How to keep your passion for poker
Why is it some people can quit the game despite making millions, and others seemingly never lose their enthusiasm, even at low stakes?
Passion is a funny thing. Last week we covered two stories that in many ways could not be more diametrically opposed in poker, but we see them all the time and we’ve probably all been through less extreme versions ourselves.
Legendary high stakes crusher Jens Kyllönen announced his retirement from poker. He has both an EPT & WSOP title, $5,448,811 in online winnings and only recently won his first bracelet. Yet he has elected to leave the game to study finance instead. Time will tell if this is a real retirement, or a ‘Fedor retirement’.
In stark contrast we also have a member who successfully completed a self imposed challenge to play 500,000 hands at NL2 in February (the shortest month). He played about 280 hours and barely made $1,000 from the challenge and prop bet attached to it.
Most of us would struggle to play 280 hours/500,000 hands in 28 days for the promise of $1,000. Likewise, most of us would struggle to quit poker when we have made millions from the game.
The importance of other interests
I’m not sure what the difference is between the two men, and how we can recapture such enthusiasm for the game. I have recently noticed myself often giving this following piece of advice, which is that the players I notice have the most fun and enthusiasm for poker are the ones who have something else going on too. Either they have other interests, other ways of making money or at least motivations to play beyond the money itself.
One of my best friends in the game has several times won six-figures in single tournaments, yet never once thought about leaving his normal sales job. For him this means he has one foot grounded in the ‘real world’ and never has to worry about the pressures of a big downswing. He also really enjoys the game much more. I know countless other players who are probably good enough to turn pro, but instead balance a career and poker for this reason. They all seem really happy and love the game more than many pros I know.
You can see it within poker too. Many high profile players have used the game as a springboard to doing something else alongside it. Doug Polk is crushing YouTube, Daniel Negreanu plays Hearthstone, Phil Galfond is launching a poker site, Tony G became a politician, Liv Boeree does about 30 other fun things, and many players do big charity drives. Then you have the vast amount of players who use the game as an excuse to travel the world.
Make it about more than just poker
This applies even when you look at something as insane as the 500,000 hands in a month challenge. Yes that is all poker, but I wager that the real attraction to do such a thing was in the enormity of the challenge itself. That’s why we also end up with crazy cycling bets, MMA prop bets, weight loss bets, and so on, in poker.
Poker is an amazing game in and of itself, but the real charm of it is how it can be used as a proxy for other things. Whether that is travel, socialising, the freedom to do something you love, bankrolling a business or even just finding willing people to bet against the crazy challenge you want to do.
The problems come with poker and passion, I suggest, when poker is literally just about the money. Money as a goal is fine, but usually when you know what the money really means to you (security, quitting a bad job, supporting your family etc) are you able to use that goal to spark long lasting enthusiasm.
How do you stay enthusiastic about the game? Let us know in the comments:
