The Cost of the Grind: What Has Poker Cost You Globally?

Aside from the money, what has a serious pursuit of poker cost you the most in your life? Relationships, career progression, physical health, or time? 😵‍💫😵‍💫🫠

I invested a lot of time to learn more and play better. Only to realize that it might take me nowhere. The likelihood of being a professional poker player is very slim. Besides enjoying to play poker, cash games are not a certitude for financial freedom. They are not profitable all the time. Everybody has losing sessions, including me. That means I stil need a main job to pay the bills. And as for tournaments, they take up a lot of your time, just to build a stack and get to point where you need to win a flip AK -versus JJ or something similar. And again, you are lucky if you min cash.

my sanity

GrannySmit77 said:

I invested a lot of time to learn more and play better. Only to realize that it might take me nowhere. The likelihood of being a professional poker player is very slim. Besides enjoying to play poker, cash games are not a certitude for financial freedom. They are not profitable all the time. Everybody has losing sessions, including me. That means I stil need a main job to pay the bills. And as for tournaments, they take up a lot of your time, just to build a stack and get to point where you need to win a flip AK -versus JJ or something similar. And again, you are lucky if you min cash.

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Indeed, I understand what you mean. I believe that is the point of view that many people miss when they watch poker, and that is the amount of time you can dedicate to this activity without any substantial results. You can learn and hone your skills, but you still need to work since poker is not a serious source of income. Besides, poker tournaments are not something you can enter regularly due to the massive amounts of time investment needed for them. Hours and hours of gameplay, and your whole run can be determined by AK against JJ. 😅 At least, in case you still like the game, it is a good thing you did not waste your time on it!

Poker Orifice said:

my sanity

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😂 In my opinion the most expensive "investment" that poker could give you is the loss of your inner peace. Money could be earned and reaccumulated, but the price of having the poker bug inside you could be way more expensive. 😅

For me, the biggest cost of poker is probably time. Between playing tournaments and trying to improve, you can spend many hours on the game without realizing it. I think it's important to have a balance and make sure poker doesn't take time away from work, family, sleep, or other important things.

Perhaps over the years of playing poker, I’ve only lost a little money; there are no other losses. I only play in my free time.

I'm not taking poker seriously right now; for me, it's still just for fun, but I spend a lot of time playing it.

For me, poker has mostly cost me time and a few sleepless nights. But it has also taught me patience, discipline, and emotional control.

Poker has cost me time, sleep, and plenty of emotional ups and downs. Long sessions can be mentally exhausting, and dealing with bad beats or downswings tests your patience. But it has also taught me discipline, bankroll management, emotional control, and better decision-making under pressure. If played responsibly, the lessons gained can be just as valuable as the money won.