This is a very important post for me...

[revlis87]

So this is my first really really important post. I'd like all the help I can get with this decision. Thanks in advance.

So I am 18 years old, freshman at a Big 10 school. I just finished up my first semester, gonna have something like a 3.4 GPA, got a girlfriend etc. But I dont feel like I am getting a lot out of college. Sure I go to classes, am in honors, etc but I somehow got stuck in a [censored] living arrangement - substance free, engineering girls hall (none are even remotely hot/cool - and havent really made a lot of good friends. This is foreign to me, as everywhere i have gone i have had great friends- i have many "best" friends etc and so it sucks. In addition, I am not self motivated enough to do the newspaper or anything likle that. Never have been, not a result of poker. Sometime i bet i will be not now tho. Basically, while studying for my last final I realized i needed to take some time off. I want to live the poker life etc etc. Part of this is I recently qualified for EWSOP on first shot, ran hot at 10-20 won a 30 rebuy etc. But I am also a winning player of 2.5 years, playing a lot and winning for two summers in a row. I play a few hours a day at schoool. I have about 50,000. In a fairly short sample size I am a winner (big) at 10-20 NL and everything from 15-30 liimit to sit and goes up to 215's etc. To make the point short, I am not concerned with my ability to win. I know im a bit over my roll with the 10-20 but i feeel like I can beat it and when i lose at all i go to 5-10 religiously.
I want to take next semester off and move to NYC to play poker at clubs, turning stone, EPT events, and online. My brother goes to Columbia, i know a few girls there, and two of my best friends go to NYU. I will have good friends there, will be able to live an adventure, not have to deal with my boring living situation which makes it hard to meet people, and go back to college next year. Thanks to AP credit I can graduate in 7 semesters anyway.

So I will rent an appt in NYC for like 1,200 a month and see how it goes. If i lose, i go back to school more interested. If i Win i had a hell of an experiance. My grandma told me to go to gamblers annonymous. My mom told me I am caught in the vortex of gambling. My dad says do it. I dont want to regret not doing this.

THIS IS NOT DROPPING OUT OF SCHOOL. I WANT A DEGREE AND I AM GOING TO GET ONE.

So, do I do it or not. Am I forgetting anything in my analysis? I intend to 4 table 5-10 NL, and probably jack it up to 6-8 tables evenntually instead of playing 1 or 2 10-20 short handed tables so my variance is reduced. Again, I dont think skill / bankroll management is really the problem. But is my life going in the right direction?

I am prob going to make a decision tommorow/next 48 hours. What you all contribute will go a long way towards giving me guidance. Thanks in advance.

[xorbie]

sounds like a good plan, so long as you dont get carried away and decide never to go back to school. btw unless you go to illinois, i wish the worst of luck upon your basketball team.

[revlis87]

no U of I... better than that [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[xorbie]

better? impossible.

revlis, i think this may be fate that i am reading this post. I go to NYU, i just took this semester off (not to play poker) and am starting back up again at the end of january. I currently play poker online, but have just started. i'm about break even at the moment because i play in games that are a bit too tough for me, (5-10 and 10-20 NL). Anyway, if you are interested in a roomate and someone to help you find a place to live, I am your man. I'm not [censored] around here. I'll be moving back to the city in a couple months and would love a roomate that i could talk poker with. PM me, even if you don't want a roomate, i can help you out with finding an apartment.

[cardsharkk04]

He must be kidding about a better school than Illinois....Anyway, you definitely want to limit the variance. I played 3/4 tables of party 10/20 NL during this summer after consistently winning at 6max 5/10. My swings were ridiculous. With over a 100k roll I had 65k down swing(some maniacal playing + tilt) , but made most of it back(26k in one night). Now you will probably not see that 2 tabling and playing TAG, but I thought it was worth pointing out. I might be an extreme case, but 50k is not a lot of money at 10/20 NL shorthanded. Just be careful with it. A lot of times after I big loss I would think about how I could be 8 tabling lower stakes full tables and slowly building up my roll. Also how much are you going to have to pay in taxes? Anyway I would still try it out. Good luck to you.

[AZK]

Michigan holla?

I say get degree first, play poker later. But that's just me. Since you have so much AP credit, you might as well become partime, so finish 7 semesters of work in 4 years, taking like 10 credits a semester and basically chilling and still being able to play poker. NYC is a retarded choice for poker city. WTF. Either pick LA or Vegas, or just play online, [censored] hot bitches, drink alcohol, get retarded, learn a little bit of interesting stuff, and graduate.

College is not hard, anyone that thinks it is, is an idiot. It's an issue of time management. If you are partime, it will be EVEN EASIER to do well, play poker, and learn.

I mistakenly played an excessive number of hours senior year of college. I regret it.

PS I'm also moving this to psychology.

[mikech]

[ QUOTE ]
I say get degree first, play poker later.

[/ QUOTE ]
who knows how long the current poker environment will last. legislation and/or the advent of bots could kill online poker at any time, so the poker landscape could look very different by the time he gets out of college. if he really wants to do it he needs to do it now; make hay while the sun shines.

[ QUOTE ]
NYC is a retarded choice for poker city. WTF. Either pick LA or Vegas, or just play online

[/ QUOTE ]
this is true. why nyc for poker? clubs here have all been shut down, a/c and foxwoods are at least 2.5-hrs-drive away, it's frickin' cold as a mother--and i say this as someone who LOVES the city. i guess the op being 18 is a snag for playing in most casinos, but just get a fake id.

[revlis87]

ok hang on... i know tstone is a while away and i dont plan to make it a base. im jus saying its something i can do for a week...also, i have a contact who deals at the clubs and he has told me there are some good ones going as we speak... but the main reason to go to NYC is I used to live there until 3 years ago. All of my friends go to school on the east coast within 1-2 hours of NYC. Basically it is the city that i feel like i will be least lonely in, have the most familiarity in, and can use to fly places like some of the EPT events etc. Its not just go to clubs and tstone... not that naive. go blue.

[AlanBostick]

[ QUOTE ]
who knows how long the current poker environment will last. legislation and/or the advent of bots could kill online poker at any time, so the poker landscape could look very different by the time he gets out of college. if he really wants to do it he needs to do it now; make hay while the sun shines.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't be silly. Every time the waters receded after every previous high-water mark for poker, they wound up at a higher level than before that flood. The poker economy is not going to increase without limit, but after it peaks and withdraws things will still be better than they were before the current boom. And then the next boom will come along.