wake up call

[JDMcNugent7]

I feel like Everything in my life so far has happened at the perfect time. By that I mean that everything that has happened, I have later noticed made a positive influence on me or those around me. It is ridiculous really, but it always seems to work out that way. The only exception would be deaths of family members or friends, as I havent had any reason to beleive they had any positive effect.

Today's loss of $12,000 gave me a huge wake up call. Today was the first day in a long time that I played poker for way too long. I played for 6-7 hours today. I tend to do stupid things after winning large amounts of money as I become overconfident in my abilities and for some reason think I'm God's gift to poker for a day or so. I played forever because I was losing, not thinking straight, pissed, tilting, and really wanting to make the money back.

Because of that I saw none of my friends, skipped a class, and got mad at the GF for no reason other than how badly I was sucking in poker. This is very unlike me, as most here know, I deal very little with poker in my outside life.

Unfortunately, it took all this to make me realize how very little schoolwork i have done. I mean I have not been doing shit. I have been squeaking by so far, and I'm lucky I realized this now, as I still have time to fix it. A few times I've even thought about how dumb some of the college work is, and tried to convince myself I could play poker and the stock market the rest of my life without hassle. This also led me to this by ZJ at 2+2that made me realize how much i actually suck at poker. I honestly beleive I am hardly any good - All I have done is find a way to beat the average opponent, by logging 200,000 hands and developing a decent win rate. That does not make me a good player, just one that can beat the system based off odds and pyschology. That ZJ post is a whole new discussion in itself though.

I guess my wake up call is realizing im not very good at poker - and that I want to become Much better - and think that I will, that I need to get back on track in life and school, and that I need to start being more proactive and determined in what I do.

[Zybomb]

Yea..... I wish I sucked at Poker too

[Talking Poker]

You do.

Good realization, JD........ GL.

[jimmym]

Frst off Great post JD.

Alot of people should learn something from it and not just glance over it not taking in what your saying. losing 12k but being still 17.5k up on your target and yet you are still questioning yourself about your approach to poker through your lifestyle.
Through your success at poker (which you never mention once in your post) you have noticed how positive you and those around you feel, this is because you are convident and good at what you do but more so because you are happy and content and able in what you do.
People in many situations shine when around people like you, it brings out the best in them wether in a working enviroment school or just social places. Its abit like a great sportsman, teacher or buisnessman, when around or working with these people not all but many around them will start to show improvement in what there doing and continue this when away from them. Its all part of life skills, unfortunatley Its took me 40 years to appreciate what or even where these people like you were about, what I like about your post is that you are still questioning yourself and understand that to be a success you still need to listen to others and what they say. ZJ article is excellent but only to those who will understand it, you undoubtably are one of these, personally I think your post is better as it shows us just at what level you are aiming for.
I for one will not doubt that you will be a very successfull person in life, I have a feeling though that you will succeed to become a very well known name in years to come in poker.

[johnp158]

I haven't read the other responses and I'll keep it brief...

I obviously don't think you suck at poker. But I do think you're playing WAY too much poker. You started college less than a month ago. Go to class, do your work! That still leaves plenty of time for a social life and poker too. Just don't overdo it.

[omahilo]

Its okay if you played 6-7 hours for ONE DAY and didnt see no friends, etc but if you started doing this everyday, your life would quickly become sad and very pointless. Getting mad at your GF is out of line which Im sure you know just because your losing at poker.

Im glad you realize that school work comes first, once you get a degree then you can try playing poker for a living and if it doesnt work, do something with the degree.

Its okay to put in a long session (4,5,6 hrs) still but just make sure you make plans for later on in the day to hang out with your friends so you dont become unsocial. Like if you played for 9 AM till 3 PM I dont see no problem with that, espcially when your running good then you hang out with your friends later on in the evening.

As long as poker doesnt become your life you will be alright. I know poker wont become your life because you seem to have a good head on your shoulders.

[Kurn]

I honestly beleive I am hardly any good - All I have done is find a way to beat the average opponent, by logging 200,000 hands and developing a decent win rate. That does not make me a good player, just one that can beat the system based off odds and pyschology.

But, JD, that is *precisely* what being good at poker is. Don't get trapped into the TV-star mentality that the media frenzy about poker has created.