Help me reorganize my life: Becoming a grinder (long-ish)

[THWAP!]

Hi,

I need some help, and I have no idea where to post this. Any help is much appreciated.

Background on me. I play somewhat for the money, but mostly for achievement. This year, I quit my job and started playing for a living. I've done well. I'm now comfortably beating 5/10 NL and 15/30 limit on various sites. Of course, I play very few hours. This is for two reasons: (1) I tend to expend high energy when I play--It's not that I'm a lag, but if I see a situation that I can profit from when I put all my money in the middle, I do it; this is different from just nutpeddling. (2) I spend lots of time on 2+2 reading and thinking about the game, so I stay in game shape. All in all, I follow the "work on the game a lot, but play few, but very efficient hours" model. It works well for my life.

Now, my life is changing. I'm going to law school, and I want to be good at it. This means that instead of having a primarily "gambler lifestyle", I will have a "law student" lifestyle. The two are very different. Of course, I really enjoy gambling, and I want to continue to do it. Having side income is also nice. But I can't do it at nearly the level I do it at now; I won't have the time to work on my game, and the stress of, say, losing $1k in a night is something you can take when you play for a living (just play later in the week or month, and you'll get it back), but not when you're a law student.

So, help me with two things:

(1) What attitudinal adjustments should I make? I'm preparing to do things like read 2+2 less, close accounts on marginal sites so I don't do things like bonus whore, etc. I think this is healthy, and should greatly streamline the time I spend playing at relatively minimal cost to my profitability.

(2) What games should I play? My constraints are such--I want to have high profitability with relatively little variance. But I can't spend too much time working on the game, because I simply won't have the time. Assume that I will be adequately bankrolled for middle limit games, and that I am reasonably proficient at all games. I also get rakeback at party. But also factor in that I don't want to deteriorate in my play too much when I eventually "come back" to gambling a bunch. Here are the choices (for any, you may also include 6/max/SH):

- Mid-stakes NL (5/10)
- Lower-stakes NL (2/4 and down)
- Mid-stakes limit (15/30)
- Lower-stakes limit (5/10 and down)
- Stud
- Stud/8
- PLO
- Omaha/8
- Triple Draw
- Crazy Pineapple
- SNG's
- MTT's

(some of the above choices are clearly jokes)

Any thoughts on the above are much appreciated

[BZ_Zorro]

[ QUOTE ]
What games should I play? My constraints are such--I want to have high profitability with relatively little variance. But I can't spend too much time working on the game, because I simply won't have the time.

[/ QUOTE ]
Post of the Day. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[tek]

[ QUOTE ]
My constraints are such--I want to get good grades in law school, but I can't spend too much time studying.

[/ QUOTE ]

As a 1L you won't have time to study well and play good poker. Choose one or wait until you are a 2L to play.

[TStoneMBD]

yah really :/

[tripp0807]

THWAP,

I'm in my first year of practice after just graduating from law school.

Here's some news - if you're not going to spend "a lot" of time studying, then just call the school, ask for a refund of your tuition deposit, and do something else. I'm not trying to sound harsh, but that's the way it is. Get used to it.

When I was in my first year, I was lucky to get in *one* MTT or 4-hour ring game session during the week, and another during the weekend. That's the time commitment that going to law school requires, and if you have any intention of graduating in the top 25% of your class, which you'll need to do to get a decent job (the legal job market sucks right now), you're going to be losing enough sleep studying, much less playing poker.

In case anyone hasn't told you, your chances of scoring a good internship that will lead to a good job will be crippled if you don't do well first year.

So here's my advice - set aside 8-10 hours, at most, per week for poker (studying, reading 2+2 and playing). The rest has to be devoted to school. In the two weeks leading up to exams, don't play a single hand. You'll have plenty of time to play during winter and summer breaks.

The jist of this post is that you chose to go to law school. Make sure that you have your priorities straight. Poker should be on the bottom of the totem pole after family and school (in that order).

If you have any questions about law school, feel free to shoot me a PM. I'd be happy to help you out.

-Tripp

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

I'm married to a lawyer and have vivid memories of the law school years. Most of those memories involved seeing the back of my wife's head. And NOT in the good way...

Play an MTT once in a while. Play a bit on breaks, or get in an SnG every so often, but DO NOT make poker a part-time job. Your best EV is in getting good grades, impressing the profs, getting good summer jobs and finishing high in your class. Law school grads are a dime a dozen. You want to be an elite graduate who will make scads of money and get recruited to the best jobs. You will make far more money this way in the long run.