Zzyzx

THE DETOUR

If you've ever driven I-15 from LA to Vegas, you've passed a small green sign for Zzyzx Road. The house edge on a single hand of blackjack with perfect strategy is ~0.5%. The odds that you stopped at Zzyzx are lower than that.

Life is full of odd exits we never take. And let's be frank, most roads less traveled are less traveled for a reason. But sometimes the road less traveled leads you down a path that changes your life, in ways that you don't yet understand.

I'd driven that stretch of I-15 more times than I could count. Taking off after class, or skipping it altogether, flying down the 101 to the 152 to the 5 to the 58 to the 15, and blowing past that sign with visions of a good weekend in Sin City. The journey was an afterthought, the destination was the point.

The day I graduated from college, I loaded my car with everything I owned and drove that road one more time. But this time, it wasn't for a weekend — I was moving to Las Vegas to play poker for a living.

The drive was long, and my worn-down '85 BMW couldn't draw enough power to operate the AC and radio simultaneously. It was the middle of summer on a long drive through the desert, so even though it was in the latter part of the day I opted for the AC and instead of the radio used the headphones connected to my MP3 player (remember those?).

As I approached Zzyzx Road, it was around 10pm. At first I didn't give it much thought, but something started pulling at me. Even though I had been to Vegas many times before, the destination felt different. So why shouldn't the journey? I took the exit, pulled onto the shoulder, and shut off the engine.

For the next 20? 30? 60? minutes I sat next to my car, on a road I'd ignored for years, on the way to a life my family would have had a hard time explaining to anyone who asked. I'm not religious, but I think I was looking for some sort of sign that the decision I was making was the right one. And somehow, that this literal detour down Zzyzx would validate the much larger and more questionable detour I was making in my own life.

The proverbial shooting star across the sky never came. But after an interminable amount of time on the side of the road by myself, I increasingly felt a sense of peace. Paradoxically, the more that I instinctively tried to poke holes in my decision, the more confident I became in it. Whatever doubts I had entertained in the days and weeks leading up to this trip were slowly banished to the outer reaches of my mind. As I finally came to the emotional realization that this was indeed the right move for me, a wry smile crept across my face. I then got in the car, said my goodbyes to Zzyzx Rd, hopped back on the I-15, and drove the rest of the way to Las Vegas.

For most of my life I'd been on cruise control, driving along the standard road towards success and happiness:

Completed and in the rearview:

Looming on the horizon:

Unfortunately, I broke down on the road to #4. There were multiple reasons for it, but at the foundational level I had grown tired of working within a structure over which I exerted limited control. When I finally got somewhere that offered a taste of freedom, I took it — and kept taking it.

It wasn't that I had lost my desire to do the work. It was that the type of work I desired to do wasn't happening in a classroom. I wanted to work on terms I set, where I was my own boss, and where the fruits of my effort were quickly and concretely realized. Poker offered that in spades (heh).

I started playing online and at local casinos: Bay 101, Lucky Chances, and Garden City (RIP). I started making real money. And at some point the math became hard to argue with: I was earning more playing cards than at any job that awaited me at the end of graduation.

After clearing $10,000 during an all-nighter to fund a spring break trip to Cabo, my mind was made up.

When all was said and done, poker was a success. I played full-time for about two years, made a lot of money, spent a lot of money, and had exactly the type of time you'd expect a single 22-year-old to have while living in Vegas.

Eventually I stopped because I chose to, not because I needed to. I've since learned how fortunate I was to have left on my own terms.

What I learned from the experience ended up being worth way more than what I made at the tables.

Most of all, I learned that the right detour can change your life for the better, and in ways you couldn't possibly imagine before taking it.

Today I run two businesses: Golden Gun Ventures, where I invest primarily in overlooked companies within the AI ecosystem, and Melier, a private membership built around wines you won’t find in stores and connections with the producers behind them. Both share the common thread of finding something valuable at the end of a road less traveled.

Worth the Detour is built on that idea. Every month I’ll highlight companies, ideas, places, and wines that deserve a closer look. I’ll also share learnings and recommendations from the detours I take in my own life.

Before you go, I'd love to hear about an interesting detour you took, why you took it, and what transpired as a result (good or bad!). Hit reply and share whatever you're comfortable with. I read all of them, and won't share anything publicly without asking you first.

Thanks for being here at the start.

Cheers,
Greg