Do What You Love

Keeping very busy at the moment. Almost too busy to post over here.

But you know I wouldn’t let that happen.

Yesterday I reported on a couple of WCOOP events for the PokerStars blog, the final table for Event No. 30, the $530 buy-in NLHE Triple Shootout, and Event No. 33, the $320 buy-in (with one re-buy & one add-on) six-handed pot-limit Omaha event.

Also had a piece go up over on Betfair poker, “Phil Laak, Poker’s Favorite Stunt Man,” in which I compile a number of anecdotes about the new WSOPE bracelet winner. And today there’s a new “He Said/She Said” entry on Woman Poker Player, the subject this time being the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. Click here for my writing partner Jen Newell’s take on that one, and click here for mine.

Meanwhile, I wanted to recommend one other item to you from this week -- not something of mine but rather an interview with Kathy Liebert on this week’s episode (No. 140) of the always good Two Plus Two Pokercast.

The interview goes for nearly 40 minutes, with a number of topics being covered. (It starts around the 1:05 mark.) Besides being a talented tournament player, Liebert is an especially well-spoken and interesting person.

I enjoyed hearing her thoughts on a wide range of topics, including the difficulty of making a living on the tournament circuit, the state of women in poker today, the WSOP ladies’ event, the sponsorship question, live versus online play and the emergence of online training sites, and more.

I particularly liked one comment Liebert made at the very beginning of the interview when the hosts Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz invited her to share the story of her first getting into poker. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I identified with it, in a way.

Liebert had a successful career in business before moving over into poker in the mid-1990s. Sounded like a difficult decision, in some ways, to leave the safe path and venture over into a less certain mode of existence.

“I had been working very hard, and I was doing a good job and doing well, but my mom had just read this book called Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow. And it really got me thinking... ‘I don’t love this job. I’m a capable person. There must be something else I can find that I like, and I won’t really find it until I explore.’”

As someone who not long ago made a similar move -- leaving a full-time position in which I was working hard, doing a good job, but not loving what I was doing -- I liked hearing Liebert talk about her decision to pursue a more enjoyable and rewarding life.

Speaking of... that more enjoyable and rewarding life that I have chosen (of being a freelance writer) beckons once again.

Have a good weekend all!