I like your schedule you have laid out. Its tough though for anyone to say 'oh go play poker' when it seems like your doing it because you feel its your only option, not because you have a very strong win rate. Also, I'm sorry to hear about your family, thats tough.
Personally, I'm almost 21 and I'm in college and playing poker on the side and it works as a income source
Hi very nice read. My story is bit different then yours, but I see simular posts reasonably often. From my expierience I benefited the most by following my own path. Everyone has an opinion what you should do or not and often speaks that confidently, when you are full of doubts. The true what you should do depends on who you are and what you wont to do in your life, what you are pasionate abaut. If you expect to crush high stakes cg thats gonna be extrimely tough travel. Few people succide in poker and small percentage of them gets to play in high stakes. Weather you should continue with poker it depends on If You wont to be a poker profesional either full time or as a side or a temporary job, proffesion. You do not have to make decision now for the rest of your life. I think all answers are available in ourselves and only you can make the choice and only you will be responsible for the outcome, what ever advice you will follow.
P.S. I do not make much posts, so sorry for the text being a bit rough. I know, that my respond was very general, but that's the best I can think of.
Focus on school. It is your number one priority. Poker is secondary. You cannot rely on it as it is highly affected by variance. If I were you, I'd discipline myself to get straight A's, on track for a great job, and prioritize poker after all of that. If you really love poker like you say, you'll make some time and be more efficient.
Stay in school. Quitting education to play poker only makes sense if you are a winning player at stakes high enough to support yourself and save money.
First off, I'm sorry to hear about your family. It's one of the toughest problems to deal with. You do seem like a guy who is handling things maturely though, which is a good sign. I hope everything goes well with yourself and your family.
Secondly, I hate to say this and you might not agree with me, but $500 or $1000 is just not a lot of money. Sure, having $1000 in your poker account might feel a world different than having $0 for now. However, once you finish college with decent grades and get an okay job with your degree, $1000 should be worth no more than a couple months' salary (depending on the country you are living in, but still). Plan ahead for the next couple of years, and try to look at the big picture. Life doesn't always turn out as planned, but it's always better to have some plans than not.
That brings me to the same conclusion: stay in school and focus on it. College study usually doesn't require a TON of studying, but you would still need to put some effort in it. You can still play and study poker in the free time. Once you are beating the game and making a consistent profit at stakes high enough, you can reconsider your options then. Although I'd still say just stay in school and finish it. :)
Personally, I am in a graduate school myself, finishing up my PhD program in a couple months. I actually liked my major when I started the program and I was on a scholarship, but I got serious with poker during my 2nd year or so, and started making some money too (far more than the scholarship). That led me to a similar conflict, and I very seriously considered quitting the school about 2 years ago. I had talked to about 10 people about it, and they unanimously said I should just stay in school and get the PhD degree.
Well, in retrospect I didn't 100% agree with them (only few of them were poker players), but I ended up not quitting, and I am very glad I decided to stay in school.
You might think you would be just fine playing poker all day, all week and all year long. I wish I could say that's totally true. Truth is, you probably won't play poker for more than 10 years (a rough guess, I know), which means you will have to move on to something else in life at some point. College degrees aren't everything in life, but at least you will have a lot more options in life with them than without. When the whole poker community is pretty much telling you the same thing (i.e. "don't quit school"), you might want to give it a consideration.
One thing about choosing the major, though: go with what you feel like studying. If you like psychology better than economics, just go with it. So if your plan was to start studying psychology next year, and if that's the earliest you can, just go for it man. However, ask yourself if you are not, by any chance, using that as an excuse to buy yourself some time to play poker. I'm not saying you are, but I do know a couple of people who were in similar situations, and they ended up not going back to school at all.
Sorry for the rambling, and if there's anything you want to ask me (or us) more about, don't hesitate to do so.
Wow, you are so passionate and ambitious that it's right on the edge of being delusional. I wonder if that's the attitude that one needs to "make it". Don't get me wrong, I really do hope that you will make it. Looking forward to hearing from your journey. Keep us updated!
