A trend I want to kick... (poker content but life application)

[ggbman]

So a little relevant background... I am a junior at Bentley College and have been playing poker for a few years. I have done well enough to give me a nice head start in life and am probably good enough to make a comfortable living from poker barring a huge change in game conditions. However, i do not want to play poker for a living for a very long time. In my ideal world, i would play poker as my primary source of income for another 3-4 years and then have it take a backseat to real estate which would be my main job, and i could supplement my income playing 10-15 hours a week of poker. There are a few issues i am having though, and i am just seeking some general advice even if it seems obvious or an experience you have had isn't exactly the same but has some similarities...

1.) The thing that bothers me the most is that I feel that i use my success through poker as an excuse to make dumb mistakes and not learn from them. I should be doing better in school, I should never being paying penalties and interest on taxes for being unorganized, etc... 3 Years ago i would have killed to be in the position that i am in right now, but i am letting poker close avenues for me instead of opening them.


2.) Over the summers when poker is my only responsibility, i am able to stick to my plans pretty well, get in a lot of hands, and my results are typically very good. But when i return to school, knowing that i am going to get in less hours, i seem to have less discipline and be more degenerate. (I game select poorly and have played online blackjack 5 times in the last year which has proved to be costly [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]) I feel as if poker takes away from my concentration on school, and then i try to compensate by doing really well at poker to make myself feel like thats ok.

3.) I am doing a better job attending classes and paying attention to schoolwork this year because it's an important year for me, but i still don't think i am doing it well enough relative to how much focus is placed on poker. Those of you who play poker and have a job or are still in school, do you have any system that you feel helps you balance them well? I have always just really gone about it by trying get a decent number of hours in and then jamming schoolwork in however it fits (staying up late, waking up early, etc..)

4.) Poker takes away from my ability to form solid backup options, which is bad since i don't want to play poker forever. I pay for most of my own school which is a huge investment, and i feel like i am letting it go to waste. The major the interests me the most is finance, but it is probably the most difficult and i didn't think i would get competitive grades to get top jobs despite putting in more school hours, so i went with management which should be easier and caters to my strengths a bit more in regards to how materials are graded. (Given how much work i currently do, i do better on case studies on essays than exams) I still think i will get a minor in finance though to keep that door open to some extent. My girlfriend was also a management major but got tons of offers in finance because her internship had finance stuff involved, so i feel like i am not totally closing that window to myself, yet still feel like i might be copping out.

Now while I have been pretty hard on myself here, don’t get the impression that I’m not optimistic or happy with myself on the whole. I know that I have worked extremely hard to be in this position, but I don’t want to let that stop me from being real with myself when it comes to making some changes. I am getting into real estate gradually (I bought a condo which I already has a tenant as a rental property and am purchasing a good fixer-up property with a partner) I just feel like for whatever reason, I encounter situations where I know what I should do/need to do, yet don’t bring myself to do so. I don’t know if this is me being jaded from poker, immature, or something else. I know this is pretty long and rambles a bit, but I wanted to put my thoughts in writing and see if anyone has some input here.

[ahnuld]

In terms of number 3 its really easy; Just dont play until all your work is done.

[HiBaCHi]

Yeah I know how you feel about #2. When you know you can't play as much as you want and when you do play you are tired or w/e it can be really bad. I went through the same thing last year and w/ similar results. Horrible game selection, tilting easily, blowing off steam flipping. Will be interested how other ppl deal w/ this.

[ggbman]

But what constitutes "Done"? I mean, obviously that means assignments due the next day, but what about reading assignments for a class in 4 days and long term projects? Rationing this work is what really ends up killing me. I also find that in general, i have trouble keeping my focus on textbook reading and just end up doing ineffective skimming. Do you have a specific amount of work you have to do on things not due for a while?

