Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

I have found that I play poker way too often instead of doing normal freshman activities in college. I've missed out on few parties and beer/pizza nights, but my academic work is slipping. I've especially been doing my papers late at night and into the morning the night before they are due (but im sure lots of kids do this!) I'm tired in class the next day, and I feel terrible. And I've missed my 8a.m. class twice when I can only miss it 3 times before I lose a grade. (By the way, im not gambling and on tilt and losing, I'm doing it by the book and making money [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]. I'm still at the .5/1 4 tabling, I havent moved to NL to make up money or anything.) I just like doing this instead of working at the library or something boring. Should I cut back on poker a lot, or is there another way to do this, ie, a schedule that I can set up? I enjoy poker, but I don't want to miss out on something that I would have while im playing. I truly hope that this is not an addiction, but if it is somebody point it out.


edit: I'd like to point out that I have no thought of dropping out of college to play poker, the title of the post can be misleading.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

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I have found that I play poker way too often instead of doing normal freshman activities in college. I've missed out on few parties and beer/pizza nights,

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Huge mistake. Enjoy college. If you are lucky, it will be the best 5 or 6 years of your life. Chase girls, party, join a frat and live! Poker will there when you are done

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but my academic work is slipping. I've especially been doing my papers late at night and into the morning the night before they are due (but im sure lots of kids do this!) I'm tired in class the next day, and I feel terrible. And I've missed my 8a.m. class twice when I can only miss it 3 times before I lose a grade.

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This behavior must stop. Nut up. You don't want to get expelled and work delivering snacks to a 7/11 during the day and playing $0.01/$0.02 limit at night.


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(By the way, im not gambling and on tilt and losing, I'm doing it by the book and making money [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]. I'm still at the .5/1 4 tabling, I havent moved to NL to make up money or anything.) I just like doing this instead of working at the library or something boring.

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Good for you. I wish you continued success.

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Should I cut back on poker a lot, or is there another way to do this, ie, a schedule that I can set up? I enjoy poker, but I don't want to miss out on something that I would have while im playing. I truly hope that this is not an addiction, but if it is somebody point it out.

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You might not be addicted, but if you have to post this on a poker forum I think you may need to scale back your playing to a set number of hours per week.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

Nicely Put!

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

I didn't start playing (online) until I was a sophomore, but this was 4 years ago at this point.

Here's how I swung it though for most of college: Have paper/programming assignment/powerpoint presentation up in the forefront. Have two tables (2 cash, 2 SnGs, 1 MTT 1 SnG, etc.) in back.

If I was really trying to focus on my school work I'd cut back to one table, or just have one table of the highest limit available going (just watching).

As far as hanging out and meeting people in college, play poker BEFORE and AFTER you go out (if drunk, I'd recommend staying at the lower limits). Maybe take some of your college buddies and enter NL live tournarments or live cash games (we've got 18+ card rooms here in WA).

I wouldn't trade poker for the fun I had in college though. Poker was about 10-15% of the fun I had in college.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

It sounds like you enjoy poker more than school work. I suggest you drop out and turn pro.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

if your drop out you can play poker and go to parties!

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

you are one to make snide remarks for sure.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

If you win you are disciplined. If you are disciplined you can schedule poker into your weekly routine.

Do that, and stick to the schedule you actually define. Because you are a winner and disciplined, right??

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

If you neglect your education to play poker, you will regret it. It could be that your classes are worthless, and you won't need your grades for anything later, but it is much more likely that you are making a huge mistake.

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I'm still at the .5/1 4 tabling, I havent moved to NL to make up money or anything.

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How much are you making doing that, $8/hour, or $16k/year at 2000 hours/year? That's not a good trade for the time you have in college.

For an exercise, calculate your tuition per term. Calculate how much time you have in class. Divide the former by the latter to see how much you are paying per hour of class time. At my schools, this ranged from $30/hour to $120/hour. Don't skip class to play poker.

I suggest that you put a cap on the amount of time you allow yourself to play poker each week. Ten hours is plenty.

