I'm reading through all your old posts, taking my time, its interesting to see how you dealt with everything back then (years ago now). I had a much higher win rate playing Sng than I ever did playing cash, cash I was always either even or winning only slightly, and nothing has changed much on the cash side anyways, but as far as sng goes, sites seem to have moved away from those formats in favour of "spin" type games and I am not interested in a format where it doesn't feel like I am playing poker and its more like I am at a slot machine hoping to get lucky.
It's always been fun reading your blog, pop in once in a while and let us know how good/bad you running in the work place.
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Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Originally posted by Tim64
I might post some graphs of the overall cashgame experience of the last two years to help give some perspective. That's all for now. The last thing to say at this stage is that I definitely haven't played my last hand of poker. I'm hoping be able to 'keep my hand in' and have some modest goals. But we'll see. There is a fantasy I have of combining a new job with a profitable hobby, and then there's the reality of just how tired I'm likely to feel at the end of each day. I may or may not have much appetite to endure these $1.5k swings, the like of which you can see in the graph above...Good to finish on a high note.
Let us know what job you end up with.All the best,
VS
+1 keep us updated mate.
Had in interview Wednesday with an accounting firm to do an ACA apprenticeship. Got through to next stage (2nd interview + advanced logic/verbal/math reasoning) but messed up the online assessment earlier today, so game over. No pot odds questions, wtf!?
Will rethink over half term but self study accounting looking like the most likely option.
Cheers! 
Originally posted by Tim64
Had in interview Wednesday with an accounting firm to do an ACA apprenticeship. Got through to next stage (2nd interview + advanced logic/verbal/math reasoning) but messed up the online assessment earlier today, so game over. No pot odds questions, wtf!?Will rethink over half term but self study accounting looking like the most likely option.
Cheers!
Imagine the stress of working in a place that requires pot odds
May Monthly Update:
Played just ~8 hours last month as most of it was spent making plans and getting stressed about my life direction 
At least the poker I played was fruitful:
Total profit: $255.03
I'm ordering the study materials for my Level 2 Accounting Course today and have the rough aim of completing it by the end of the year, playing some poker while not studying to keep at least some money coming in. Getting the split between playing and studying will be the real challenge. When was it ever not?
Thanks,
Tim64
I can certainly relate to this given my experience of trying to play all those Zoom hand after work when I was taking it seriously. My brain was tired when I started playing and oozing out of my ears by the end of the session.
Hey Tim,
Great blog, very nice long reads with an overview of your thought process, points of view on poker and real jobs.
Originally posted by Tim64
Getting the split between playing and studying will be the real challenge. When was it ever not?
I'm currently doing a full-time job and 15-20 hours playing poker weekly (blogging and game study not included). It is a challenge, but definitely doable. GL on your courses and tables!
Originally posted by jiffybag
I had a much higher win rate playing Sng than I ever did playing cash, cash I was always either even or winning only slightly, and nothing has changed much on the cash side anyways, but as far as sng goes, sites seem to have moved away from those formats in favour of "spin" type games and I am not interested in a format where it doesn't feel like I am playing poker and its more like I am at a slot machine hoping to get lucky.
Your point is very good here. I genuinely believe then SNG format would yield a bigger hourly rate over cash and Spins are no different. It does have a lot of "slot machines" in it and this attracts a lot or recreational players. On top of this with blinds pressure that are constantly going up and players needs to adjust their strategy accordingly - it is very hard to master. Even the preflop strategy, which is in 100BB cash quite straightforward in Spins is a nightmare to learn all the charts that differ from position, stack depth, and other players' stack depth. But, once the sufficient level is reached it becomes quite a profitable format to hang out.
I'm playing Spins for 6 months now, reached the top limit in the room that I'm playing, and can't complain about the hourly rate. This month it is $110/hour for 80 hours sample. On top of the high hourly, you can hit that million somewhere along the way that can boost your hourly to the moon, which was high already.
Don't want to brag or anything, but don't discard this format, just because "it doesn't feel like poker". It is very well introduced and received by players "casual" poker, that is similar to "zoom" - fast, playable from your mobile on your way to work, and highly profitable.
First month of studying for Level 2 Accountancy Cert is over and it went pretty well. I've reached the end of the 'knowledge' part of the first module. Next month will be practice, mocks and then hopfully the Bookkeeping exam (or maybe August if assessment availability near me is poor). Four modules in all, so still likely to be end of year-ish for whole certificate (assuming no failed modules needing to be resat!). Somehow played around 50 hours of poker in June too... made some rakeback $ despite a terrible looking graph ♦
Total profit: $543.98
Tim64
July saw my first AAT exam - on bookeeping - which I passed comfortably, despite being quite nervous. I don't think I've done an exam since the legal practice course in ~1999. That was the previous century, ffs. 
Played a little less poker than in June, but with slightly better results, for a
Total monthly profit of: $771.73
Already well into the revision phase for the next module - which has less content - so might even be able to squeeze in an exam later this month.
Thanks,
Tim64
August was a quiet month, given school holidays. At some point I expect our daughter will want to spend less time with us but it hasn't happened yet, so we continue to slow down over the summer months, no matter how terrible the weather in UK is (despite heatwaves and wildfires everywhere else).
Only played 20 hours of poker but managed to scrape together about $540 in profit, for a decent hourly.
