On the other hand, Connecticut - home to many an insurance company, plus Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun - would be a great place.

I agree that the secret is somewhat out regarding the many benefits of being an actuary, but I think some millenials are being steered in that direction without having the chops to handle it as a short or long term career. And the saturation point - if any - would likely be well into the future, when OP would already have a nice leg up. Also, poker skill plus life experience would strike me as just as good - if not better - preparation for the career as getting a degree from a random college.

This is generally true, but more true in some actuarial fields than others. Actuarial work in pension consulting is in serious decline because private sector employers just don't want traditional pension plans anymore and are shutting them down as quickly as they reasonably can. Health insurance opportunities are on the upswing, though, and I wouldn't have any worries about starting a career in that field.

It's never too late.

Sorry but bootcamp is a waste of money. You may as well just self teach with the million different free programing resources on this computer thing called the internet. For example and example....

Ignore Tooths advice as he literally trolls every one of these expoker player threads with the same ridiculous advice (jmo).

Real advice would be to start a business that allows flexible working hours so that you can continue to play poker while you learn something else. or just take some free courses like above and try to find something that grabs your interest. From their just run with it and accept you probably won't make $70k/year for a while.

Also, not sure if other 'older guys' agree with this or not, but the way women acted towards me totally changed at about 35. Basically they are all naturally attracted to older guys, which is not helpful when you are 23 and they are 17, but when you are 35 and they are 25... also, you will probably lose a lot of friends over the next few years that you thought would be your friends for life. While things sounds like a straightup bad thing, this teaches a lot of perspective that only age can teach. Basically you likely have to learn not to give a **** as much what others thing, which reduces a lot of anxiety, that said depression doesn't really go anywhere imo.

+1 people live forever now so 30 is not even old.

YMMV, gl

good advice by many

This is very good advice. I even have a coworker who was self taught and was able to leverage a boot camp's placement program without going through the program. While I'm not a developer I taught myself to build Google scrapers (with lots of dynamic elements using PHP + front end) and pull in APIs starting from scratch simply by searching out the answer every time I got stuck and just by tackling bigger and bigger projects.

I will mention that women don't like 35 year old men specifically, they the lives that 35 year old men have although it's basically what you're saying. Research has shown men tend to peak around age 38 in terms of what makes an attractive partner.

What about his advice seems trolly to you? If I'm reading him correctly, he generally advises poker players to get out and see what the world has to offer. This seems like a solid starting point IMO. Despite the seemingly anti-poker bias, much of his advice resonates with me.

Also, regarding the value of bootcamps: sure much of this stuff can be self-taught, but it seems to me that there is (potentially) plenty of value for people transitioning out of poker as it provides some real-world structure and networking opportunities.

A bootcamp will have better results for 80+% of people imo, especially ex poker players not used to work. In theory your way is better; in practice it's a recipe for failure and disillusionment. Bootcamps get you up to speed, enforce a schedule, give you a taste of the working world, give you other people to compare against, give you contacts and job openings. He also has zero technical background and studied politics; starting on his own is a recipe for frustration, or becoming a bad java coder.

My advise is good (as is yours, generically). And I don't always write the same thing. I've frequently advised what you've written below about starting a business. In this case, OP doesn't strike me as someone who's an ideal candidate for starting a business. He's played poker for 10+ years and has no work experience. He seems a little lost, and is probably at the stage of a midlife crisis/reevaluating everything. Looking around and trying new things for while is excellent advice for someone in this situation, both to clear your mind and get new energies and ideas. Most small businesses fail - higher risk factors include no work experience and no business experience - and what happens then?

After 10 years out of the work world (and never having been in), he needs a broader set of experiences than just trying a few online courses.

This isn't true either for most men. Women far prefer men closer to their age, the data is overwhelming on that. The difference for *some* men who were low on the dating scale when they were young is one of four things happen:

- They stop caring so much and/or start thinking strategically
- They gain enough money or power or knowledge to make up for their shortcomings
- Their (average or bad) looks matter less as they're not judged for them as much, being older.
- They gain access to the (very small) subset of mostly damaged girls who specifically look for an innocent, controllable older man, or have daddy issues

But I agree that early 30s with a sense of humor and money is no problem for dating the 20s upward.

Tooth, I can tell you are obviously a very smart person and I don't think you are intentionally trolling, but a few things that get to the pointy stick of what I said...

1) If I work in sales, and I love the rush of making a sale, by your first response in this thread I am some sort of addict, which is preposterous. The reality of human psychology is that when good things happen that is stimulus and we learn from it. Learning and addiction, while related, are not the same thing. Basically, being happy when you ship an MTT is being rational and sign that OP has a pulse.

