A Note to "WannaBe" Pros

[The Yugoslavian]

beefy,

Are you sure it's not that you're better at money management you just happen to not be running bad right now??

Yugoslav

[johnnybeef]

[ QUOTE ]
beefy,

Are you sure it's not that you're better at money management you just happen to not be running bad right now??

Yugoslav

[/ QUOTE ]

Have I said that I am 100% coming to STTFHUC2 yet?

[SuitedSixes]

If I fail as a professional poker player, which in all honesty seems inevitable, it will be due to my own shortcomings in areas of my personality and character.

The cards are the easy part. I have 100% winning confidence in NL ring games and 88% winning confidence at the $55s. My sense of worth has always been tied to my immediate success and failure (which is why I am no longer a football coach). And the swings of the bankroll manifest themselves in my emotions and it is very difficult to be a functioning member of society when you feel like world's champ one hour and a total failure the next.

The most financially secure I have ever been was when I was working and playing poker. I do not regret my decision to turn pro. It was the decision I needed to make at the time I needed to make it. If I can last one year (the end of March) I will feel a genuine sense of accomplishment. I will also need to decide at that time if I have the intangible qualities and if my personal disposition is best suited for this kind of life.

I am also at a very difficult time, personally, and the need to have friends and human contact beyond screen names and PMs is becoming more important to my overall happiness.

For some, a college degree is very valuable, for others it has next to no value, for yet others it has negative value. I don't have a problem with college, I have a problem with blanket statements like: get your degree, you won't regret it.

I would not have nearly so much trouble with a statement like: get vocational training, you won't regret it. But, not every college degree or college course is vocational training. And, there's plenty of vocational training that is done outside of college.

[IHateKeithSmart]

Bleh, this post has sort of devolved into a college/no college debate, which wasn't the point sfb was trying to make.

I went to college, and I'm almost done with my MS (CS). I've been 'working for the man' for about 9 years. It's going well for me. I enjoy the work, etc. It's not for everyone though, I know plenty of people who would hate what I do.

But that's not the point either. The key to what sfb is saying is to have options. Noone wants to be painted into a corner and feel like they have no choice in the way they live their life.

Without reads, I say college is +EV. But, everyone has their own dream to chase and muse to follow. I have lots of friends who dropped out and are doing just fine. Just go into it with your eyes open, and make your own decisions based on the information you have.

Most of the folks on the list are young enough to bounce back if they hit a wall, with poker, college, work, life, etc.

[PickyTooth]

[ QUOTE ]
This business is HARD...Make sure that your plan to quit your dayjob & become a "poker pro" has a "Plan 'B'" in case Plan 'A' doesn't work....If your reaction to this advice is: "He's an old fool that doesn't know squat"; I hope you will ask the younger posters that know what they are doing.
Like = SuitedSixes/Lacky/UnArmed/Irieguy/and others

[/ QUOTE ]

You are an old fool. If you want success in life is there anything that's not hard? I bet you, you would give all you're congrats and support to a person that would tell you they're quitting there day job to start a business of some sort. Yet 9/10 businesses fail within five years and of that 10% that are still around, 90 % of those will fail eventually.

I guess all I'm trying to say is unless you're happy with a 9-5 job making 50k/year nothing will ever come easy in life.

[microbet]

I vastly prefer old fools over young punks.

[skipperbob]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This business is HARD...Make sure that your plan to quit your dayjob & become a "poker pro" has a "Plan 'B'" in case Plan 'A' doesn't work....If your reaction to this advice is: "He's an old fool that doesn't know squat"; I hope you will ask the younger posters that know what they are doing.
Like = SuitedSixes/Lacky/UnArmed/Irieguy/and others

[/ QUOTE ]

You are an old fool. If you want success in life is there anything that's not hard? I bet you, you would give all you're congrats and support to a person that would tell you they're quitting there day job to start a business of some sort. Yet 9/10 businesses fail within five years and of that 10% that are still around, 90 % of those will fail eventually.

I guess all I'm trying to say is unless you're happy with a 9-5 job making 50k/year nothing will ever come easy in life.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree Completely....That's a normal "completely", not a Yugo "completely" [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]