And so it begins...

I just submitted my resignation at my job. I'm working through the month of April and then I'm out.

Now the real work begins.

I've been playing poker for about 4/5 years, and for the last 2.5 years I've been playing profitable poker.

I've heard all the negative feedback about quitting my job in this economy yadda yadda yadda and I full understand where that feedback is comnig from as it's quite reasonable and considerate by those giving it.

However, every person has his own life and his own set of circumstances and I have mine. Here are the following criteria that I have been considering for months now:

- I've been at my job for four years.
- I'm still basically in an entry level position.
- By leaving my job, I'm not leaving a great potision that I can't get back, whether it's here or at another company.
- I have a college degree and I now have seven years of work experience in a diverse group of companies that vary from sports writing to radio and television to car insurance to legal work.
- I am tired of the work that I do.
- I have a back-up plan if I fail at poker.
- I want freedom in every day life with my own scheduling and being able to travel when I want to.

Then yesterday a couple of events occurred at my job that really helped push me to over the edge. I was promised a 6% raise in February. This raise wasn't given to me until yesterday's pay day and they promised me the retro pay for the initial raise date. Turns out, they only gave me a 2% raise so the retro pay check was 66% smaller than I thought it would be. Ugh.

Then, at the end of the day I get the head's up that I'm "under the micropscope." Whatever that means, it pissed me off. I almost sent myself an email that said "If you're reading this and your name isn't Kevin, fuck you!" but I refrained from doing so.

My decision was already made but the question that remained was when was I going to leave? I came to the conclusion that if I'm going to go to Vegas for virtually all of June, then I need to have time to grind and build my bankroll back up (I don't have all of the money in my BR). At this point, as you may have noticed, my hours are decreasing at the poker table and to be honest it effects my play.

For instance, if I know that I'm going out of town this weekend and I have a basketball game tonight, that means if I want to get in a session, I have to go play after my basketball game. Not to mention I have to be at work at 8 a.m. so I have to get this session in and make some good money while I'm there. This causes me to have a different mindset when showing up to the casino. I wish it didn't, but it does. A perfect example of this is the QT hand a couple posts ago where my final conclusion was "Fuck it if he has me beat, I'll just go home and take the loss. If not, this will be a great double up." Terrible mindset to have.

So I want to take the month of May to grind on my own time and my own schedule with peace of mind. Poker world, here I come. For real.

FOUR YEARS.