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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Sep 11, 2004

Quitting: It's A Good Thing

It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time. -- Winston Churchill

Before you quit your day job and began playing poker for a living, your life had some kind of order. You might not have created and nurtured the daily-grind discipline but because you had to be somewhere at a certain time to perform particular tasks in order to receive a paycheck, you toed the line and managed to pay your bills. Somewhere along the line you might have been able to put a little money away for emergencies, for vacations, for your kid's education or for your grandchild's braces. But basically, your, like most of the rest of that portion of mankind that live well below the Bill Gates-Steve Wynn standard of living, you did you job, appreciated that it provided what you needed and were grateful when it afforded you a luxury or two.

Then one day you decided to chuck that grind, sleep in everyday but Sunday (early football games on TV, you know) and make your living playing poker!

Maybe the scenario is too biting. Maybe you didn't give notice to your boss and head for the nearest poker room vowing never to look back. But you did take the money you socked away for a trip home to your high-school reunion and took it with you. Your goal was to enjoy a new hobby, craft if you will -- one that could help you supplement your income and probably be a lot more fun than counting beans for some fat cat who hardly knows you exist.

Or perhaps you'd been watching poker on TV and kind of liked the ambience, the challenge, and the possibilities. You knew a little bit about the game so you decided instead of bowling or watching the fights at the bar on Fridays, you'd take up poker.

No matter how you arrived at the table, did you ever think about quitting? I'm not talking about giving up poker; I'm talking about the time when you would smile inside, pick up you chips and walk out of the card room at the end of your working day.

In the years that I've prowled around the poker parlors of Las Vegas, I've seen four distinct types of player‹the serious regulars, the recreational regulars, the professionals, and the tourists. Each of these has myriad characteristics but the one facet that intrigues me the most is the one that has to do with folding paper‹money.

Retirees and people who like competition make up the group I call the recreational regulars. These men and women know enough about poker to be able to hold their own about a third of the time they play. Their major goal is to pass time, have some conversation, and get out of the house because those 57 channels have nothing on. They have much in common with the tourist who doesn't have as much time to play but who likes to tell his friends he was in Vegas last week and played poker on the Strip with some pretty sharp people. Many pros ply their trade mostly in high-stakes area where they trade money back and forth while waiting for the money to come to them or in profitable side games that are part of the tournament world.

While the professional does make his living at poker, earning money often isn't the main reason for playing. In fact, some never even think about the money. The goal is to defeat the opponent not pay the rent. So it's not surprising that, like the recreational players and the tourists, pros have a tough time thinking about profits.

The serious regular, however, counts his poker money, sometimes even going against the advice of Kenny Rogers by counting it at the table. This player knows that if he's tired or if he's doubled his money, or he lost the amount he set aside for a session, or if he has averaged one big bet an hour for four hours, that it's okay to quit. He knows there'll be a game tomorrow and if he continues to play well, he will be able to take a profit then. And if he does happen to lose tomorrow, he will make up for it the next day, or the next or the next.

If you want to be a serious poker player you really should incorporate the quitting mindset into your poker goals. Seriously look at the factors that brought you to the table, the ones that keep you there and the ones that tell you it's time to go. If you plan to profit from poker, finish the plan by learning when to push your chair back.

Learning to quit is as important as learning to read tells understanding position, and knowing when to bluff.

Quitting‹when ahead, behind, tired, angry, or whatever -- should be a goal.

It's quality when you can quit winners but it's righteous if you can quit when you planned to.