poker on college application

[ActionJeff]

the nits at OOT pointed out that I used the wrong forum. Also, apparently my question is "stupid" and I should "use the search function". If this is true then you can go ahead and lock this thread.

my situation is as follows:

I finished high school several months ago, and took a year off for poker. Been doing that for a few months now.

my GPA sucks. I had A's and B's in freshmen and soph year, but bombed 2nd half of junior year and senior year. 2.9 GPA

I have really good test scores. 1510/1600 SAT, and perfect MCAS (standardized MA test).

Not really much for extracurriculars. Math league and [censored].

I also used to play Magic (lol nerdaments). I won lots of tournaments including like $25k in scholarship and was really succesful at that. Seems like a good thing to mention in an application essay, yes?

Between mtg/poker and my test scores, its really all I've got going for me. Recommendations is a tough area too. I am not sure who I would go to for this. My grandfather works at a good college as a professor of sociology and probably has some connections in other colleges. I really doubt that any teachers at my school would be willing to write a good recommendation. Maybe one, idk if its even worth pursuing. Definitely not the guidance counselor either.

Mostly, I am conflicted about including poker on the application. I've worked with cardrunners, and being a part of a successful business seems like a positive thing. I've done really well playing poker. However, this seems like a delicate subject. Stupid people could see poker as being degenerate and a negative influence. Forget making tons of money and being successful at a strategy based game.

So, whats my line? Try to sell the magic and test scores and forget poker? Should I even mention cardrunners? Or maybe I am being ridiculous and having been very succesful in poker, it would benefit me to mention it. Perhaps I should just include poker and my successes on applications for a few slightly more selective colleges to try to stand out?

I need some sort of plan of attack because my grades really aren't good enough to get me into anywhere but a state school, and not a good one at that.