Fabian Quoss Surprisingly Announces Decision to Exit Professional Poker

Surprisingly, a little over a week ago, the long-time professional poker player and high-roller Fabian Quoss used his Instagram account to announce the end of his poker career.

The German wrote that he had never perceived himself as a public figure and preferred keeping his thoughts and personal life private, but he also felt that his followers on the social media need an explanation for his absence from the poker world. Back in 2016 alone, Quoss managed to generate tournament earnings exceeding US$2.7 million, he pretty much disappeared from his active poker career. The former high-roller won only US$41,024 in 2017 and has not taken part in any live poker tournaments so far in 2018.

Quoss also wrote that he has started to be more active on social media recently, so he decided to share his decision to end his professional poker career. His Instagram account info has also been updated, saying that he “played cards for a living until 2017”.

During my poker career, I never really perceived myself as a public figure, and always kept my thoughts and personal life private. So, it never occurred to me to “announce my exit“. But since I haven’t played in a while now, a lot of people messaged me asking why. I’m starting to be more active on social media these days, so I wanted to share a few thoughts. . The best description of what it’s like to be a professional high stakes poker player that I have ever read was in @jasonkoon ’s post from 12th May 2017. There are many sacrifices required when you set out to become world class at something. Dedicating your whole life to one thing inevitably consumes most of your energy, leaving no time to spend on other things. . A personality trait that I’ve observed over and over again in guys who became successful at the high stakes is the ability to go into total tunnel vision mode. Becoming so obsessed with accomplishing the chosen mission that it’s literally the only thing we spend our time on. I think this characteristic can be viewed as a skill, but also as a compulsive, unhealthy obsession. A lot of people who become masters of their craft are driven by their need to prove themselves, whether to their own egos, their peers, or to people who they think never believed in them. . The reason why I loved playing poker professionally wasn’t that I thought poker was especially interesting or rewarding of an activity (though, at times, it really can be both) but more because of the freedom it provided me. I was my own boss—traveling the world, meeting amazing people, doing something I was really passionate about. . There‘s an infinite amount of things we can choose to focus on, but for most of us, the majority of our lives revolves around a small number of things. We basically only exist in our own little bubbles, completely ignoring the infinite variety of other bubbles all around us. I think this is true for most people, but that it’s even more magnified for someone who immerses himself as deeply in an endeavour as the people described above. . [continues in comments]

A post shared by Fabian Quoss (@fabianquoss) on Aug 22, 2018 at 7:53am PDT

In an Instagram post, he explained that so far he had no time to spend on other projects since he had dedicated his life to becoming a high-profile professional poker player. He also shared that these aspirations brought him into what he called “total tunnel vision mode”, which has made him so obsessed with making new poker accomplishments that he hardly had time for anything else in his life.

Poker Pro’s Career Gave Him Freedom, He Said

In his Instagram post, Fabian Quoss explained that the reason why he chose to become a professional poker player was not the money that could have been made as a reward for the efforts, but because of the freedom such a lifestyle provided him with. He shared that playing poker professional allowed him to travel around the world and meet some amazing people, and of course, do something he felt passionate about.

As mentioned above, for years Quoss, now 36, has been known as a prominent poker pro and a keen high-roller, before his announcement for his exit from professional poker.

The German’s total live earnings amount to US$9,659,598. His best year was undoubtedly 2014 when he managed to generate total winnings of US$3.1 million, while his second best year by tournament earnings was 2016, with Quoss winning a total of US$2.7 million. Since July 2016, however, the player suddenly stopped participating in any live poker events until April 2017, when he ranked 4th at Event 32 of the PokerStars Championship Macau. Last year he played in five poker events only, with his results being far behind his best performances.

Surely, it has not been an easy decision for Quoss to quit something he loved doing, but he shared he realized that there are many other things and projects he could focus on. We wish him all the best in his new endeavors and still hope to see him in play again in the future.