All i can say is that I scored in the top 1% or whatever of the SAT math tests when I took them a zillion years ago and have been a successful online poker player.

My online poker win rate like everyone else just keeps getting smaller and we are getting to a point where there is just no money in it, or the money you get is not worth the trouble. Countries keep leaving the player pool and all the pros move to remain in the pool. There are too many resources and just simply not enough fish.

1. I can go back to college, it costs a fortune and when you get out there are a zillion other people with the same degree all fighting over the same limited jobs. When I think about having to apply for a job I want to puke.
Also, it makes much more sense to go to college by borrowing money this way if it turns out you are a loser you don't have to repay that money and you are freerolling. If you actually have assets, you will be forced to pay for college.

If I go back to college I know that I must try to pick something math related that I can find a good job with after 4 years. I just can't see going back to school for 8 years so I can get my first job at 35 and finally start earning money again. However, I really don't know if I am even smart enough to make it through one of the more difficult math degrees at this point.

2. I have what most would consider a lot of personal savings but if I take shots at starting businesses, I could see my savings dwindle and really be up ****'s creek without a paddle. Plus I have zero business experience and the economy is super terrible. There is nowhere safe to invest money. No interest. Stock market is fixed. Housing is wtf who knows? The gov probably gonna destroy the currency or keep invading new countries.

So wtf is my move? I just keep grinding poker but I know at this trajectory it is going to end or come to a point where I am playing a zillion tables just to make less than a school teacher. Right now I am just treading water, continuing with poker and thinking of good ways to hustle and I can hustle and do this and that but none of it will be long term stuff and none of it will likely put me where I have always imagined myself.

So you have no skills, or other interests, aspirations, or dreams?

Surely there is something you have seen yourself doing long term besides sitting in a room staring at poker tables.

Not to sound harsh, I know you are just looking for a soundboard here, but no one is going to know wtf to tell you to do.....its something we all have to figure out ourselves.

From what you just told us it sounds like you do not want a job, do not want to go to school, have zero faith in the economy across the board, don't want to start your own business, and were at one time considered academically good at math.

Not sure what else is left.

What level of savings do you have? This somewhat impacts the decision.

What are you interested in, that could be a viable career path after college? Would you consider stats?

Grind Live poker?

If I were in my mid-20s and had some sort of life roll I would insta-snap-call college or grad school so fast they'd find the Higgs boson on top of my essay[s].

You can make 100k+ as an actuary. Take a few courses, pass a test which should be trivial, work at an investment firm or insurer, maybe transition into something else you see there like analyzing securities, modeling ABS or CDS or CLOs or what have you.

[Plus, you can find massively +++ev cash games among finance people.]

Same boat as you OP , I got my 7 and 63 when i was 18, decided I did not want to peddle stocks for a company , quit , started day trading for myself , playing the underground clubs of nyc , moved to LA with ex wife , there for 7 years playing 6-12 , 9-18 , 15-30 and daytrading plus sports gambling . moved to vegas, hated it, Im a lone wolf so it was my fault for not expanding my circles. online poker came, back to ny . so now its online plus underground plus loan sharking plus sports when the guys would let me. long story short , ive been a life long gambler and have probably worked 6 months out of the 17 years since i have been 18 . Invested in businesses that brought little return . Go to school, get accepted in the real world. you wait more years like I did, youll be lucky to get hired at a 7-11

Are you saying this route would be trivial for him as a hugely math-oriented/academically gifted person or just in general?

Agree with cash game among finance people bit though

If you have enough assets . take a shot in some type of income producing business.

I dont know if my school advice is good for you, some of us are not cut out for school.

You could put in more hours playing and try to make up the slower rate with volume, or play more live and grind it out that way. At least for a while, but by the sound of it you're going to have to do something.

The first thing I can say is that 27 is pretty young and many people change careers at some point, some being considerably older than you'd be 8 years from now. You don't want to dick around but it's not that big a deal.