OP I just found your thread now but thought I'd like to share my experience as well
cause i'm in the similar situation as you 3 yrs ago.
I was in my first year in college at that time. However I wasn't really fond of what I was studying and as I am kind of an introverted person with social phobia, I hardly know anyone and made any friends in my class.These things combined made me really hate attending the class so I skipped almost all my classes during the semester and it goes without saying, I failed most of exams in that semester.
I am asian and my parents are the typical asian parents who want their kids to go to college, attain the degree and get a decent job which is the successful life of a person in their mind and that's what I have been told to do since I was born. But I really have no idea what I want to do in future and what I want to achieve in my life at that time.
So I thought what is the point of continue the study when I dun really know what job I want to do and given how much I hate the study.
At the same time, I just learnt how to play poker not long ago back then and was playing some SNG at micro limits with little success. I knew there is no turning back if I decide to quit the study but unlike most professional poker pokers who can make 60-70k+ per year, I wasn't even sure I can make 4 figure per month in order to pay for the rent and I only got 4-5 months living expenses saving up at that point.
Despite all this, after a quick and rash decision, I told myself fuck it I am gonna quit the college and play poker for living because that's the only thing I can do at that moment.
Since then, I fully focus on playing poker and during the first few months, things went badly against what I hoped for, I was hitting downswings after downsings.
At some point, all I left in my bankroll was only enough for one month of expenses.
I got panic and didn't even dare to think the consequence if I went broke. Luckily when I was about to give up everything, I somehow binked a MTT and won 11K.
This greatly boosted my bankroll and also my confidence of the game so I managed to turn things around and be able to pay all my rents and bills for past 2-3 yrs by playing poker.
Looking back, I am still not sure if my decision to quit college for poker was correct or not, things could definitely got a lot worse had I not won that MTT and I even kind of regret about not finishing the study when thinking about it sometimes .
I dun know, maybe it is just destiny, sometimes you always think you have made the right choice but only to regret it afterwards.
Anyway sry for the long wall of texts and my English isn't perfect as I am not native speaker.
I know it's cliche, but you only live once and you gotta believe who you are and do what you enjoy the most. Best of luck to your journey and whatever decision you have made OP.
Hi man, had a very similar situation like you recently , same downswing in the same stakes, also some problems in college due to lack of orientation and reinforced by that failure , but I kept moving forward, and started thinking about the situation.
Now Im still in progress of prioritizing interests, and even realized that you should not let emotions drive decisions with direct consequences in the long run.
I realized how difficult can be to become that HS player that everyone dream being, in my case I want to become also that HS player, but when I started working on my game ( even I dont know if I am doing it right) I realize how fish I am and the fact that the players ahead of you keep working frustrated me ,because it would be wonderful to earn 10K a month after starting to play, but this doesnt work that way...
Even I dont know if I could find this motivation in the future, a huge downswing, a health or personal problem or even a regulation in my country, given that ,I try most to focus on working on my game and playing, and to think less on results ,consequences or dreams because in my opinion that only drain you energy to focus on the things that you really need to do to become what you want ...but I dont know even if my capacities and amount of work end up in becoming a low stakes reg, a rb pro, maybe a HS reg or nothing (maybe poker online dies in 2016 , by saying an example)
So my advice is focus, in what you really like to become, but also enjoy the process , dont drop your professional formation and base your whole future in something as dinamic as poker BY NOW, work hard and expect that this works give you the happiness and benefits, that improve your live in case of achieve it but not letting it getting worse when you fail. Im sure you will get to that pool party (and even invite all of us hehe), Im glad you read the advices of all of this great players and me,I hope you take the best decision, IMO the one that makes your happier.
Simplifier
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I like your schedule you have laid out. Its tough though for anyone to say 'oh go play poker' when it seems like your doing it because you feel its your only option, not because you have a very strong win rate. Also, I'm sorry to hear about your family, thats tough.
