[bmxicle]

I'm 20 and taking a year off to make more money playing pokah and travel. I have been to aruba, copenhagen, (the poker tournament was mainly just the excuse to go there, its such an awesome city) bahamas twice, hawaii, chamonix. However this is just the start of my travels.

I will be going heli-skiing next week which costs about 12 grand and is something i dreamed of doing maybe once in my life ever since i was a kid, but now i have the ability to do it many times, if not for the rest of my life depending on how poker goes. I will be going back to europe with 3 friends right after heli-skiing for over a month, and we will be doing Europe on a shoestring, which i think will be a really interesting for me cause i'm not used to traveling cheaply. Then i will be going to japan/australia and possibly New Zealand in april. I also hope to get some snowboarding in, in Chile during our summer. So poker has allowed me to travel which is amazing in and of itself, but i really feel like i am gaining a much better perspective of everything by going to all these places.

Money has also helped me socially. Like i don't think people consciously like me more because of my money, but when i buy drinks for everyone, drive them places in my brand new car, and am always available to do stuff 24/7 it definately makes a difference socially.

Poker has also taught me excellent money management skills, so even if poker isn't there i doubt i will ever have money problems in my lifetime. More importantly, i have no idea what i want to do with my life, but poker has given me a huge number of options. I am not forced to go to school and get a degree right away because i can afford to wait and see what i want to do.

The thing i hate the most about being a poker pro is that i have to actually play poker sometimes, but thats about the only downside though i feel like i take advantage of everything else pretty well. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]