On the other hand, part of the college experience for most people is learning what happens if you fail. Poker is one way to do that.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

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I have found that I play poker way too often instead of doing normal freshman activities in college. I've missed out on few parties and beer/pizza nights,

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First off, I had some of my best times and memories in college. I have only been out a few years and wish that I could go back. I got to go back to work a career fair for my company and it made me realize that I did not take advantage enough when I was there. I think of how many fun times I had chasing girls and hanging with friends my freshman year. DON'T WASTE ANTOHER SECOND PLAYING 0.50/1.00 ONLINE!

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but my academic work is slipping. I've especially been doing my papers late at night and into the morning the night before they are due (but im sure lots of kids do this!) I'm tired in class the next day, and I feel terrible. And I've missed my 8a.m. class twice when I can only miss it 3 times before I lose a grade.

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Don't let your school work slip! Your college degree is your meal ticket. I don't care what people say, there are very very few people that live comfortably off poker winnings. Let's say that you graduate and start making around 44k your first year out (depending on what you are studying), do you really think you can match that with around 40 hours a week of poker? Are you going to get benefits? Will that give you mental stimualtion? Job staisfaction? Will a girl want to date you knowing you offer no security? What if you burn out and want to do something else, what opportunities do you have? You get the ponit here....

I was an engineering major, so my grades mattered, I managed to pull off a pretty good GPA considering all the partying I did (anything in sciences 3.0+ will get you in the job market). So if you are in a science oriented major your grades count! It is a competition! My roomie was first in his class of areospace and ocean engieering for 2 reasons 1. he was a genius 2. he was disiplined. There are plenty of smart people out there, but what seperates them in life and success is disipline and focus. He would wake up every Sunday and go to the library and do class work regardless of whether or not he had an assignment due, for at least 3 hours.

School is your job right now, your full time job. If you focus on your school work and build dicipline it will help you in your "future poker career". Stimulate your mind academically and you will find it will help you in all aspects of life if you can apply it (but maybe not spelling).

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(By the way, im not gambling and on tilt and losing, I'm doing it by the book and making money . I'm still at the .5/1 4 tabling, I havent moved to NL to make up money or anything.) I just like doing this instead of working at the library or something boring.

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Go to the library! It is the best place to study, there is no temptation of getting online and screwing around. College is expensive, don't waste the money you are paying. If you are lucky enough to have parents that are paying don't waste thier money, if you are paying for it trust me it will take a long time to pay back those loans! I am glad that you are winning, but it won't add up to all that you will be losing monitarly (you implied life earnings is being determined right now!) and socailly (you will never find as much easy tail and good buds in one place....ever). Your time will be up faster than you can imagine and there will be no going back! Poker will always be there.

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Should I cut back on poker a lot, or is there another way to do this, ie, a schedule that I can set up? I enjoy poker, but I don't want to miss out on something that I would have while im playing. I truly hope that this is not an addiction, but if it is somebody point it out.


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Don't give up playing, just give up the online crap. Become proactive. Find some friends, set up some postings and create a poker group. Take the initiative to organize a weekly poker group. Pick a night when you don't have an early class the next day and set-up a couple tables somewhere, order pizza, take an extra $5 off everyones buy-in and pay for the beer and pizza. Have a NL tourney for $20+5 and a slow blind structure so you can all play for a while and enjoy a social evening with friends. If you spend $25 you will save big money as opposed to going out and hitting the bars or other alternatives. So you have a cheap, fun, social evening while getting your poker fix! Hell, make it a club and dub yourself the president and put it on your resume!

Sorry this is lengthy, I just don't want to see you make a huge mistake. Freshman year defines the rest of your college career....you are in the fetal stage of college so to speak. Have fun, go out, catch the clap, do anything but stare at a monitor for hours on end, but keep your acedemics your number one priority! You have the rest of your life to stare at a monitor....trust me. If this advice can help you in any way than it was worth my lunch break. Let me know how it goes and good luck [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

AND GO HOKIES!