Personally, I'm almost 21 and I'm in college and playing poker on the side and it works as a income source
Hi very nice read. My story is bit different then yours, but I see simular posts reasonably often. From my expierience I benefited the most by following my own path. Everyone has an opinion what you should do or not and often speaks that confidently, when you are full of doubts. The true what you should do depends on who you are and what you wont to do in your life, what you are pasionate abaut. If you expect to crush high stakes cg thats gonna be extrimely tough travel. Few people succide in poker and small percentage of them gets to play in high stakes. Weather you should continue with poker it depends on If You wont to be a poker profesional either full time or as a side or a temporary job, proffesion. You do not have to make decision now for the rest of your life. I think all answers are available in ourselves and only you can make the choice and only you will be responsible for the outcome, what ever advice you will follow.
P.S. I do not make much posts, so sorry for the text being a bit rough. I know, that my respond was very general, but that's the best I can think of.
Focus on school. It is your number one priority. Poker is secondary. You cannot rely on it as it is highly affected by variance. If I were you, I'd discipline myself to get straight A's, on track for a great job, and prioritize poker after all of that. If you really love poker like you say, you'll make some time and be more efficient.
Good luck.
Stay in school. Quitting education to play poker only makes sense if you are a winning player at stakes high enough to support yourself and save money.
tho it depends on school, some are just waste of time
Good post, thanks for sharing with us.
First off, I'm sorry to hear about your family. It's one of the toughest problems to deal with. You do seem like a guy who is handling things maturely though, which is a good sign. I hope everything goes well with yourself and your family.
Secondly, I hate to say this and you might not agree with me, but $500 or $1000 is just not a lot of money. Sure, having $1000 in your poker account might feel a world different than having $0 for now. However, once you finish college with decent grades and get an okay job with your degree, $1000 should be worth no more than a couple months' salary (depending on the country you are living in, but still). Plan ahead for the next couple of years, and try to look at the big picture. Life doesn't always turn out as planned, but it's always better to have some plans than not.
That brings me to the same conclusion: stay in school and focus on it. College study usually doesn't require a TON of studying, but you would still need to put some effort in it. You can still play and study poker in the free time. Once you are beating the game and making a consistent profit at stakes high enough, you can reconsider your options then. Although I'd still say just stay in school and finish it. :)
Personally, I am in a graduate school myself, finishing up my PhD program in a couple months. I actually liked my major when I started the program and I was on a scholarship, but I got serious with poker during my 2nd year or so, and started making some money too (far more than the scholarship). That led me to a similar conflict, and I very seriously considered quitting the school about 2 years ago. I had talked to about 10 people about it, and they unanimously said I should just stay in school and get the PhD degree.
Well, in retrospect I didn't 100% agree with them (only few of them were poker players), but I ended up not quitting, and I am very glad I decided to stay in school.
You might think you would be just fine playing poker all day, all week and all year long. I wish I could say that's totally true. Truth is, you probably won't play poker for more than 10 years (a rough guess, I know), which means you will have to move on to something else in life at some point. College degrees aren't everything in life, but at least you will have a lot more options in life with them than without. When the whole poker community is pretty much telling you the same thing (i.e. "don't quit school"), you might want to give it a consideration.
One thing about choosing the major, though: go with what you feel like studying. If you like psychology better than economics, just go with it. So if your plan was to start studying psychology next year, and if that's the earliest you can, just go for it man. However, ask yourself if you are not, by any chance, using that as an excuse to buy yourself some time to play poker. I'm not saying you are, but I do know a couple of people who were in similar situations, and they ended up not going back to school at all.
Sorry for the rambling, and if there's anything you want to ask me (or us) more about, don't hesitate to do so.
-- midori
What Casinos/poker rooms can you recommend in Bucharest ?
What are the blinds etc etc ??