2) There is no guarantee that OP can learn CS or will find it enjoyable in the slightest. I am not saying a bootcamp is a waste of money, I am saying it is a waste of money if OP has no idea if he can make it through the 3rd class. Like in poker, the biggest bang for the buck is to see if he likes it at all. Maybe he should be a hydrologist or electrical engineer, or gasp maybe the happiest thing for him is being a poker player. I am simply suggesting to try a few things for free and then pursue stuff like changing career, going to college or a bootcamp.

3) OP is making damn good money ATM any way you want to slice it. He is unhappy and considering changes. Cool. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Fact, if he quits poker today, becomes a structured dishwasher, his life has tangibly been harmed. He has less options available to him and less ability to find happiness..

And quite frankly, if 'hello world' makes him disillusioned, then he should not be a programmer. I'm infact suggesting he find something that lights up the same interest of learning that it seems poker likely once held for him. He should say, damn this is ****ing interesting. I know I finished the lesson, but lets check out next week's lesson. When he does that, he will know he found the right thing.

Passion man, if you don't have it, you are doing the wrong thing, both from a happiness EV and $ EV in the long term. Read, you have a lot of risk of ending up back at square one, "Hey guys i started programming computers 10 years ago cause other people told me it was a good job. Money was ok, but damn this is BORING."

1) Conceded. But I also imagine there's a reason he stayed with poker for 10 years while ruining his life experience and resume. Money doesn't explain all of it, and most poker players are stuck in an addiction trap imo.

2) I think CS for OP is a horrible idea, frankly. In the absence of other ideas, getting out and trying 10 or 20 different things is a) an amazing life experience and source of stories b) gives you a sense of freedom, since you're not committed and are just officially trying things out c) gives you a feel for the world and what's out there after years in seedy card rooms or cooped up in front a computer. OP is probably not ready to decide a direction and needs this.

3) I suggested working part time and playing, so I agree.

I totally concede that women are most attracted to 'attractive men' who are around their age, but in general they most physically attracted to men their age and older. This is a function of female biology and psychological archtyping (Daddy-ldo, guess what, every man and woman has both daddy and mommy 'issues', see having a pulse).

The reason they are much more likely to pick someone around their age (read slightly older) is because women do things more for other women (social approval) more than they do things for men. Quite frankly, women in general view us as the benefactor of their presence, that all other things being equal they hold most of the cards (true), and therefore you should be happy they chose you. Contrast this with female social structures which are like some Machiavellian plots that we will never understand. Being friends with people they dislike, and doing things for all kinds of social appearance reasons.

Additionally probably men peak about the age you say, but it is a pretty steep climb to that point and in general men don't become drastically less attractive than the peak on into ~50. Woman however, at about 35 really start to fade. This is just straight up biology imo. FWIW IANAS

Double FWIW, I agree with you poker is isolating and in a lot of ways not a great job. But I think you take it to the point of false dichotomy. The reality is that many many jobs suck in many different ways so I don't think poker is inherently a worse job than others. It is all relative and depends on a lot of things. If he is relatively unhappy compared to taking a class about CS, then he should obv find the door fast and get on with the rest of his life.

Thanks for your input. I actually think toothsayer has a lot of sage insight. And unfortunately I cannot agree with you in terms of having better luck after age 35. That red pill stuff is spread around to make older guys feel better and try to change public perception. From my experience and observation, younger women seek out the hot sexy hunks. The ones who want an older man is trying to get married and have kids. But if they are looking for fun they want the younger hunks, not the older balding guy with the decline in stamina and fitness. So there's only an advantage in being an older man of you're looking to settle down too.

Women really don't care that much about how you look, or at least they don't care as much as they care about how confident and rich you are. But mostly, they care what their friends think. Quite literally, you are a life accessory. Any rate, I won't derail any more.

They don't care about how you look if they are after something else: your money and your sperm. Nothing wrong with that, but one has to be willing to accept that you wouldn't be able to get your foot in the door if you were broke. And yes, they care about what their friends think, which proves my point- they don't wanna walk around with a short balding ugly guy. Unless he made up for it by being rich, confident and charming.

Women definitely care what you look like, it wouldn't make any sense if they didn't. Sometimes they prioritize other stuff .

Don't make career decisions for women though, it's really counter productive. If you're confident about your life path that's the best way to optimize who you can attract for both sex/marriage (in addition to being as attractive as you can be).

OP I think you are worrying too much about what other people might think. If they can't accept you for who you are and that you make $100k/year playing poker that is their problem, not yours. That's fine that you want to start finding something else, just make sure you are doing it for you and not for people you haven't met yet and are worried what they might potentially think. Most people can get over the negativity associated with gambling when you can show a long enough track record of success which you seem to have. You are already more successful than most people you are going to meet.