Last week we had a lovely staycation. The weather again wasn't great but we managed a forest walk, some meals out and even a rooftop drink!
My beautiful hometown:
Bumper month for September as I hit a bad beat jackpot of over $1,000! This brought total proifts of $2,285 - not bad for only 23 hours at the tables. Can't really show this on the graph without skewing the rakeback out of all proportion...
We just got back from beautiful Split, Croatia where we had some lovely autumn sunshine. Swam in the sea every day and wandered the streets of the old Roman city. Got a nice tan which is offsetting my greying beard.
Živeli!
October was a bad poker month with everything going wrong, but volume was low, too, so can't really complain. Lost about $400, after rakeback. On the plus side, I've now passed three of four Accounting modules, with distinction, so I've only got one more exam left to take!
Hopefully take my last paper at the back end of November and then (assuming I pass) it will be back to job hunting.
November a very meh month like October. Managed to scrape together a few bucks (~$300) from rakeback, but nothing approaching a decent profit. I took my final Level 2 accounting exam a couple of weeks ago and am now eagerly awaiting the results... Each email ping comes with a jolt of nervous energy!
Will update with results when I have them. Fingers crossed for no retakes!
Thanks,
Tim64
Bye bye 2023!
Played on my main site in the early part of December and made about $600:
Then messed around playing PLO on Party with the usual ups and downs, managing in the end to make about $250, which I'm putting towards a couple of pairs of new shoes as my existing ones are falling apart!
Just before Xmas received my results from my final Accounting exam for the level 2 certificate which was a pass with distinction, so pretty chuffed about that. Downside is that now I have to find a job
I more or less decided that December 2023 would be the last month where I make a concerted effort to make a side income from Poker, intending to get a full time job as soon as possible. In the future, to the extent I feel like playing poker, the aim would be to split any profit between 'frivolous' expenditure and charity, but will see; the future has a way of suprising us...
So after 6 months of job hunting (who knew "Professional Poker Player" isn't what everyone is looking to read on a CV???) I finally got a temp role as an accounts assistant at a travel company. There was a permanent position going and - despite significant interview stress which I won't be in any hurry to experience again - I managed to get the job. Just finished my first week there in full time employment and, while the pay is not much about minimum wage, it's a good company with decent benefits and walkable from home. Got no reason to complain and it's good to have 'colleagues' again after 15 years or so.
Will I play poker again, and how much? These are unknowns for now.
But the change has happened for better or worse and it's the beginning of a new chapter. Poker Pro no more. 
Hey, congratz on the job!
I have been in a similar situation a few years ago. It really is a conundrum, you can't get a job because you have no job experience, and you can't get any job experience because you have no job. When I did find an entry level job two years ago, however, I noticed that getting invited to interviews was a lot easier all of a sudden.
I wish you best of luck in your new field, and don't worry about poker - you will find a way to fit it into your new situation.
Originally posted by Harrier88
I wish you best of luck in your new field, and don't worry about poker - you will find a way to fit it into your new situation.
By coincidence I played some 0.1/0.25 earlier today. First poker I have played for a couple of months. Made $3. 😆
Originally posted by Tim64
By coincidence I played some 0.1/0.25 earlier today. First poker I have played for a couple of months. Made $3. 😆
Well, you might be doing better than me this year so far.
But it is always a good feeling when you manage to get a deep MTT finish in the evening after work, knowing that you made more money there than at your workplace that day.
August Update:
So I'm 1 month into my new job as a bean counter (aka accounts assistant) for the luxury travel company based in my hometown.
It's weird getting used to a world where you somehow have to deal with 100 plus new emails every day. I am the inbox gimp, so that task falls to me. There have been moments where I thought I might be like Brooks from Shawshank Redemption, who “can't make it on the outside”. But somehow I have managed to survive and my first one to one on Friday went pretty well, with no complaints. The last time I worked for someone else, there were no 1-to-1s! 
There are certainly plenty of repetitive elements to my job. A lot of button clicking, and shunting paper around electronically. Of course those in the know would have told me to expect this from virtually any modern office job. However, the more forensic element of my job, where you have to occasionally use your brain to figure out what's gone wrong with an account and how to fix it, is pretty satisfying and I hope that will be an increasing part of the position as I get more experience.
So what of poker? I was pretty open-minded about how much I would be able to play and I certainly have no idea whether August is going to be typical, but despite things being incredibly busy at work (it will come as no surprise that August is one of our busiest months), I still managed to play about 10 hours poker to supplement my modest but at least reliable earnings. Here’s the graph:
On the subject of earnings, in fact I'm now making a little bit more than my monthly average over my entire poker career - of course a lot less than in the glory days, but more than the last few objectively depressing years.
Certainly, I now have to put in solid 7.5 hour days to earn my salary (which I could never do as a professional poker player because it was simply too full on in terms of emotional highs and lows and the consequent physical toll that took on my body, in terms of tension-related aches and pains), but it feels more sustainable - at least at the moment.
Other advantages include having actual colleagues to talk to, and I get to wander around my beautiful town at lunch hour and feel like part of society again. I can walk to work - or take an electric scooter - and for the first time in 15 years… I get paid holiday!
So let's see where things go. I hope I'll still post here from time to time and keep my hand in our beautiful game. I'll leave you with a cool documentary I watched recently, which really brought back those emotional highs and lows I mentioned above: