end the game in the black with an additional $100 in my pocket. I cashed out after 5 hours of play, putting my hourly rate at $20/hr and headed home.
Even after my poker exodus, it looks like I still have my skills.
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