Poker now, education... later

[gomberg]

Wow - you just described my life as well...

Jeff

[Al Schoonmaker]

Part II of my "Don't take poker too seriously" series will appear very soon in our Internet Magazine. It states that I've seen far too many people struggling with mortgages, jobs, children, and night school trying to get degrees they could have gotten easily when younger.

That pattern is MUCH worse outside the US. The American educational system makes it quite easy to go back to university. We have immeasurably more night schools than most countries, and they welcome older students.

From your post I believe you are from a country which is MUCH less open to older entrants. If so, you may not have a viable Plan B.

One more point. The fact that you can beat today's soft games (and you do NOT have enough data to be sure) means almost nothing. Tomorrow's games will be much tougher, and countless players are winning now only because there are so many fish. When the games get tougher, you may be unable to make a living.

Without a Plan B you may be risking your entire life.

Regards,

Al

[Noose]

[ QUOTE ]
That pattern is MUCH worse outside the US. The American educational system makes it quite easy to go back to university. We have immeasurably more night schools than most countries, and they welcome older students.

[/ QUOTE ]

I live in Finland and it's no problem here either. You can go to school when you're retired if you feel like improving yourself.


[ QUOTE ]
One more point. The fact that you can beat today's soft games (and you do NOT have enough data to be sure) means almost nothing. Tomorrow's games will be much tougher, and countless players are winning now only because there are so many fish. When the games get tougher, you may be unable to make a living.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, that is true. I've thought about that and naturally I'm not going to be satisfied with the level of play I'm playing right now. I'm trying to move up limits like I have said before in this thread, and that of course has something to do with improving your game, too. I believe that I can improve my play by playing a lot of hands and learning from them. That's how the game works (at least in my levels) - learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat.

Naturally when the game gets tougher, you have to have wider variety of weapons to use. Everytime I play I try to learn something - and the more I learn - the better player I get.

If I took up studying right now, it would take time from playing poker and I couldn't improve myself as a player as much as I can now. Right? "Ceskylev" pointed out earlier that getting educated and being a poker pro aren't mutually exclusive. Well, for some people it isn't, but for me it is. I can not do two things full steam at the same time, because I'm the kind of nature who has to concentrate on one thing properly. Like some can read a book and do dozen of things at the same time - I have to concentrate on the book so that I get something out of it. One activity will always take time from the other, and that education + poker equation doesn't even have the social life included. There's only 24 hours in a day and you have to live and sleep at some point too.

Like you said Al, the games probably don't get any softer than they are now. I think that now is the perfect time to play poker and build the bankroll to move bigger limits in the future.

Anyway, like I said that I made a deal with my folks that I'm going to see this year if it works out (= am I a winning player by a good margin or not). If not, then just poker as a hobby. If yes, then continue playing poker full time. I'm basically thinking it like "what harm can a year do?"

Right now I think that I'm in some kind of "above average" online player at the limits that I play in - which are small. When I get more experience, get more hands, learn more and so on, I believe that I've got the wits to beat the mid-limits as well. If I do that, I can make a good living and still be improving my game and continue moving up the ladder. I know that right now I'm feeding from the losing players, but of course I'm looking ways to beat the ones who are profitable players like me.

The bottom line is that I can always study. I can't always play poker as soft as it is right now and get experience in poker and make a decent living at the same time. I feel like this is the time for me to try it out, as I'm still living at home and nobody's kicking me out of the house yet. For me it's a "low risk, high reward" kind of a situation.

[plaster8]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks, nice getting something from that point of view as well.

I've been doing that "getting published" thing for about four years now and I enjoy it, so naturally I'm going to continue doing it. I do about 20-25 recaps, news and some articles/interviews per year for a hockey publication, so I'm keeping my pen sharp.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm very glad to hear this. Keep it up. I would suggest branching out from the hockey publication if you get the chance, however. It's nice to have clips from a variety of publications sometimes. Show you can do different things.

