A Surprisingly Hard Decision

[TilTandWiN]

I have a reasonably difficult decision to make at the moment and was wondering if I could hear some opinions.

I am a young kid - (very recently 18) - and love poker. In fact one could easily say that I love poker too much. Luckily for me I am a winning addict, and am coming to the end of the best month of my life, up $1650 playing micro stakes NLHE. This is A LOT of money for me. I expect that I will move up to 100NL within the two to three weeks (with a bank roll of $3500) and hopefully earning more money.

However poker takes up a stupid amount of my time – and at this point time is very important as I am preparing to beat the intense competition that applying to the top universities involves – but then again I have known this for a while but have never really done anything about it: the problem with being an addict.

I then read The Bigger Deal by A. Holden and found a quote that made me question my obsession at this age. It was from a conversation between the 2006 EPT Champion, Jeff Williams, and the world famous Lee Jones. It basically stated that poker would be around for a long time, so don’t rush into it and do the important things first – like school.

So – should I quit?

[prodonkey]

quit school obviously

[thac]

If you can't control how little you play, then you should quit. Education is so much more important than poker, but if you can go to school and then play poker for an hour after classes/studying, and on the weekend a bit, I don't see what the problem is. Just don't get over your head in poker and forget about school.

[castigar]

Stay in school. Work hard to get a good job and when you have free time, play.

[KEW]

Do not quit school and DO NOT quit poker..The majority of these boards(very rough est) do both..So why can't you...School is tough and time consuming but there is PLENTY of free time as well...

If you think school leaves you no time wait for the rude awaking "the real world" and family responsibilities has for you..

If you are as you say an "addict" you need to get yourself under control before you self destruct...

[Mike Kelley]

Poker is a fun hobby. I don't think it would be as fun if you had to win.

[Kasane]

Never, ever quit school if you don't have to. Take it from someone who's been there and had to go back 20 years later to finish up. Not because your parents tell you to. Not because society tells you to. But because it's your own enrichment -- you'll be better at everything you ever do in the future. Poker included.

Money will always be there, your youth will not.

"Youth is wasted on the young," is just too damn true. Sheesh.

[Capone]

[ QUOTE ]
Stay in school. Work hard to get a good job and when you have free time, play.

[/ QUOTE ]

I couldn't agree more. Go out do as many girls as you can, get a good education, a good job, have fun with your friends and family. And when you have spare time play poker as a hobby/part time job. DO NOT LET IT CONSUME YOU, and don't quit, just make it a hobby.

[tubasteve]

[ QUOTE ]
Poker is a fun hobby. I don't think it would be as fun if you had to win.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is 100% true

[barryc83]

Ummm are you questioning quitting poker for the sake of school or quitting school for poker? I'll assume the latter. This is so stupid man you don't even know. I'm not trying to be insulting, but you made $1650 in one month, big deal. I don't know where you live, but unless it's BFE you will live like a poor person in most parts of this country. Go out and find out how much health insurance, car insurance, rent, and utilities cost and see how far $1650 gets you.

Plus, college is fun as hell, especially your freshman year. Live in a dorm, meet people, drink beer/experiment, meet girls, profit. It's that simple. Poker isn't going away man. Also, college is the perfect time to really get good at poker. Sure you have classes and homework and stuff, but you will have plenty of down time to get better at this game. I wish that I could of known about this website when I was in college. Instead of wasting time on Halo, Madden and NCAA FB, I couldve been grinding. I couldn't even imagine being a pro at less than 400nl.

[coordi]

unless your beating 50NL 80 hours a month 8 tabling at like 10ptbb/100 I don't think you should consider quitting school any time soon.

[bored]

[ QUOTE ]
quit school obviously

[/ QUOTE ]

[TilTandWiN]

[ QUOTE ]
Ummm are you questioning quitting poker for the sake of school or quitting school for poker? I'll assume the latter. This is so stupid man you don't even know. I'm not trying to be insulting, but you made $1650 in one month, big deal. I don't know where you live, but unless it's BFE you will live like a poor person in most parts of this country. Go out and find out how much health insurance, car insurance, rent, and utilities cost and see how far $1650 gets you.

Plus, college is fun as hell, especially your freshman year. Live in a dorm, meet people, drink beer/experiment, meet girls, profit. It's that simple. Poker isn't going away man. Also, college is the perfect time to really get good at poker. Sure you have classes and homework and stuff, but you will have plenty of down time to get better at this game. I wish that I could of known about this website when I was in college. Instead of wasting time on Halo, Madden and NCAA FB, I couldve been grinding. I couldn't even imagine being a pro at less than 400nl.

[/ QUOTE ]

You assume wrong - Im not an idiot who thinks he is a pro because he has a $1650 month!

[thac]

quit poker, im serious

[TilTandWiN]

Just to make things clearer: I am not considering becoming pro, I am considering quitting poker to aid my school work.

Thanks for all the responses so far.

