Should you retire after a big score?
Is Fedor Holz wise or insane for quitting poker after he won almost $10 million over the summer?
Last week Fedor Holz stunned the world by winning One Drop after already putting together a string of big High Roller wins. He stunned us once again by announcing he was retiring from the game.
At just 22-years-old he has already made $18,495,174 in live cashes, millions more in online cashes and also won almost $10 million in two months. He is his own boss and travels the world playing a game for a living.
Why on earth would he quit?
Being your own boss is hard
For most poker players, becoming a professional player is the end goal. It is unfathomable that anyone would ever want to quit the lifestyle of making your own hours, traveling and playing a game.
However, there are a lot of challenges to being a poker pro that are not always apparent. You have to be self-motivated to be your own boss. You are in charge of your hours , your training and travel expenses. It is more like being a small business owner than most realise. Mentally it is very hard, especially when you go through long periods of losing.
While it is less of a problem for live players who travel the world with friends, poker can also be a lonely pursuit. We are pack animals and we like to feel part of something, so there is certainly something missing when you no longer are part of a team and working from home instead.
Existential crisis
Having been around poker for more than a decade, I can tell you that every single professional goes through an existential crisis at least once. Poker as a professional is for the most part a selfish pursuit. Not only do you not produce any good or services for other people, you actually take resources away from someone else when things are going well. Every pro has a period where they ask themselves why they are doing what they do.
Even if you are crushing, poker is also a risky profession. The game gets tougher and you do not know when your Government may ban it, or the place you play is going to changes their games to ones you don’t win in. While I personally believe that poker gives you a number of desirable life and work skills, not all employers agree and for some it is a massive gap on your CV.
Lots of poker pros go through a period where they quit the game, usually when they are losing, only to return later. However, we have had players who seemingly have left the game on top and haven’t seen much of them since – former World Champions Peter Eastgate and Pius Heinz spring to mind.
A deep understanding of variance?
I’ll always be skeptical of any player who claims they are quitting, but I believe it more with the German high rollers. In my experience from interviewing them, all of them (Fedor included) have very mature heads on their shoulders and have interests outside of the game. They seem to approach poker very professionally compared to many young players from other countries.
What we may also be witnessing here with Fedor is that rarest of things, a player who has probably recognised he has been on the right side of variance. No matter how talented he clearly is no doubt he has just had the run of his life. If he is able to play well and determine when he has also ran well, my hat really goes off to him. That is one strong mental game.
This is why, whatever he chooses to do, things will likely go well for a player like Fedor. It’s quite common for lottery winners to go broke because they didn’t ‘earn’ their money and thus don’t respect it. Most celebrities end up losing their grip on reality because even though they earned it, their rewards are disproportionate. It seems, however, that Fedor, by getting out now, clearly has a handle on reality. We won’t see him become the next Dan Bilzerian.
Whatever he does I wish him well and my god am I jealous. No doubt if and when he does decide to return to poker it will be a very welcome comeback.
