A One-Way Ticket to Pokerville?

There were several things that led to me becoming a professional poker player, but the most important determining factor was this: all my jobs up to that point in my life had sucked. I had a paper route in the 6th grade and from then on it was all pretty much all down-hill in the employment arena. By the time most people had settled on a career I was in-between social work jobs and going to temp agencies when I ran out of money for food and rent. Among other places I ended up on an assembly line at a chemical factory, scrubbing the hot-dog machine at Six Flags and stuffing pamphlets for AT&T. Tedious, mind-numbing, low-paying jobs that often required a scratchy, ill-fitting suit or a plastic blue hat. What looked like 13 year-old kids were starting to become my managers. To leave this kind of employment wasn't difficult.

After several years in a dead-end social work job I managed to scrape up a $10,000 bank roll. I had been playing poker and fancied myself a pretty good player and had moved up to $20-40 Hold'em so I thought, why not try it for a year. What do I have to lose?
It's a lot easier to buy a one way ticket when you have nothing of value waiting for you upon your return. I had no girlfriend, no kids and a job I found impossible to take seriously.

I bought a 2000 Maxima almost totally on credit and hit the road, determined to make a living playing poker. I never wanted to work for anybody ever again. It wasn't hard for me to leave, but I wonder has anybody ever left something of serious value to become a professional poker player? I haven't bumped into them on my travels, but I'm sure there is a CEO or 2 out there who have their story to tell.

Or maybe not.