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

Dude...as a recent college grad, make the most of your college years, cuz as soon as you're out and working full time, you wanna go back to getting drunk and [censored] around all the time w/ your buddies.

Nonetheless...the reason that you're missing your 8 am classes is because they're at 8 am. Freshmen always make the mistake of scheduling early classes. As you get older (i.e. 2nd semester frosh or sophmore) you get wise and schedule classes later. Eventually as a senior, I had class only on Tues. and Thursday from 10-4 with a couple evenings. That worked pretty well for my grades and my social life. You'll find the schedule that works for you.

What I think you should do, and this is what me and my buddies did all the time, is organize a home game in someone's room of 8 or so guys and play a real game for $20/wk. That'll get you better experience playing against real people and it's a social event.

Good luck Bud.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

i was going through some of the same things that you talked about last year. I made a mistake of playing to much poker and had to withdraw from a few classes and also got a couple of sub par marks that hurt my gpa.

I think that its natrual for young kids to get hooked on something when they see a chance to make $ playing a 'game'.

I promised myself that this was not gonna happen this year and so far it has worked. I played a fair amount during the summer and i have learned to treat poker as a part time job now, instead of just playing whenever i feel like it. I only play a few hrs a week now (10-15) which lets me make some money and also does not take over my life.

As one poster has suggested the $ that comes with a degree will be a lot more than playing 2-4 poker right now. I think that you can (and should) still play poker because it is a good way for college kids to make some cash.

I also like the idea of having a poker social night. This allows you to both play and hang out with your friends.

I really think that things will be ok for you. The fact that you are aware of a possible problem is a good sign. I wish you the best of luck.

ejay

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

I was exactly in your spot except for the missing parties part. As of right now, school is WAY more important than poker. You're playing MICRO STAKES! That is not real money. Unless your hourly goes over $50/hr, concentrate school.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

please listen to play2win, that's prbably some of the best advice I have heard from anyone in a logn time. Thanks play, it helped me as well as I am in a somewhat similar situation to the original poster.

Clark

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

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I was exactly in your spot except for the missing parties part. As of right now, school is WAY more important than poker. You're playing MICRO STAKES! That is not real money. Unless your hourly goes over $200/hr, concentrate school.

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FYP

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

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if your drop out you can play poker and go to parties!

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Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

I am glad that I could offer a perspective that you found valuable. I have only been out just under two years, and at my first "real" job for about 9 months. Trust me it is worth it! My poker advice might be off sometimes, but I have at least been successful in doing this and can offer a first hand experience. I actually dropped out at one point and came back to finish up, it was the best move I have made to date. Study hard and party hard! [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

I know it might sound kind of gay coming from a guy, but reading this post made me all warm and fuzzy inside seeing how so many people who have never met each other and probably never will in their lives are offering help (yes, I guess there really are some nice people in this world) to each other so that the other will put their hardships behind them.

I've been in the same boat for a good 1-2 years now with poker and school, and personally I realize I should be working harder on my studies, but you honestly do only live once, and you should never regret something you did, just learn from your mistakes and move on with life. You may be getting worse grades in your classes which may seem like the end of the world to some of us, but in reality, if your able to make it to college, you probably still have a strong mindset and can fathom just having some rough grades in college. Playing Poker and slacking in grades is not nearly the worst of possible choices we could be making in life. Turn on the TV and you can't miss but seeing people who don't even have enough $ to consider playing poker online (let alone having a computer). There are people who are killing, dealing drugs, and scamming their employees in business, and I don't think playing poker into the wee hours in the morning is that large of a sin that you could be making.

Just my 2 cents.

HBomb

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

just play enough poker at the right times so you have $$ for beer and other [censored]. concentrate on getting good grades and bangin' girls [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

Yes, I agree with you HBomb, it is a little cheesy. I also agree that playing poker is not a sin, there is absolutley nothing morally wrong with playing poker.

All morality aside, you have made a commitment to earn a degree. Why not do it the best that you can? The chances of making a living playing poker are slim. The chances of you forming a successful and profitable career as a professonal are very good, and very real. In fact you are laying the ground work right now!