[ahnuld]

I make sure to always be ahead of the class readings. For example, normally in the course outlines it will say we are covering subject blah blah next class (chapters 2,3). So ill make sure to read those chapters the day before (or earlier). Unless you are taking a reduced course load you should be reading a chapter or two every night if you decide to keep up. So do that, take care of assignments when you can, and play cards only after. I cant tell you an exact amount of time necessary to study. Normally in midterm or finals season im in the library 12 hours a day (sometimes for 4 weeks straight) and dont play any cards at all. You just need to figure out how much work is required to get an A and make sure you do that for every course.

[SlowHabit]

Do what makes you happy but do think about it.

For example, playing poker when a good game is on makes you happy because you can win lots of moneys. However, after winning that money, you realize that you haven't done anything for school and if stacking a donk won't overcome this sadness, then you better off reading before raising.

When I was in college, I would play play play because having moneys make me happy. I was ok with mediocre grades because I know I won't be using the degree anyway. I completed the degree for pride purposes. Now this doesn't mean I want to play poker for a living for the rest of my life. It just at that moment, and for the future forecast that I could imagine, money is what I needed most, not straight As.

Lastly, the only way I can think of overcoming the "laziness" that comes with poker success is not to make excuses. If things go wrong, it's your fault. I don't want to hear excuses. Even if there are legitimate reasons why you didn't accomplish what you set out to do, it's still your fault if shiet doesn't get done. I find having this mentality makes me work harder and enhance my discipline.

[ggbman]

It sounds like you a great student... i am curious how many hands a month you end up getting in while having such good work ethic with your studies? Last year i probably averaged like 45-50k hands/mo while in school, by goal this year was to reduce it to about 60% of that to allow for more school time. My issue is that if i dont get in like 30k hands in a month i feel like i am leaving too much money on the table (even tho i would prolly make more $$$ if i played only when i should) and so i end up doing school work when i am not sharp and rushed, which obviously needs to change.

[ggbman]

[ QUOTE ]
Do what makes you happy but do think about it.

For example, playing poker when a good game is on makes you happy because you can win lots of moneys. However, after winning that money, you realize that you haven't done anything for school and if stacking a donk won't overcome this sadness, then you better off reading before raising.

When I was in college, I would play play play because having moneys make me happy. I was ok with mediocre grades because I know I won't be using the degree anyway. I completed the degree for pride purposes. Now this doesn't mean I want to play poker for a living for the rest of my life. It just at that moment, and for the future forecast that I could imagine, money is what I needed most, not straight As.

Lastly, the only way I can think of overcoming the "laziness" that comes with poker success is not to make excuses. If things go wrong, it's your fault. I don't want to hear excuses. Even if there are legitimate reasons why you didn't accomplish what you set out to do, it's still your fault if shiet doesn't get done. I find having this mentality makes me work harder and enhance my discipline.

[/ QUOTE ]

The first two paragraphs sound like the way i think a lot... it's just that when poker is less stellar than i would like i get nervous about my future for a bit in case i dont segway into something else sucessfully. I also agree with your points about holding yourself accountable, it is very true and when i do that with poker it always works, so it should with other things as well i suppose!

[keikiwai]

what about setting aside X number of hours for each?

like making a schedule - you should know pretty exactly how many hours a day you need to hit 30K hands or whatever a month so you can make a rigid X number of hours of poker a day

you're not really sure how long you have to study every day, so you should make a ball park estimate and never study less (so that you can get long term reading and stuff done) but if necessary study more

probably best to schedule your day so that you do your school hours first, and then your poker, and if you don't do school one day you don't do poker

and obv. you have to be willing to shift things around given how fluid things are at college

[Keyser.]

Is school really that important to you? Or do you just think school should be important to you so you feel guilty for not trying harder. further, why is school so important to you?

It seems as if you're having success in poker and plan to be self-employed in the real estate field. I'm not telling you to drop out, but I just think you should feel less guilty about not trying harder because in the back of your mind you probably realize your life will fundamentally be the same if you graduate with a 3.0 instead of a 4.0, given your current plans.