What to do with my life (need advice bad)?

[TStoneMBD]

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Lastly, I LOVE POKER. I spend all day everyday thinking about poker. I can sit for 6 hour sessions and love every minute of it.

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this is mindboggling to me and i really dont believe it. if its true tho that you love poker and have no problem putting in at least 100 hours a month and could do this for years upon years then its a no brainer-go pro.

[AdamBragar]

Even if your bonus is dependent on working for 2 years, you'll be able to put on your resume that you worked at this place for a year and also for letters of recommendation, if you work there for a year and quit, people are more apt to write you a letter of recommendation.

Your are 22 yr old, just a babe, I’m 51 yrs. (OLD)

Here is my advice to you,

FOLLOW your dreams, but follow your dreams with your eyes wide open. Know exactly what your getting yourself into. You need to read books about being a professional gambler, read the biographies of poker pros so you get a realistic feel for what the life is really like. Realize that it is a JOB, and when you’re a pro it is a business.

When I was you’re age I was an extremely seriours rock musican. My girl friend got pregnant we got married nine yrs later divorced. I’ve spent the past 30rs wondering WHAT IF ??.

If your going to do this one huge rule, NO, I REPEAT NO ,NO GIRL FRIENDS. JUST BUTTY CALLS. Women are dream killers, do not have a girl friend in your life tell you have achieved your dream. This is a must!!!!!

There will be lots of pain along the way. No pain No gain. You must be willing to go though the pain and sacrifices. Porker is a life of extreme highs & extreme lows. Know what your in for, again eyes wide open. This is not a glamorous life for most, it’s grinding out a living. Very few poker pros ever make it on TV. Yet there are thousands that make a good living playing the game. 100k to 200k per year , I personally know some who do.

It sounds like you play mostly on line, to truly be a pro I feel you must change to cash games. I would advise you move to L. A. . L.A. is one of the poker capitals of the world. There is as much action here as there is in Vagas with lots of really bad players. Stay out of Vagas till your really good, if you don’t the sharks will eat you up.

Get a part time job live cheap play poker, you may consider going to dealer school and being a poker dealer for a couple of years. Dealers make good money . Many of the most successful pro’s are former dealers. That’s where they learn to really read the other players and become an expert on putting people on there hands.

I would advise you share this letter with you father, not your mom. He may hate me for this advise or he may agree. But in the end it is YOUR decision and only YOUR decision.

John Bonetti was 54 yr old when he started to play poker and has gone on to be known as one of the all time greats. I myself am working on becoming a pro. And I am working my ass off trying. It’s hard hard work but I do love it. Doug “ the ice man “ Lohr

[ElSapo]

There's a lot of good and bad advice in this thread, and a lot of interesting perspectives from people who probably know much more than I do and have a greater breadth of experience. That said, I'll give you my advice and maybe you can take something from it.

People talk about change like it's a permanent thing — poker or banking or teaching or dating a ton of girls or going out or staying in or unemployment or over employment. A lot of people at least post and write advice as if the change you make will be the last, and permanent one. I disagree with this assesment.

There's nothing wrong with making a change, trying something new, deciding it doesn't work and then changing again. And. Again. The idea that you will one day arrive at the "perfect permanent state," where you find a state of perpetual satisfaction, seems counterintuitive to me. One day what you want may change, and when it does you can make that change again. And. Again.

So far, no one has proven to me otherwise that you get anything but one shot in this life. Spending it not trying to follow what you want is a crime, I would think, especially give that you seem intelligent and have resources and support.

I left my job one month ago — I didn't hate it, I simply didn't love it. I left with about $10,000 in the bank and a general idea that I could play poker for some extra cash. I didn't intend to turn pro, and I still don't.

I set a timeframe: between six months and a year. I opted to work on two specific projects, a photo documentary and some fiction writing. I told myself that I would accomplish these things, and in six months I would re-evaluate. I would see where I was, what I wanted, and I would look to change again.

In some ways, you could call this stupid. $10,000 is not a lot of money. A bare minimum monthly nut for me is about $1,500, so the six-months is there. I was/am lucky, in that if I want I can probably return to my old job. I have no idea what will happen at the end of six months. I'm willing to make a change, and another.

If you decide to turn pro, it is not the end of your choices. You may find in time you dislike it. You may love it. You may want to go back to part time. But the most important thing, I think, is to understand that it doesn't have to be permanent — you can change again. And. Again.

Change is scary -- I hate change, honestly. But I got to a point where it made more sense to make the change I was scared of, leaving a solid and good job I didn't hate but didn't love. You seem to be well past that point.

What are you afraid of? There's worse things in life than gaps on your resume. Sometimes the worse things are the non-gaps.

Just my take.

[lehighguy]

I love games. A conservative estimate of how much warcraft i played would be 4 hours a day everyday for 3 years.

