[TimM]

Your story has a lot of similarities to mine (except that I am 17 years older).

My grades suffered in my later college years because I spent all my time studying and playing chess - online poker was 10-15 years away. But there was no hope of making a living playing chess for me back then, so I kept working. Now I could easily make a living teaching chess classes and private students, and running tournaments. But that's not quite the same as playing; I'm sure I would hate it.

A friend and I also had an idea to start a business - an internet gaming cafe. We are both into FPS games and he is also a chess teacher, so we were going to do this combined with space for chess classes and tournaments and stuff like that. Maybe I'd even teach poker. We both worked at the same crappy job and wanted out badly. This idea kind of got shelved when I quit last February to play poker, and he left six months later for a middle school teaching job.

I will tell you that when I quit the job, it was like a huge weight lifted off of me. I absolutely hated the job and the manager I was working under. I even had the insomnia you have now. I almost want to advise you to give notice on Monday, but it's not so simple.

The main thing is the uncertain future of online poker. If things were going to stay like they are today forever, I'd say there is no reason for you to spend another day at that job. I suppose this is a risk anyone takes when they start any kind of business. And playing poker for a living is much more like a business than a job, of course.

You would be risking more than I did in quitting the job too. At my age at least I have some work experience I can use if I ever need to get a job again, and the career path you are on now is more valuable than the one I left. That said, you also have the advantage of being fairly young, so starting over is easier.

One thing, if you do go for it with poker, do not settle for a mediocre income. You need to make a lot of extra money to compensate for the risks you are taking. And whichever path you take, don't underestimate how much money you will need when you get older. You'll probably want a house, wife, kids, and you'll want to give them every advantage you can. Save up as much money as you can so that you don't have to be a slave to the loan payments most people in this country get saddled with in this process.