poker in the library??

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Just had to reply here:

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Holy crap did you ever reply! I pasted your message into Word to be able to read it more easily and it’s 5 pages single spaced. I was tempted to reply point by point to see how long we could get this thing but that seemed like it would be irritating and no one would read it (pretty good odds of that anyway).

My point about playing in the library really applied to when you play with a bunch of other people around you. I could figure out people’s passwords when I helped them just by watching them type it in (hairynuts, princess, poiuy stuff like that).

I’m not going to go point by point but rather try to sum things up. First, let me say that I wrote an intentionally pessimistic view of all this (the angel on your shoulder) expecting someone to point out all the valid exceptions (the devil on your shoulder) and figured that people armed with two perspectives would make their own decision or more likely just say to themselves, this thread is too damn long and move on.

Thanks for your sympathy but I’m not really all that irresponsible. If I had wanted to finish my Ph.D. I would have. I was actually incredibly relieved when I realized I didn’t want to be a history professor and that it was ok to give up on something I’d started (I’m not a quitter by nature). I suppose I could better spend my time trying to improve myself somehow instead of playing poker but playing makes me happy and that’s really all that matters (as you seem to point out a number of times). I’m a firm believer in being happy in what you do and if you or anyone else is happy playing poker for a living, more power to them. No point in conforming to someone else’s definition of being happy or successful. My brother is a lawyer and makes ton of money but works 70-80hrs a week. Screw that.

Paying for decent health insurance out of your own pocket is big time –EV. I’ve paid for catastrophic coverage out of pocket before and could barely afford it (and it would only have kicked in if I lost a limb or something). I’ll stick to getting to see a doctor for $25 and $25 for my prescriptions.

I don’t buy that online poker is likely to disappear. Maybe marginal players making a living off of rakeback will disappear but all those underage players itching to lose all their money are going to grow up. Also, if you flunk out of college your past performance CAN count against you the next time you apply (availability of student loans and other financial aid affected too). You’ll (speaking generally) probably get a second chance to flunk out of somewhere else but often at a poorer school. But hell, college isn’t for everyone. Bill Gates is a drop out and he did ok.

At some point you get strangely nasty. I am proud of my accomplishments (top of my class for the graduate degree I did complete) and my only shortcoming is that I could stand to lose some weight. I am very happy with my life without finishing my Ph.D. I have a job I really like, a wonderful wife, my first kid on the way. Heck my wife was even going to let me try and turn pro if I wanted to (how cool is that?). I decided I needed a more stable income to help support my family and I didn’t really want to explain to my daughter that I made a living exploiting stupid people (but I’m ok with doing it as a hobby).

Hmm, again with the nastiness. I’m not sure how you judge me as inept with statistics. I’m not a genius but I’m a pretty smart guy. I admit that math isn’t my strongest area but if I tell you that I’m still better at it than about 97% of the people on the planet, how many people are better at it than me? Whether or not you buy that statement can you come up with the number? It’s 194 million or so but now I’m just being nasty. And yes, I don’t doubt you or anyone else could have come up with that number, I can just do it faster than most. Some people use the gifts they’ve been given to accomplish truly amazing things. I’ve used my gifts to half ass my way through life. I’m lazy and I’m happy. Sue me. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I don’t fail to see other perspectives. I knew that by posting a thread written in a certain way that someone like you would respond with a different (perfectly valid) perspective. You could say I that I was slowplaying and I’ve just checkraised you on the turn. Bottom line is that as adults we are responsible for our successes and failures and are rarely doomed to being a loser. People should do what makes them happy and when they aren’t happy, they should do something else. It does help to plan ahead a bit but it's not absolutely necessary and humanity is remarkably adaptable and resilient.

[lighterjobs]

I used to play sng's on pokerroom in the library of my college. I didn't want to download any software so i just used the java version.

I may have allegedly done the same thing while I was at work (no software to download, fewer tracks on my comp, allegedly). The low graphics mode PR offers is nice because it's so cartoonish looking that it's hard for an onlooker to tell you're gambling for real money.