Hi,
Wow, you are so passionate and ambitious that it's right on the edge of being delusional. I wonder if that's the attitude that one needs to "make it". Don't get me wrong, I really do hope that you will make it. Looking forward to hearing from your journey. Keep us updated!
OP I just found your thread now but thought I'd like to share my experience as well
cause i'm in the similar situation as you 3 yrs ago.
I was in my first year in college at that time. However I wasn't really fond of what I was studying and as I am kind of an introverted person with social phobia, I hardly know anyone and made any friends in my class.These things combined made me really hate attending the class so I skipped almost all my classes during the semester and it goes without saying, I failed most of exams in that semester.
I am asian and my parents are the typical asian parents who want their kids to go to college, attain the degree and get a decent job which is the successful life of a person in their mind and that's what I have been told to do since I was born. But I really have no idea what I want to do in future and what I want to achieve in my life at that time.
So I thought what is the point of continue the study when I dun really know what job I want to do and given how much I hate the study.
At the same time, I just learnt how to play poker not long ago back then and was playing some SNG at micro limits with little success. I knew there is no turning back if I decide to quit the study but unlike most professional poker pokers who can make 60-70k+ per year, I wasn't even sure I can make 4 figure per month in order to pay for the rent and I only got 4-5 months living expenses saving up at that point.
Despite all this, after a quick and rash decision, I told myself fuck it I am gonna quit the college and play poker for living because that's the only thing I can do at that moment.
Since then, I fully focus on playing poker and during the first few months, things went badly against what I hoped for, I was hitting downswings after downsings.
At some point, all I left in my bankroll was only enough for one month of expenses.
I got panic and didn't even dare to think the consequence if I went broke. Luckily when I was about to give up everything, I somehow binked a MTT and won 11K.
This greatly boosted my bankroll and also my confidence of the game so I managed to turn things around and be able to pay all my rents and bills for past 2-3 yrs by playing poker.
Looking back, I am still not sure if my decision to quit college for poker was correct or not, things could definitely got a lot worse had I not won that MTT and I even kind of regret about not finishing the study when thinking about it sometimes .
I dun know, maybe it is just destiny, sometimes you always think you have made the right choice but only to regret it afterwards.
Anyway sry for the long wall of texts and my English isn't perfect as I am not native speaker.
I know it's cliche, but you only live once and you gotta believe who you are and do what you enjoy the most. Best of luck to your journey and whatever decision you have made OP.
u r still too young,
do ur collage, get degrees first.
as back up if one day u choice to go for poker, poker is always there, no need to be rush,
Hi man, had a very similar situation like you recently , same downswing in the same stakes, also some problems in college due to lack of orientation and reinforced by that failure , but I kept moving forward, and started thinking about the situation.
Now Im still in progress of prioritizing interests, and even realized that you should not let emotions drive decisions with direct consequences in the long run.
I realized how difficult can be to become that HS player that everyone dream being, in my case I want to become also that HS player, but when I started working on my game ( even I dont know if I am doing it right) I realize how fish I am and the fact that the players ahead of you keep working frustrated me ,because it would be wonderful to earn 10K a month after starting to play, but this doesnt work that way...
Even I dont know if I could find this motivation in the future, a huge downswing, a health or personal problem or even a regulation in my country, given that ,I try most to focus on working on my game and playing, and to think less on results ,consequences or dreams because in my opinion that only drain you energy to focus on the things that you really need to do to become what you want ...but I dont know even if my capacities and amount of work end up in becoming a low stakes reg, a rb pro, maybe a HS reg or nothing (maybe poker online dies in 2016 , by saying an example)
So my advice is focus, in what you really like to become, but also enjoy the process , dont drop your professional formation and base your whole future in something as dinamic as poker BY NOW, work hard and expect that this works give you the happiness and benefits, that improve your live in case of achieve it but not letting it getting worse when you fail. Im sure you will get to that pool party (and even invite all of us hehe), Im glad you read the advices of all of this great players and me,I hope you take the best decision, IMO the one that makes your happier.
English. Sorry for my bad Good bye.
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