Quote from Rearden Metal:
Cutten, your question does make alot of sense to me.
During the tulipmania of 98-00, I had 7-figure years- the kind of money that seems a bit out of reach for a skilled poker player.
However, today's (comparatively) boring market is just too annoying for me to want to even deal with it. I'm spoiled.
Imagine if you're banging this incredible, juicy 20-year old hottie, ok...now 20 years pass. She doesn't look too bad at 40- but it's just not the same. Sex with a formerly hot middle aged woman just can't hold your interest, like she did when she was 20 and incredibly attractive, and you could just squeeze her ass and money would come out.
Instead of banging a washed up market past her prime, I'd rather just play poker. Does this make sense?
Classic quote Rearden. I totally know what you mean - once you have experienced a boom, in *any* field (whether stocks, real estate, sales, commodities etc), normal markets are just not the same.
The only thing I would say is this - surely it's better to go round adventuring, looking for the *next* boom, rather than giving up and sitting on your ass playing poker all day? Imagine, you travel round the world, and suddenly find that Argentina and Brazil, after crapping out in 2000-2002, are now on the recovery path. Get stuck in, and by 2008 they will be booming again - almost any business or investment you start there right now could be making 5-10 times your money or more. And you get to bang hot 20 year old babes to your heart's content - and believe me they are better looking than over here!
You know, as it happens I was also a keen poker player. I ended up meeting an American girl in the mid 90s, and moved over there to LA for a while. Made a "living" (i.e. about $500-1500 a month) playing poker in the LA casinos (*wild* games, so much action), and for a 19-20 year old kid it was fun and felt glamorous. The thing is, even then it was a grind. Now for pot limit and no limit, I would make an exception. One of the best nights of my life was an insane $1-2 pot limit game in Vegas, every single player a tourist or $3-6 limit dealer trying to make it big. There were guys at that table from all 4 corners of the globe, pots of $1000-2000 when almost none of us made that in a month, guys going all-in without even checking their cards. But that is not poker reality. That's not the cheap cigarettes, the washed-up cocktail waitresses, the ageing props, the bums, the losers, the hard-bitten sharks, the wannabes.
Seriously, there has to be more to life for you than this. Play poker for fun, by all means. But if you want a challenge, you want to make big bucks too? Get your arse into gear, go to some new place you've never been, get out of your rut and f*cking do something! Example - Eastern Europe is coming out of 50 years of communism, and from now to 2007 and 2010 they are coming into the EU. Guess what that is going to do to wages and real estate values? Not too hard to imagine, to be honest. Why not rent a bachelor pad in Prague, take a tour round the former communist bloc and speak to the real estate guys there? Pick the people you trust, find some good deals, and invest. Oh and did I mention how hot 20-something Slavic women are?
Have you seen "Scarface"? You think you get that sh*t sitting on your ass clicking on a mouse, hoping your AA doesn't get busted by some chump calling station online at 3am? As it says in the film - "The world is yours". You just have to stop p*ssing around, and take it. F*ck online poker, hello big bucks. Come on Rearden, get off your lazy former daytrading yank ass and start living that capitalist ideal!
On the other hand, it is true that once you try to make a living playing poker, you run into much tougher competition and the guaranteed money isn't there anymore.