In a few years you will be trying to get your first real job, where you will earn real money! I have been fortunate to be invloved in the hiring process because our engieering department is so small. Sometimes all that seperates a canidate from another is a few tenths of a GPA. If doing a little better in school and having a few more solid interpersonal relationships, is going to make you 10k a year more and help you get that job a few months earlier, why would you not strive for that? I don't think you will impress anyone by breaking out a spread sheet showing your winnings over the past few years after they check your 2.0 GPA.

But it is no sin! Maybe this is all because I miss college. But it is nice to converse with friendly people as opposed to the overly harsh chatter found in online gaming. One thing for sure is that we are all lucky. You are lucky to have the opportunity to go to college and have a computer. The question is what are you going to do with this lucky opportunity that you are only going to get once? [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

Hi egocide, i'm coming to this thread a little late. I want to echo what the other posters have said. In college i wasted a lot of opportunities because i was too busy playing computer games to get out and do stuff. (Now it's poker for me, but there's really little difference at the limits you're playing at.) I'd kick the habit for a while and have a wonderful time with friends, then drop back into it when things got bad.

Now, I've been out of school for two years. By the way, yes I got a degree but I'm not happy doing what I'm doing now. I want to get into law school but my grades are awful from college (2.5), mostly because I spent too much time on a pointless hobby.

You're a freshman. Don't repeat my mistake. I missed out, and continue to miss out, on countless opportunities because of my computer. If you have the discipline to not play 27 os UTG, then you should be able to find the discipline to limit yourself to an hour a day, or whatever you find is necessary to keep school and your social life in balance. Good luck.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

Concentrate on your school. Odds are, that will be much more EV than any money you are winning now.

When you graduate, you will have to make money - but you don't have to now. Enjoy school.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

wow. sure wish i read this thread before i started uni (thats what we call it in australia =P), good post play2win.

i messed about all through uni, got crap grades and wished that i had done better. after doing an IT degree, i was left working 4 nightshifts a week at a net cafe. it was crap.

i lucked out and got a good job about 6 months after i graduated.

if you want a poker analogy, it was like hitting that two outer in a 40BB pot on the river. but if you just protected your hand with agressive play in the early rounds you wouldn't be in the situation where you have to pray for the slim outs. ok, that was pathetic but you get the idea. =P

PS. yes i am aware that in a 40BB pot there arnt many hands you will be folding on the river for an extra bet. ^_^

im so tired this morning....

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

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Go to the library! It is the best place to study, there is no temptation of getting online and screwing around.

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Hey old man, they have this thing called wireless internet now.

Kidding, I saw that you have only been out a couple years. Still made me laugh, though, becuase the library is often where i got to focus on POKER, not school work.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

I'm a senior in college right now and find it tough to pass my classes even also I am drinking to relax and not that much to be social + I have not been giving my girl basically any attention and I feel bad about it....before I started playing I had a 3.3 GPA, my 1st 3 years and got lots of girls.

Don't let poker control you, in college. Seriously. It happened to me the last year and I regret it. freshman year should be one of the best years of your life. Don't think about poker. If you were playing higher stakes I would consider droping out of shcool. Right now, I would honesly advise you to only play on weekends. You will miss out on things money can't buy if you let poker control you. At least for me personally I could not make it through school for 4 years playing online poker a lot. Most people would end up failing out or getting crappy grades and having lost their college years. I am being honest. I really don't want to see anyone waste this time.

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

do your schoolwork first
have a social life second
play poker third

it's worked for me for 4 years - it can work for you [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

Why you writing this? Go party away, have some fun, stop writing on the forums instead of partying [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Playing Poker instead of being a Freshman
 

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PS. yes i am aware that in a 40BB pot there arnt many hands you will be folding on the river for an extra bet. ^_^

im so tired this morning....

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Just for fun: OESD draw that double pairs on the turn but hits your 2 outer straight flush on the river?