I think Black Friday is a day we will all remember. I feel for you guys. I really do. But for me, I almost feel like it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I've been looking for an excuse to quit poker for a living and now, I finally have one.

In Ashman's recent blog, he said how he had been looking for an escape. Although we are in wildly different financial situations, I pretty much have been feeling the same way. For the last 6 months or so, I have become disinterested with poker. I've stopped blogging and I only played to continue living the lifestyle I've grown accustomed to.

In my blog post "Life as a MSNL Pro: Warning Long and Emo", I chronicled my rise from the time I started Leggo up until about midway though 2010. What I didn't tell you guys was the years before that. You see I have been in the game a while. Too long really.

I got into poker originally because I was bored in college. Going into school, I had no guidance and picked a major based on what someone else wanted me to do. That never works and I hated it. All I wanted to do in my time in Ann Arbor was get fucked up and bang bitches. I used drugs, alcohol, and eventually poker to try and escape the pain and suffering that had been my childhood. I wasn't even thinking about a career. All I wanted to do was make up for the fun I missed out on when I was a kid.

Initially, I experienced some success in poker. The games were easy and I thought I had it made. I made my worse decision to date in 2007 and dropped out of school. I was a poker baller and I had more wads of 100 dollar bills than I knew what to do with. I was playing live 2/5 and 5/10 at the casino. What did I need with a degree?

I really had no clue at the road ahead. The first two years after I dropped out of school were turbulent as hell. I struggled with depression, substance abuse, bankroll management, and eventually a failed staking arrangement in a foreign country that left me homeless.

I've told this story to close friends but my fondest memories of those years were from live poker. I didn't have a car at the time and had chose to remain in Ann Arbor to live with friends who were still in school. I remember taking a taxi literally every day to and from the casinos in Detroit. I was underage at the time. On several occasions, I remember my fake ID being denied at one entrance of the casino and me just not caring at all and going into another entrance. I remember taking trips to Windsor in Canada, where I met Michael Phelps, who I eventually became friends with.

During those years, I remained in Ann Arbor and moved from house to house just partying and doing a lot of drugs. This pattern continued for a long fucking time. I was busto more times than I can remember and only made enough money to cover my rent. How I managed to even do that with the way I was living was really a miracle and something I still cannot figure out to this day. I was also super depressed and hated my life.

My life changed really only when I got back from France and met toocrispy. I decided at that moment in time that I was tired with the way I was living. My biggest aha moment in poker came away from the felt. Joining leggo and seeing the way other pros were doing it also helped changed my life.

Since then, things have been relatively stress free. I have lived a balance lifestyle over the last couple years and have really enjoyed life. Not surprisingly, I also started experiencing more success in poker. I have lived abroad and met lifelong friends through poker. I am forever thankful for what Leggo and this community has done for me. I may not be alive today without you guys.

I've now traveled the US, the world for that matter, but more importantly than that, I've matured and gained perspective on life. Poker has taught me how to properly deal with adversity. I really don't get too upset by anything anymore. It only takes me a couple hours to get over things and I'm much stronger emotionally than when I first started out.

So now that you've heard about the degen years, lets fast forward to today. I would describe myself as a happy person. Don't get me wrong, I still do dumb shit. I've had my slip ups over the last few years, but as a whole, I would say I enjoy each and every day. I'm in great shape and my energy levels are good. I've started to expand my interests in music and have taken up reading again. I generally just feel good.

So with me being happy, why leave poker now? Well, the only thing missing from my life right now is financial security. And for me personally, I just don't think poker is the answer. I have never treated poker like a business, even over the last two years or so, where I've made enough to travel and live a comfortable lifestyle. I made it a goal that I want to buy a house in 5 years and I just dont think poker will get me there.

I have been thinking a lot lately about what I want. This decision didn't happen overnight. It took years to finally figure it out but I finally feel like I know what it is. I've come to realize that life is too short really to constantly stress about money. I want to take a job were the main focus isn't all about money. Perhaps, if I had more success in poker and didn't have too struggle so much, I would feel differently. But my life has progressed in such a way that this is how I feel.

The first step in my new life is to get a job. I don't have much money now with most of my roll being locked up online. I have enough to live off of for maybe 6 months or so, but I don't want to wait until that point so I am starting now. I am applying to work for a position in the Radiology Department,at the local hospital here in WPB as a transporter. Basically, I would just be wheeling patients to and from different wings of the hospital. I really think this is the perfect job for me and a great introduction to the medical field. Once my online money gets unlocked, I will reward myself and use that money to buy a car, something which I have never had (this is kinda embarrassing to admit, but its true, 24 years old and never had my own car).

Next step is finishing my degree. I have a ton of science classes left to take to get into the program I want since I didn't take any at all in college lol. But I know all the pre-requisites I need and I will be enrolling in classes in the fall, actually sooner than that, in order to get them done.

Anyways, this is getting long so I'll finish this up but I hope you have enjoyed. Although I wont be playing much anymore, I do intend on keeping up with the blogs on Leggo as this has been something that has helped me greatly and also something I enjoy. Best of luck to you guys in your future endeavors and I hope this was an interesting read

Take care and hit me up if we haven't talked in a while

Signing off,
Kyle