This advice is SPOT ON!

My first year being a poker player was rough with tons of stupid ass questions (but how much did you lose?) Year 12, and no one gives a ****. Every once in a blue moon when I meet a new person they might be a jerk off, but since everyone around me knows what I do, have already got the stupid questions out of their system, it no longer matters.

This Thanksgiving I got 0 poker questions.

I'm 31 (and a lot of my friends are 30-40) and some of my single guy friends are landing HOT chicks. Divorced women with 1-3 kids care WAY more about the character of the person then the hottness of the guy (granted they both matter, it's just the emphasis/priority/weight they put into the factors).

2 of my guy friends have definitely "married up."

Hack Reactor is the best one, App Academy is up there as well. Flatiron in NY is probably good, they have an audited job placement report that you can check. I wouldn't trust any others without seeing specific job placement figures and asking lots of questions about them. Dev Bootcamp I know is not good (if we're defining "good" as coming out ready for a $100K+ job). Hack Reactor has fast job placement, AA's is slower (you're mostly on your own) but I believe they are working on getting more staff to make it quicker.

For the OP I'd recommend starting on The Odin Project which is online and free and seeing how you like it. Or just start applying for AA/HR, they'll make you learn to code a fair amount to even get in and will provide you with resources to do so. You only have a 3% chance of getting into each of those.

The Odin Project has a paid upgraded version called Viking Code School that is a remote bootcamp, and they don't charge until you get a job (like App Academy, although for that you need to go to SF or NY). I don't know how their results are though.

Read So Good They Can't Ignore You, it was one of the big factors in changing my life.

This is moronic. It's no trivial matter to "self teach", especially when you start working on bigger projects (necessary to show employers that you can do things) and are stuck on something with no clue where to look. I'm not bullish on bootcamps because I don't know if the hiring rates for the better ones are sustainable with them all expanding so fast, but to say they're a waste of time because you can go do online tutorials is so dumb.

The "passion" attitude is harmful and leads to everyone quitting their jobs at age 24-32 with a "quarter-life crisis". See the book I referenced above. You are partially correct though, of course the dude shouldn't go to a bootcamp without having touched code before. The good ones would make him learn some before even accepting him.

Great thread.

OP, your income is still very good. My advice would be to ride out poker for a few more years while preparing for the next chapter in your life. Save as much as you can, a solid six figure life roll gives you a lot of freedom.

I really like the idea of learning programming, that is what I would do. If your interests are somewhere else, figure out what you need to do and spend the next few years to put yourself in a spot where you're a great candidate. Anyone who has made it in poker for 10 years and can make 100K in 2015 mostly likely has a lot to offer.

As far as dating as a poker pro, I agree things change at 35+ assuming you've had long term success. I met my now wive in my late 30s and married 'way up'. Poker was a non-issue. I was clearly successful and had my **** together. However, if you don't want to spend your life as a poker pro now is the time to start making changes, every year you wait will make it tougher.

ya, if thats ur wife congrats

It is not too late to change and make a direction of your life. Think of what will give you the best benefit in the future. Think of what can fulfill of what you have dreamed for.

Since you graduated from a top 10 school, that may help you get into a decent ranked MBA program. You could go back, get your MBA from a top 30 school full-time, then go out and get a good paying corporate job and play poker on the side. You would just have to have a good story about why you decided to pursue poker and how successful you were etc. There are a lot of people in the 30-35 yr age range that get their MBA's so you won't be too late age wise if you get into grad school in the next couple yrs.

If you want to change just because you are worried about what other people will think of you and you still have a passion for the game, don't do it. Pursue your passion in life.

I work a corporate job in finance where I'm making about 95K a yr but I'm not passionate about the work. I'm very grateful for the job and the fact I am able to provide for my family but I won't be doing this for long. I have a wife and two kids and I'm not worried about what them or our families will think once I decide to move on and trade the markets independently and play poker.

I want my kids to know they should always pursue what they are passionate about.

So ya, don't do it if your not going to love what you do. Being a corporate slave is not the long term solution and coming from poker and being free and making pretty solid income you will definitely have trouble adjusting if you aren't enjoying what you are doing.

The freedom that comes with doing your own thing that you love independently, but still making a solid income is second to none IMO.

I would say you may just be getting bored with your current situation. Are you challenging yourself enough in poker? What's the next step to making 200K in a year. Are you trying to move up in stakes? Maybe your questioning everything because you have gotten a bit bored and no longer challenge yourself because your comfortable with 100K/yr??