[joelav128]

cut back on your play. i am the same age, a little younger actually, and have just done the same. poker was becoming too much to me and like you i also have been successful. poker has bought me a car and allows me to pay my insurance every month, but in the end its friends and school that are more important, not $$$$$$

[Lurker.]

dont quit poker, unless you wanan work some min wage job. once you're beating 100nl you're making more than you would out in the real world anyway. dont quit school, just dont go to a "top" school.

[joelav128]

[ QUOTE ]
dont quit poker, unless you wanan work some min wage job. once you're beating 100nl you're making more than you would out in the real world anyway. dont quit school, just dont go to a "top" school.

[/ QUOTE ]

no, go to the best school you can

[NoSetNoBet]

[ QUOTE ]
If you think school leaves you no time wait for the rude awaking "the real world" and family responsibilities has for you..

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT. I've yet to meet someone who regretted going to college for any reason, but I know many who regret not going.

[DaycareInferno]

don't take this as advice, but school probably isn't going anywhere either.

[Jaap]

Go to the best college you can. These things matter in life. It's good you know about yourself that you have some kind of addiction and a lot of us on this forum have the same problem. Know that life isn't all about money, and college isn't all about getting a job. If you develop as a great player you can always choose to do so after college.

[Fetzi]

If you were an Alcoholic, would you go to the drunks down the street for advice on quitting?

[obiedman]

go all in

[Capone]

[ QUOTE ]
If you were an Alcoholic, would you go to the drunks down the street for advice on quitting?

[/ QUOTE ]

i loled /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[obiedman]

my real answer is don't quit school. i'm going to college (19 now, will be a freshman) and i made more this week than your br. just go and do the best you can while still playing poker and having fun. graduate, and then decide what you want poker to be in your life. school is cool!

[C4LL4W4Y]

grunch...

play less. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[pfapfap]

You should quit not only to aid your school work, but to aid your out of school enjoyment.

Travel. Get outdoors. Have a lot of sex. See live music. Go camping deep in the wilderness. Read for fun. Make a lot of friends.

When you ultimately return to poker, your education and life experience will make you a far better player, not to mention a better person overall.

[barryc83]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ummm are you questioning quitting poker for the sake of school or quitting school for poker? I'll assume the latter. This is so stupid man you don't even know. I'm not trying to be insulting, but you made $1650 in one month, big deal. I don't know where you live, but unless it's BFE you will live like a poor person in most parts of this country. Go out and find out how much health insurance, car insurance, rent, and utilities cost and see how far $1650 gets you.

Plus, college is fun as hell, especially your freshman year. Live in a dorm, meet people, drink beer/experiment, meet girls, profit. It's that simple. Poker isn't going away man. Also, college is the perfect time to really get good at poker. Sure you have classes and homework and stuff, but you will have plenty of down time to get better at this game. I wish that I could of known about this website when I was in college. Instead of wasting time on Halo, Madden and NCAA FB, I couldve been grinding. I couldn't even imagine being a pro at less than 400nl.

[/ QUOTE ]

You assume wrong - Im not an idiot who thinks he is a pro because he has a $1650 month!

[/ QUOTE ]

Well try it out and see if it affects your schoolwork. If it does then quit, if not just grind 100nl for like $1500/mo and live better than most college kids. If you run @ 5ptbb/100 @ 100nl, it only take 15000 hands/mo to reach $1500. That is nothing IMO.

[maciczka]

Mike Kelley got it all.

[corsakh]

You can play 20 hours a week while study. Its enough not to get rusty and keep growing. Maybe not as fast as those who play 6 every day, but enough to put you into 2/4 in a year or year an a half.

[spyderracing]

LOL even considering not going to school for poker is retarded unless you happen to be someone like good2cu (who I'll bet will end up regretting it later on). I'm 19 and am going to be a sophmore at the University of Michigan majoring in neuroscience/pre-med. I had some difficult classes (had both calc and orgo I/II my freshman year), partied every weekend I wasn't sick, played rugby at school, and still had time to put in atleast 30k hands a month all while coming out of the year with a 3.4 (need to bump that up a little). Right now I'm playing 200nl. I've made $4k in the past week (not even running spectacularly... ~5bb/100), and leaving school is the farthest thing from my mind. Infact, I can't wait to get back to get out of this bumfuck town and live it up with fun people. Honestly, go to school and stay in as long as you can (meaning go to grad school; not become some super duper ultra senior). Everyone who says college is a waste and trains you to work for the man has no idea what they're missing out on. Unless you're seriously strapped for cash it's one of those fundamental human experiences. You won't regret it.

[ICMoney]

Why can't you do both?

Classes and studying should take less than eight hours a day.

You should have 80+ hours a month to play if you really wanted to. $20/hour at NL100 is sustainable.

I graduated from college in December and thought I would be playing 100k hands/month since I didn't have classes taking up my time. I think I played 40k hands last month and maybe 30k hands this month.

Get an education. Have something to fall back upon.
Get a school loan and move up to 5/10nl (kidding).