[Mercman572]

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FWIW, I played poker this summer to support myself. I started grad school this fall, so there was no real need for me to get a real job just for the summer. I would suggest trying to improve and move up. It is more fun when you can make $50/hr and only have to "work" a few hours a day.

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Is there a downside to playing poker this summer instead of working?

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So, you are currently in law school? I would think that working some kind of internship (atleast volunteer) would do more for you career than poker. I think having a career related summer job and playing poker in the evening would be a better plan. Not sure how the job/internship situation works in NZ though.

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I completely agree. I played basically to support myself through the second half of freshman year in college last year and through the summer. I had a summer job as well but I made 1600 in the summer from online play at the 25NL. Thing is I really don't enjoy playing half the time now. Part of that probably is because I've moved up to 100NL and its a little more excruciating going through downswings when it's your only source of income, but alot of it is in the volume of play. What I've found is that in high volume of play it's easier to get caught in ruts with small leaks that become costly so be careful of that.

Also, that winrate is quite high. I had 15PTBB/100 after a 12k hands and thought I was superman but it was down to 12 by 15k hands. Might have dipped lower if I didn't move up in stakes.