It had nothing to do with bad beats or anything like that. Poker was living me, and that wasn't the plan. I obsessed over it b/c that is how I get good at things quickly. And yes, I'm good at poker. Not as good ofcourse as many people here with tons of experience, and I don't have much to show for yet, but I know I am good, even though a lot of you put me in a 'newbie circle of death' or think I'm just hitting some sort of upswing of good cards or that I'm too stubborn to see my mistakes, but I *know* I'm already a winning player, and given a couple months to prove it and build further, I hope I can get something to show for too.

But poker was living me. The obsession didn't stop. I kept putting off too many important things.. social life, women, my studies, various other responsibilities. It had to stop. So I cashed out $100, sat down at 50NL with my remaining $150 and donked it away. I had to pull the plug, and this was the only way I could see.

It's better now. A lot better. I am better able to fit poker into my life, as I had foreseen it. Just play a bit every day, and not care too much about what happens. My focus has shifted back to the more important matters. Whatever money I donked away in the past really doesn't matter in the long run, it's peanuts. So ofcourse I didn't quit poker.. that would be folly after I spent so much time and energy getting good at it. The "obsession" had to end though.

Redeposited the $100, and been playing a bit everyday still, made some more money, will be moving to other sites to bonus whore some time in the future, etc. Also discovered that I want to pursue MTTs, but still need to work on my game (experience), but I already understand the basic strategic concepts. Another thing is live games, I see some future in those too, as I have a knack for reading people. But anyway, on the whole, over the past month and a half, I turned my $60 into $360 (mostly in the last 2 weeks), while learning the game. If I can now grind further and use poker as a little side-income, then I am happy.. because that was the initial plan all along.