[jws43yale]

First thing that came to mind when reading this is you talking about makin $150k if you played 40 hrs a week. Sounds like you are a solid player, but I will tell you from experience it is nearly impossible to sustain those hours. I had a month where I tried it and it becomes miserable after awhile.

Onto your other points. I know the idea of online poker sounds amazing with the freedom it brings. But I think that the resume gap could be a big problem down the line. Hopefully poker will be legalized in the US and then you ability to make more money will increase, but who knows how likely the scenario is. With your grades it sounds like you should be able to get into a great business school. I know moving etc. would be tough with the girlfriend and all, but I think getting an MBA and playing poker might be your best bet. After four years of playing poker, you may not be able to get into the same type of school etc. I think you may be better off trying to get an MBA and playing while in school. You definitely will not be as busy as you would with your current job, and you would not be limiting your opportunities for the future. You could hopefully put away anotheer $100k on top of paying for school by playing and then have yourself set-up to get a great job or do something on your own. I doubt the poker situation will be worse in two years, so you can always go back to that after getting an MBA if you ultimately decide that is what you want to do.

I just don't recommend putting all your eggs in the poker basket for now and banking on your ability to live off that income or start your own business through it in the future. Unfortunately poker is no longer like it was two years ago, with people banking $300k-$500k a year. So unless you have a great plan for how you will diversify from poker in 4-5 years and support yourself, I would take the route of more education.