I want to turn pro after college

[mak15]

I don't really know why I'm making this post. I know there are millions of turning pro threads all the time, but I think mine at least doesn't have any obvious parts that illicit, "you're an idiot, don't turn pro" responses, but I suppose I'll ( maybe deservedly?) get some.

OK, so I'm a Junior at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. If you don't know, it's the best undergraduate business school in the world and after you graduate you are supposed to go work 100 hours a week as an investment banker. Well, I really don't like school and I'm pretty much sure I won't like any job related to what I'm studying, or any other traditional job for that matter. I basically slide by with the bare minimum at school. I have a 3.0 gpa at this point, but I basically never go to class and just cram right before tests. I was a better student freshman year, but not much better, and have gotten slightly worse every semester.

I play poker well. I'm currently playing mostly 6max 3/6 and 5/10 NL. I've won 6 figures this year without playing that much at all. I enjoy poker, this summer I was playing a lot and did have times where I was sick of it, but certainly nowhere near how sick I got of my job working at a Hedge Fund the summer before. I have plenty of money for a bankroll and a lot of savings from both poker and the fact that when I was born my parents put away enough money that would cover 4 years in college into a fund with my name on it. Since the market has done far better than escalation of college prices in the last 20 years, I entered college with enough money to cover 4 years and have money left over.

The problems of course are the normal ones:

I'm somewhat afraid of the legislation- I have little desire to grind it out in a casino although moving out of the country if need be is not out of the question at all.

I'm somewhat afraid of burnout and obviously if I play poker for a few years after college it's going to be hard to get a job. Does anyone know what it would be like if say 3 years after graduating I wanted to get a job? Could I still get a job near the type of job I could've gotten at graduation?

My parents obviously wouldn't love the idea but they would be supportive so I'm not too worried. I have a serious girlfriend at the moment, and she doesn't love the prospect but I'm fairly certain I could convince her that Poker is pretty safe IF we were going to get engaged or something. I actually think one of the plusses of playing professionaly would be the ability to spend time with my future wife and kids whenever I wanted, specifically being able to do things like coach my kids sports teams and such.

So ya, I guess I'm just wondering what people think of my situation. I find that I have little incentive to work in school since I sorta plan on becoming a pro after college. I have no plans to dropout since it's not like i'm killing myself here and it's obviously a good idea to have the diploma just in case.

summary / cliff notes: I'm a junior and am sort of planning to turn pro after college. I've made 6 figures from minimal play this year and have a lot of money saved up. Tell me why I shouldn't turn pro or tell me that I should.

To emphasize, if you are in position to hire students out of business school, specifically for trading, banking, and such jobs. What's the difference and how big is it between a senior in college and a 25 year old guy who has been playing poker for the last 3 years?

[JKratzer]

get your degree. give poker a shot. if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, no big deal - go get a real job. i don't know how much more difficult that would be, but my guess is not much. if you don't you'll always regret it. i graduated 18 months ago and put off med school to play pro. there's good and bad things, recent legislation being pretty bad, but i'm happy with my decision. pm me if you want, i'll try to answer any questions you come up wiht.

jkratzer

[G_Dollaz]

I'd definitely say you should give it a shot going pro right out of school man, why not, I graduated in May and am glad I turned pro, it's great money, tons of freedom, etc, etc....

the legislation is obviously a big downside, but we really don't know what's going to happen, my plans are as follows: I plan on traveling the country these next 9 months while still playing online, then if the ban gets enfroced prob go to grad school in Canada or the UK for a year or 2, and then if it boils down to it I'll come back and get a real job.....

personally, I'm the type of person that takes the chance doing what I want, I'm never going to sit back 20 years from now and wonder "what if _____", I've already done this on a number of occasions in my life, and I'm happy w/ the way everything has turned out.... traditionally you're not "supposed" to come out of a school like that and play poker for a living, but who cares, do what's best for you... if that's what's going to make you happy, do it... you can always give it a shot and if you're not happy w/ it go and get a real job... just my 2 cents... feel free to PM me too if you have any other questions

[BradleyT]

I'll be the contrarian and say take the job for 1-2 years. During this time save as much as humanly possible for when you turn pro. The only downside is that online poker may not be possible at all after 2 years - well in that case you'd be looking for a job anyway and now you already have one.