As far as college, it may not be realistic to do that full-time and avoid work, especially for 8 years. More likely you'll need to enter the workforce and then schedule classes around that. The good news is that you don't have to go get an advanced degree or attend some high-tuition program to get yourself on some kind of career track, particularly if you're a capable and intelligent person. Even in this market those people are still in demand.

Regarding a business, there's not much to say. It's hard enough when you have experience in a vocation and some business acumen. I still have some time ahead of me before going solo is a better proposition than working for someone else. In some fields it's easier than others but it's a big commitment and it's hard to gauge how prepared you are with no basis for comparison.

In your shoes I would go take some bartending course, or get certified as a 9-1-1 operator, a networking tech, whatever will pay the bills for the foreseeable future. In the meantime get your FAFSA together and start pricing colleges. Maybe your local community college offers some degrees online and you can plan to transfer to a cheap state school.

Day trading...Look up the metatrader4 platform and download it..select $5000 play money, start trading the euro...I figured it out really quick..Def a profitable world, need about $2000 real money to start..

I like the the bartending suggestion Gonso made. Doing something like that will probably loosen you up if you were a typical online poker player.
I think you can qualify for free education without even taking loans. Just. Go to your financial aid office and ask around.

Also to add, it is pretty difficuilt to go from making good money online to working the 9-5 which is why you should really pursue something that you will at least enjoy doing. If that is not doable , i think you need to acquire a skill just as a backup if all else fails.

I agree that poker is getting harder and it's a viable living for fewer people than in years past, but you're delusional if you don't think there's any money in poker. Poker is going to be immensely profitable for a long, long time for those who are good at it and keep on top of the game, assuming things like bots/legislation/rake hikes don't kill it.

It doesn't quite work like that. Also, if this is your mentality you're a scumbag.

Have you used the freedom poker provides to go see different places and try different things or have you been holed up in the house this entire time? When you say you aren't where you imagined you would be, what did you imagine yourself doing today?

ya +1 to cborders...sorry you cant play 20 hours a week anymore and make 200k+......there's still plenty of money to be made, and its good to keep making that poker income while coming up with side ventures to get involved in.

I take it from the OP you're at least competent in math and you seem to write respectably well. That doesn't amount to much by itself, but it's a start, provided you do something with them. It really doesn't matter what.

The one pitfall I'd avoid is being too unrealistic with your goals or focusing too far ahead. It's good to think long-term, to a point, but even us talking about 8 years of school before you've started the first one is getting ahead of things. Figure out what exactly you want to do and focus on the tasks you need to do today. And get used to thinking that way, because at work or school you're dealing with a never-ending series of tasks. There's always a deadline, or a test to prepare for, or a paper to write. If you're too busy dreaming about your doctoral dissertation to knock out the English 101 paper you have in front of you, things won't go well.

What exactly is good money to you?

I used to check PTR and it was pretty clear that *almost* every regs winrates are slowly going down the sh*tter, that at least for MSNL/HSNL the turnover of regs is huge every 6 months, and very few people made 100K in a year. (though it's possible that they are on many networks, etc)

I think the OP is being pretty realistic and trying to plan ahead and that is always a good thing. The worst position to be in is to have all your income coming in from a fairly volatile singular source, and not having good backup options.

Not all schools are that expensive and there are plenty of high-demand majors. Yeah, if you pursue English Lit then you shouldn't expect much after college. But if you pursue Comp Science and put together a decent portfolio of your skills, you will have no trouble getting a 50-80K job that has tons of benefits (vacation, 401K, sick days, health insurance, etc,)

As for going back to 9-5 it is tough initially but once you get into the schedule it can be pretty great. It depends on who you work with. If you like the people you work with, going to the office does not feel like a chore. It feels like hanging out with people you know, working on common projects towards a common goal. Depending on where you work, there may be plenty of hot girls to hook up with, too.