[tripp0807]

[ QUOTE ]
A good education has value beyond what it can do for your bank balance, and "college or poker" is a choice that certainly does not have to be made. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is quite true that the two are not mutually exclusive (see, for example, 2+2'er Jason Strasser). In my experience, higher education (law school, in particular) has taught me to think much more critically, and given me discipline that has helped me become a $10K/year part time card player. I don't think I could become a successful pro - I just don't believe I'm cut out for the time commitment (by the way, I'm also not good enough [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] ). However, it's nice to be a good player making income to supplement a salary from a good job. Neither of these would be possible without my education. Poker is going to be around for a while. Why not get an education that will give you a fall back option if poker doesn't work out? It isn't like you can't play while getting an education.

-Tripp

[Noose]

[ QUOTE ]
Why not get an education that will give you a fall back option if poker doesn't work out? It isn't like you can't play while getting an education.

[/ QUOTE ]

I lack motivation to study if I make good money by playing poker. It's just something in my nature that I can't do much about. Like I said earlier, I'm still immature when it comes to education. That's what I meant by it.

[NDHand]

I'm pretty much in the same situation. 21, still living at home since college is about 5mins away on foot. The only difference is that I play as a "fulltime job" during the summer but i'm completing my degree during the rest of the year. However i'm still not sure if i'll start a career in my field or try it out as a poker pro for a year (if I can still make good income then!). As you said, no harm in trying it out for a year. However, as Dr. Al pointed out, its always nice to have a plan B. Nevertheless, good luck and hopefully you'll have a good year.

[greg nice]

[ QUOTE ]

The bottom line is that I can always study. I can't always play poker as soft as it is right now and get experience in poker and make a decent living at the same time.

[/ QUOTE ]

all the naysayers to the college dropout posts always elude this point. since the games are probably at their peak right now, wouldnt it make sense to try to extract as much money out of them as possible? it would make sense to exploit the softness of the games while the opportunity is there.

[ceskylev]

[ QUOTE ]

all the naysayers to the college dropout posts always elude this point. since the games are probably at their peak right now, wouldnt it make sense to try to extract as much money out of them as possible? it would make sense to exploit the softness of the games while the opportunity is there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ugh. This is the worst advice I've ever heard. If the original poster won't be good enough to beat the games in a year or two, then he isn't good enough to turn pro now.

You're implying that the games will dry up to some extent, and in the same breath, you dismiss the OP's need to acquire skills that will support him away from poker. This makes no sense.

Once again to the OP: Stay in school. If journalism bores you, find something you like better, but stay in school. If you aren't disciplined enough to budget your time between studying and poker, then you probably aren't disciplined enough to be a pro.

[toots]

Well, like others I was about to dismiss you as someone else who's ready to throw his future away on the possibility of being a poker pro, but it does sound like you have some plan B in mind.

Certainly, in the US, education is an option anytime between the end of high school and the time you die. I know, because 21 years elapsed between my freshman and senior college years.

Here are the advantages to going to school when you just got out of high school:

1) Your life is a lot simpler (no mortgage, spouse, kids, expensive cars to support)
2) Someone else (like your parents) may be willing to foot the bill
3) Not much has happened yet to distract you from "study mode"

Unfortunately, it's also about the worst time to be going to college. Basically, being that young, very few people really have any firm grasp on what they're really passionate about doing for most of their lives, and because someone else is often paying for it, they also don't understand the value of the education, because they have less personal investment in it.

The advantages of going to college later in life:

1) You know what you want to do, and are therefore more focused
2) If you're paying for it yourself, you have a vested interest in the outcome, and are therefore more focused
3) It's such a nice break from what you had been doing (working) that you can look at it with a fresh perspective - and be more focused
4) With some life experience, you'll actually find the classes to be a lot easier than they are for the young people (or maybe in the intervening years, they've just dumbed down the whole educational system). more focus again

Of course, all of this means that you should also put off the wife, kids, house and expensive car bits that would interfere with your implementation of Plan B farther on down the road.