[govman6767]

You sound like Maurice Clarett to me. ( I'm not insulting you either)

Going to a good school sounds like you have a great future.
Maurice Clarett was going to a good school and had a good future in the NFL ahead of him.

You think your ready to quit school and go pro make you dreams come true.
Maurice clarett left college early in order to make his rich NFL dreams come true.

Maurice clarett is a failed loser who is in jail.

I'm not busting your balls this was a super extreme example.

But use some mason or david logic.

Finish School W/Degree = +$$$$$$$$$$ good future
no matter what happens in your career you will have something to FALL ON. And no matter how well you OR OTHERS claim to do they usually need that something to fall on.

Finishing school is a long term winner no matter what happens in life.

One other thing YOUR PARENTS saved that money for your schooling your college is the T.V. Car. R.V. Boat that your parents never got to have won't not finishing school be like screwing them out of all the things they could have had. If you do go pro and make 6 figures the first thing you should do is give back all the money they saved for your college and the extra left over.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

[mak15]

govman- i fully plan on finishing school, i stated that in my original post.

[govman6767]

[ QUOTE ]
govman- i fully plan on finishing school, i stated that in my original post.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know but I just thought of that Maurice Clarett Comparison and I did not know if I could ever use it again.

You have to admit it was good [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I made 100k this year 6months abroad though and I have 20k of it to show for. After bills taxes rent....did I say taxes.

If you can turn pro and only declare half your income your better off than the rest of us schmucks.

On a less serious note I had a chance to turn pro when I was at the 1-3 stud game at the el cortez. I figured it out if I could grind out a 27 dollar a day profit I could pay for my room at the Western and still eat prime rib every day. Alas my 48 dollar bankroll gave out a few hours in. And my mom would not give me anymore money so I lost my one PURE chance at turning pro........

Don't give up yours [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] GL

[iggymcfly]

Sounds like your good to go; you certainly have the ability to play poker professionally, and if you'd rather do that then be an investment banker, then go for it.

My only question for you is how opposed are you to playing live for a living? I doubt online poker will shut down altogether, but if it does, could you see yourself moving to LA or Las Vegas to play live for a living? Would that be preferable to being an investment banker?

I guess it really doesn't matter though if you said you'd be willing to leave the country. This way, you've got lots of options to fall back on if things don't work out, so I really see no need to waste time on some boring job.

I'm actually in a somewhat similar situation as I've been averaging $7,500 a month for the last 4 months, and I dropped out of school a few months ago after deciding that my potential career was unendingly boring. I'm not as attached to online play though, and I'm thinking I'll eventually move at least part time to either Vegas or LA.

[toots]

[ QUOTE ]
I think mine at least doesn't have any obvious parts that illicit, "you're an idiot, don't turn pro" responses, but I suppose I'll ( maybe deservedly?) get some.


[/ QUOTE ]

Except maybe that part. Sorry. Couldn't resist. Just me being a misanthropic pedantic douchebag.

Seriously, sounds like the first year or two AFTER you get your degree is the ideal time to give this a shot. Either you'll make a living out of it and find that it really suits you, or you'll get it out of your system.

[Gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll be the contrarian and say take the job for 1-2 years. During this time save as much as humanly possible for when you turn pro. The only downside is that online poker may not be possible at all after 2 years - well in that case you'd be looking for a job anyway and now you already have one.

[/ QUOTE ]

If he is going to work as an investment banker working 100 hours a week he won't have time to ever play poker. If he tried working already in a hedge fund and hated it, what makes you think that doing what he hated 100 hours a week is going to be any better?