10 Years A Poker Player - A Retrospective
What it means to be a professional poker player in India. A look back at my journey. The freedom, the loneliness, the discipline, and shedding a lifetime of impostor syndrome.
Blog - Mayank Jain
Latest posts
Fatherhood, In Three Timelines
I wrote this piece at three different times: 2 weeks after becoming a father, then after 5 months, and finally 19 months. I have not edited anything out, so hopefully, it gives an unfiltered, clear reflection of my thoughts at the time. Two weeks of Fatherhood: I just woke up from a 45-minute afternoon napuccino. It's when you take a coffee before a nap. By the time the caffeine kicks in, your nap…
Best Book I Read in 2024
This year, I want to recommend just one book— Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa . A friend recommended this to me, pitching it as a good book to get back into the reading habit. And that’s exactly what it did. It’s not a groundbreaking or profound novel—quite the opposite. And therein lies its beauty. It is a simple, easy read that helped me reset my dopamine level and bring books…
Best Books I Read in 2023
Say Aye if you read less this year than the last. “Aye!” Less than half the books of last year for me. The short attention span syndrome hit me hard. It’s evident in the fact that two of the books I recommend here are a collection of bite-sized aphorisms. We all have our different reasons for why that happened. And I hope we agree that it symbolises a more serious disorder. But that's a discussion…
Anatomy Of A Bluff
Boom! Boom! Boom! I empty the clip. A triple barrel bluff. The villain is tanking. My heart is leaping out of my mouth. It's for a lot of money. A month's salary for me at one point in my pre-poker career.
Best Books I Read in 2022 & Getting Better at Reading
My biggest reading accomplishment this year was an improved relationship with books. Here’s how: Active reading instead of passive consumption. I tried to make the book work for me instead of the other way around. I got inspiration from this quote on Farnam Street: Learnt the art of letting a book go unfinished . It would bother me if I didn’t complete a book even if it wasn’t enjoyable. But now I…
Living Carelessly In Goa - The Story of Aai
It rained today in Bengaluru. So I made Maggi and had a cup of coffee. The perfect moment to reminisce about good times. And the 2 years I spent in Goa was as good a time as any. I’ve been writing stories from my stay there and this is the first one I want to share with you all. AAI In our Goa house, there was a back exit through the kitchen. We kept it open while sleeping. It was because we…
How To Be Bored
Epic boredom triggered most of my attempts to finish this article. Today, it happened when I threw away my phone in disgust after mindless Instagram scrolling. Earlier, I read three books on my kindle for five minutes each. Then switched to a paperback, which I gave up after 10 minutes. I wasn’t having fun. Skipping from one thing to another is not enjoyable. So why was I doing it? Simple answer -…
Building a Meditation Habit - Atomic Habits Style
For the last two weeks, I have tried building a meditation habit. The previous attempt didn’t sustain for long. Turns out that sitting quietly for 15 minutes every day with your eyes closed and not thinking of things is incredibly difficult. So this time I applied James Clear’s methods from his book Atomic Habits and tried to build a system around it. “If you’re having trouble changing your…
First Of The Day
When I woke up this morning, I had no intention of sending you this article. The idea had not even occurred to me. What happened was that after waking up, I made myself a cup of coffee and started journaling. Nothing ground-breaking right? Except that it is. Allow me to explain. For the last couple of years, my days have all begun in a similar fashion. After freshening up, I open my balcony door,…
5 Years A Poker Player - Changes, Lessons and Future
It has been more than five years since I started playing poker for a living . This post is a contemplation on how life as a professional poker player has been. That means a reflection on my reasons for choosing this path, lessons learned, and plans ahead. To give you context, this is my current situation : I got married 2.5 years ago, just turned 33 and after spending the first two years of my…
How to Live Inside an Underwater Air-Bubble
TODAY after many weeks, I have the courage, time, and peace of mind—all at the same time—to sit down and write this first line. Now my breakfast is here and I will hopefully resume after that. That rare day happened two years ago. I had just enough time to write those two sentences. But I did resume after breakfast. What came after is as follows. I AM BACK. I finished breakfast and managed to come…
Best Books I Read in 2021
The paradox of choice is paralysing. I have way too many unread books on my kindle and on the bookshelf; even more in my wishlist. The only way I could get past that and read was by deliberately picking one book and finding an extended period of time undisturbed by the distractions of our lives. And it was some of the happiest time of my year. 1. Dune - Frank Herbert I got goosebumps one afternoon…
Best Books I Read in 2020
“ Maturity is learning how to start when you feel like procrastinating .“ - James Clear While doing my weekly Saturday email cleanup, I came across this idea from a newsletter by James Clear . And I decided to treat it as a prompt to write my annual best books I read list. Even though we spent majority of the year locked inside our homes, ironically it made it more difficult to read. Reading is a…
Turning Things Around - A One Year Poker Update
In the last 12 months, every month except one, I've made money playing poker as a professional. It is a stark contrast from a year ago when I wrote a post titled Dealing with Downswings in Poker . It was about my seeming inability to come out of a persistent downswing. In this new post, I want to give you an update on my poker career, the changes I made - personally and professionally, their…
Best Books I Read in 2019
Every year, I spend a lot of time on choosing the books I want to read. I find my recommendations from a variety of sources - reading lists, Reddit, friends, popular culture, and mentions in books. And this end of year list is something I do to point out the brightest ones from a sea of innumerable beautiful stars. Let's jump right into it. 1. Tiger Woods - Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian I’ve…
Best Books I Read in 2018
Every year, I spend a lot of time on choosing the books I want to read. I find my recommendations from a variety of sources - reading lists, Reddit, friends, popular culture, and mentions in books. And this end of year list is something I do to point out the brightest ones from a sea of innumerable beautiful stars. Let's jump right into it. 1. Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig It is a memoir about…
Dealing with Downswings in Poker
In three out of last six months and five out of last 11, I have lost money playing poker. In the 12 months before that, I lost money in only one. I am playing the worst poker of my life. And it doesn’t seem like I am any closer to turning things around. I am writing this on a Sunday, the biggest day of the week for a poker player, dropping today’s grind. Before I play another hand, I have decided…
Best Books I Read in 2017
Every year, I spend a lot of time on choosing the books I want to read. I find my recommendations from a variety of sources - reading lists, Reddit, friends, popular culture, and mentions in books. And this end of year list is something I do to point out the brightest ones from a sea of innumerable beautiful stars. Let's jump right into it. 1. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie The first thought…
Playing Poker for a Living - A Complete Breakdown
The first thing my mother asked when I told her that I've quit my job and plan to play poker for a living was, "That's gambling, right?" Since she is my mom, and trusts me, a simple "No, it's not. It is a skill game," was enough to put her mind at ease. But it takes a lot more than that to convince the skeptics. This post will try and explain that about poker. It will be a detailed breakdown of…