Tournament poker: where success means sitting in one chair long enough to question every life decision.
In most jobs, if you work 14 hours, someone thanks you.
In poker, if you work 14 hours, someone rivers a straight and asks if you had ace-king.
Tournament poker is strange because the better you do, the longer you suffer.
You start the day excited.
By dinner break, you are negotiating with your lower back.
By Level 12, you are emotionally attached to a bottle of water and two granola bars from the gift shop.
And if you finally make the money, everyone says congratulations — which is poker language for "enjoy another seven hours."
The prize pool sounds generous until you divide it by the number of hours you spent in a chair developing an opinion on every seat cushion in the casino.
Still worth it.
Probably.