[JohnnyHumongous]

Lehighguy,

Do you remember the thread about 6 or 8 months ago where I asked whether I should take the strategy consulting gig I got offered or play poker full-time? You were in that thread a bunch... it's ironic because it seems you're facing a very similar situation and similar pros and cons. Since then my skill and my earn at poker have gone up substantially, such that if I were to play full-time I could make a tremendous amount of money, a lot more than I had said in that thread.

And you know what? I STILL go to my consulting job day in and day out. My job is typically 50-60 hours per week, so it's similar to yours, and unlike trading the hours are unpredictable so I never know whether I'll have to stay until 11 pm or come in on the weekends. But I look at it this way: if I were to play full-time I could probably get the standard 30 hours per week in. Now I feel I can get 15 hours per week after my day job responsibilities are through. So it's true that I could make more per year playing poker rather than consulting. But the thing is, poker is not guaranteed to be as profitable in the future, and if I stay on the career path numerous doors will be open to me throughout my life. Those doors would not be open if I played poker rather than got this crucial post-college experience.

There are a ton of other benefits to having a job, like health coverage and other benefits, social network and interpersonal relationships, "nonpecuniary benefits" like client and recruiting dinners, company sponsored social events etc. I love the "legitimacy" of my job, in that it's a real first-class job where people dress well, get paid well and they do work that is profoundly meaningful and has a real impact on the economy.

If I were in your shoes (and I almost was- I did I-Banking internships but realized I would have hated that kind of work), I would finish out the year, and next spring/summer start looking around for other gigs so you can have another job lined up that you can jump into as soon as you finish your year in trading. My job is sooooooo much better than I-Banking would have been, and I am so much better suited for it personality-wise and skill-wise. I'm sure you can find a career that you feel the same way about. Have you thought about advertising or marketing? Hedge funds? Industry? There are countless career paths to take.

Anyways, I hope this jumble of thoughts came through OK. Feel free to PM me or respond here if there's anything else you want to talk about.

Best of luck.

[utmt40]

Seriously man I was in a similar job a few months back and I only worked 35 hrs a week there. I made way more money there than what I am now but what is funny is that I am a lot happier at my new job. It is within the same company so it worked out as a transfer. I now work 45-50 hrs a week and I love my job. See if there is something else you might be interested in within the company you work for instead of quitting. If not I would ride out my 2 yrs and look for something else.

[iceman5]

Im going to assume that you want honesty or you wouldnt have taken so much time to post your question, so here goes.

I agree with the guy who said you are immature. You want to play games and get drunk. You dont want to join the real world. Joining the real world doesnt have to mean that you are miserable, but almost everyone dislikes their job. Unless you are a professional athlete, you are probably not going to love your job.

The part where you said you have worked hard your whole life really got me. You are 22 and are just out of college. Trust me, you have no idea what hard work is. You were coughing up blood from too many hours behind your banking job desk? Give me a break dude.

Go do some roofing work for 60 hours a week where its 120 degrees on top of the roof and youre busting your ass climbing up and donw a ladder carrying shingles and then lets see how much blood you cough up.

I used to have a job I hated. I was in sales and made pretty good money for a 19-20 yeard old, but I hated it. I wanted to become a police officer so I joined the Army. I did my 4 years and then got out and Ive been a cop for 15 years now and I still love it.

I also play poker part time and make more money playing poker than I do at work. I could quit and play poker full time and would probably make $150K without moving up any higher stakes than Im playing now, but I prefer to work a real job and play on the side for a variety of reasons.

Your job very well could be making you sick if the stress of hating your job is bothering you that much, but its not from "hard work". If you are stressed out that badly and feeling physically ill , then you really do need to do something else because your body will age very quickly....But dont think that playing poker for a living is an easy living. There are many many reasons why its a tough life. Enough reasons that I dont quit to play full time.

[Klepton]

i've been a pro player for 4 months, i already want out.

keep the investment banker job.

and as for just wanting to hang out with friends and not knowing how to spend your money, here's an idea:

go to a bar and hang out with your friends. at the start of the night pull out your credit card and say "all drinks on me tonight, lets have some fun."

[Danenania]

Perhaps this demonstrates MY immaturity but I can't imagine "riding out" 2 years or even 1 year of my life doing something that I hate. Difficult is something else. Succeeding at a difficult task can be strengthening and rewarding but it doesn't sound as if the OP is gaining anything at all from his current situation. Ride it out? Man I would rather be broke and live in my parents' basement than have to turn myself into a zombie just to endure my own life. OP, If I were you I'd quit and start looking at other more fulfilling options immediately. Hell if you just want to play video games and chill with friends then do that until something new occurs to you. You can easily make enough playing poker to support yourself doing that for as long as you wish. It's not as if there's a dire shortage of investment bankers in the world. Maybe this attitude is the reason I will never be a CEO or senator but you also won't ever see me stuck with a job that I hate. Seems like a fair enough trade to me.