WSOP "My son dropped out of college to internet poker and we're proud? - Page 5

Voltron87 · #41 08-04-2005, 11:06 AM

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parents should not be proud of this, that doesnt mean college kids shouldnt play poker, but if i dropped out of college to play poker professionally unless i become incredibly rich (making 200K a year is not rich) i would view my life as a failure in many ways.

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jebus do you use cristal in your wheaties instead of milk or what? I'd be happy as a pig in sh*t to have that income.

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its not about money, 200k is a ton of money by any standard. im not saying "oh 200k a year isnt enough for me".

happiness and doing something you enjoy > slaving away grinding out online poker

#42 08-04-2005, 12:10 PM

Out of my own curiousity, question for those who have dropped out of college to play or even quit their job to play full-time:

What happened in your poker career that made you realize you can make a living doing this? Did you win a huge online tournament and build from there? Did you work your way up cash games and you are now to a limit that is high enough to pay bills and the variance won't break you?

MrBrightside · #43 08-04-2005, 01:40 PM

yeah, I love how people say 200k a year is not rich. B.S.

lehighguy · #44 08-04-2005, 01:57 PM

You shouldn't try to censor things. Saying ESPN shouldn't broadcast a successful poker student is no different from parents not wanting thier kids taught evolution in schools.

Telling other people how to live thier lives is bad enough. Now you want to prevent them from even being shown alternative lifestyles?

Lastly, ESPN is an entertainment network, not a news channel. They are bound by no ethical perogative to show both sides.

Steve00007 · #45 08-04-2005, 01:59 PM

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Reporting on the dynamics and thoughts of one of the players and his parents is not promoting gambling any more than broadcasting a poker tournament tournament in the first place.
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It may not be promoting gambling any more than broadcasting a poker tournament, but that's not the issue here. Some kids will watch a poker tournament without ever thinking that they should drop out of school to play poker. However, when you bring up the idea during the tournament, and show a person who seems to be successful after making that choice, a lot more people will come up with the idea to also drop out of school to play poker. Even if they don't drop out of school, they may get lazy when it comes to their studies. It's not the promotion of gambling itself that many people could have a problem with; it's the promotion of the idea to drop out of school in order to pursue a gambling career.

TransientR · #46 08-04-2005, 02:18 PM

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parents should not be proud of this, that doesnt mean college kids shouldnt play poker, but if i dropped out of college to play poker professionally unless i become incredibly rich (making 200K a year is not rich) i would view my life as a failure in many ways.

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Why would becoming 'incredibly rich' playing poker make any difference to the merits of the activity? And I'm guessing your criteria for 'incredibly rich' excludes all living poker players, or what can be made playing poker.

And all this piffle about contributing to society....

How many college grads really contribute to the betterment of human kind?

Very few people have the talent to really make a difference to humanity, and most college grads are thinking about making bucks, not improving society.

If you can make a living playing poker and that floats your boat, is that any worse than grinding it out as a miserable mid-level manager/executive for some multinational?

And yes, Bush proves you can underachieve your whole life, and still become the 'leader of the free world.' To which I reply - the first rule of ethical conduct is "do no harm." [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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your post doesnt make much sense. where did i say contributing to mankind? and when i said incredibly rich, i meant if i could have enough money to do whatever i wanted. 200k a year is a ton of money, but it is not wealth. playing poker just doesnt float my boat, i never said it shouldnt for everybody.

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So you don't like poker enough to do it for a living, and poker won't earn you enough money to make you 'incredibly rich,' is that the gist of what you are saying?

Frank

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yes. i love to play poker, i enjoy it, and it is a great source of income for me right now. but it is not what i want to do for the next 30 years of my life. there are other things which interest me.

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Perfectly understandable. I can also see why some of these night-and-day multitabling folks burn out.

When you have more dreams about cards than dreams about sex [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Frank

Voltron87 · #47 08-04-2005, 03:40 PM

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yeah, I love how people say 200k a year is not rich. B.S.

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youre missing the point. 200k is a ton of money, much more than enough to live well, but it is not wealth.

jedi · #48 08-04-2005, 03:51 PM

I heard of a guy who dropped out of college and "gambled" on starting his own business from his garage.

His name was Bill Gates. Wonder what happened to him.

DarthIgnurnt · #49 08-04-2005, 04:18 PM

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.His name was Bill Gates. Wonder what happened to him.

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I think I heard he grinds out a living at $3/6 limit holdem tables.

GambleAB · #50 08-04-2005, 04:21 PM

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Out of my own curiousity, question for those who have dropped out of college to play or even quit their job to play full-time:

What happened in your poker career that made you realize you can make a living doing this? Did you win a huge online tournament and build from there? Did you work your way up cash games and you are now to a limit that is high enough to pay bills and the variance won't break you?

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Thats the other amusing thing, I didn't "drop out of college TO play poker". I dropped out after my freshman year (19.5) because I knew that I would never want to work for someone else. I knew that I would never have a problem putting in a 40, 50, 60, 70 hours a week working at something, but doing so to make OTHER people rich just didn't sit right with me. It took me a year (20.5) before I discovered that poker could be played over the long term for a profit, and another 6 months (21) of studying before I actually started playing "for real".