[revlis87]

So this is my first really really important post. I'd like all the help I can get with this decision. Thanks in advance.

So I am 18 years old, freshman at a Big 10 school. I just finished up my first semester, gonna have something like a 3.4 GPA, got a girlfriend etc. But I dont feel like I am getting a lot out of college. Sure I go to classes, am in honors, etc but I somehow got stuck in a [censored] living arrangement - substance free, engineering girls hall (none are even remotely hot/cool - and havent really made a lot of good friends. This is foreign to me, as everywhere i have gone i have had great friends- i have many "best" friends etc and so it sucks. In addition, I am not self motivated enough to do the newspaper or anything likle that. Never have been, not a result of poker. Sometime i bet i will be not now tho. Basically, while studying for my last final I realized i needed to take some time off. I want to live the poker life etc etc. Part of this is I recently qualified for EWSOP on first shot, ran hot at 10-20 won a 30 rebuy etc. But I am also a winning player of 2.5 years, playing a lot and winning for two summers in a row. I play a few hours a day at schoool. I have about 50,000. In a fairly short sample size I am a winner (big) at 10-20 NL and everything from 15-30 liimit to sit and goes up to 215's etc. To make the point short, I am not concerned with my ability to win. I know im a bit over my roll with the 10-20 but i feeel like I can beat it and when i lose at all i go to 5-10 religiously.
I want to take next semester off and move to NYC to play poker at clubs, turning stone, EPT events, and online. My brother goes to Columbia, i know a few girls there, and two of my best friends go to NYU. I will have good friends there, will be able to live an adventure, not have to deal with my boring living situation which makes it hard to meet people, and go back to college next year. Thanks to AP credit I can graduate in 7 semesters anyway.

So I will rent an appt in NYC for like 1,200 a month and see how it goes. If i lose, i go back to school more interested. If i Win i had a hell of an experiance. My grandma told me to go to gamblers annonymous. My mom told me I am caught in the vortex of gambling. My dad says do it. I dont want to regret not doing this.

THIS IS NOT DROPPING OUT OF SCHOOL. I WANT A DEGREE AND I AM GOING TO GET ONE.

So, do I do it or not. Am I forgetting anything in my analysis? I intend to 4 table 5-10 NL, and probably jack it up to 6-8 tables evenntually instead of playing 1 or 2 10-20 short handed tables so my variance is reduced. Again, I dont think skill / bankroll management is really the problem. But is my life going in the right direction?

I am prob going to make a decision tommorow/next 48 hours. What you all contribute will go a long way towards giving me guidance. Thanks in advance.