1/2 10 handed

Hero is a college student planning to play professionally after graduating. TAG/Winning image. Hero covers table.

Main Villain: First time playing with him but I have a decent read on him. Loose Passive Inexperienced Player who plays very straightforward. Turned over his cards on the flop in a previous hand after I called his lead. Overplays top pair. He is running hot and has run a min buyin up to around $200.

OTTH:

I make it $20 UTG with AdKh. MP calls. Everyone else folds.

($40) Flop AsKs8d . I bet $30. He calls

($100) Turn 6s I bet $40. He looks like he wants to raise but just calls. At this point, I know he has a hand he really likes but I think this player acts this way with A8, A6, K8 etc. assuming he arrives here with those hands.

($185) River 3h . I put him in for his remaining $110

Thoughts? I think I played this hand poorly, but my reason for taking this line had a lot to do with my read on him.

Normally I'd bet smaller on the flop because you dominate so much of the flop. Plus balance reasons, but not as applicable here. So I think it's ok.

You should be checking this turn especially vs a straightforward player.

Again you should check river or bet small. Betting big here you just narrow what you get called by a lot. Mostly to hands that beat you.

Hand is well played. A villain this inexperienced is calling off with AT+ but probably not betting 1 pair hands on the river. And there really aren't that many flush combo's available, since the As and Ks are on the board and you made it 10x pre.

Just be aware this sizing makes your hand very face up. Not that it matters vs this guy.

Agree hero should bet a little smaller on flop vs this type of player, it will still be easy to get stacks in by river.

Turn and river look fine

everyone glossed over the most important line in the OP

why would you pay for a degree and then go play poker for a living?? that's a poor life decision because the barrier to entry for "professional poker player" is literally zero. you didn't need to spend the time/$ on a degree to do it.

not to mention that if you graduate, play poker for some period of time, and then try to find a job, some perspective employers might ask what you've been up to in between. so at least make sure you have a viable story, like do side projects while playing poker, so you can use those as you're source of income if anyone asks.

The hand is played fine. Not much else you can do, really.

Probably because the parents are paying for it, and if he fails at poker he has backup options.

I totally agree and it was my first thought as well. But I'm tired of giving this speech and no one listens to it anyways.
So I don't waste my time.

I’m on scholarship. I think the opportunity cost of the time investment for a solid degree doesn’t compare to the leverage I’ll have in the future. It helps that I’ll be done in 3 years.

Anyone else have thoughts on this? Preferably optimistic and encouraging ones!

*it’s only taking me 3 years. Graduating in 2020

*sigh* here we go.

Here's the thing, I don't know what your situation but these are my reasons.

Some background:
I gave it my shot for 2 yrs in Vegas. I cleared around 50k the first year playing 1/2 and 1/3. 2nd year I moved up to 2/5 up to 10/20 pretty quickly. I did well in some tourneys and cleared about 150k after the dust settled(I peaked around 250k and degened back like 100k). Granted I was horrible, but people were so bad back then it didn't matter.

But between some personal problems(divorce) and being burnt out with the scene I stepped away.

Took some years off, worked and gave it another shot during a wsop summer and told myself if I hit it big I'd keep going, but if I was spinning my wheels I'd do something else. I crushed in cash, but threw it all away trying to hit a big tournament. Never happened. I wasn't willing to buckle down and have good brm.

By that time I was burned out again and stepped away for good and pursued another career.

Reflecting back these were all the cons for me:
You have to play to make money. It becomes meh pretty quick.
You have to be in a casino environment which I hate.
You have to see and deal with "poker people" and degens all the time. This ties in with the casino environment and I hated it.
No health insurance, I mean it's a large expense.
Good games aren't always guaranteed. The game itself isn't guaranteed.
The psychological impact, working hard and losing money even when you're playing well sometimes.
Also when I thought about it long term I couldn't see it. It wasn't the life I wanted.

When I stack it up against what I'm doing now it doesn't even compare. I couldn't imagine having gone a different path now.

When I was young and single I mean it was doable and ok.
But now I'm married with 2 kids. No way poker would be able to make it work for me now.

Now I make high 6 figures every year variance free.
I know exactly at least how much I will make each year. Sometimes it's more. I don't have to think or worry about it.
If I make a mistake, I still get paid. If I have a bad week, I still get paid.
I have insurance for myself and my whole family. Health, dental, vision, life, accident.
I have a 401k that gets matched 6%, free money.
I get about 60k in stocks every year that just sit in my account.
I get bonuses.
I get 4wks of vacation a year.
I get holidays off.
I get a week at Thanksgiving and a week and half during Christmas off.
I have sick days.
I work about 40hrs a week.
I have time for my family.

Now the salaries and things may vary, but there isn't anything special or unique about my situation for people that get a degree and a good career. I'm sure there are many people on this forum that dwarf my income.

It's funny how people glam up poker life and look down on a regular job, but to me it's not even close.

Yeah I still play poker now and again, but I actually enjoy it again now because the results don't matter at all.

Ironically I'm probably the best I've ever been at the game during a time it matters the least and when I play the least.

I wish I had known about poker when I was younger -- before the marriage and family, etc.

I would have spent a year or two in Vegas or wherever playing poker -- or at least trying.

I get what you are saying, Mr Spyutastic, but I think he should go for it while he's young and can do it. Maybe it will be different for him; maybe it won't -- but now is the time.

Maybe keep up with whatever your degree is in. Keep in touch with key people. Do what you need to do to ensure you can get a job in a year or two (if needed) or go back to grad school. Whatever it takes. But if your dream now, when you are young with no family or responsibilities except to yourself, is to play poker, I say go for it!

Edit: If you are already married with kids or planning a family, etc., get a real job!!!

Yeah I mean I know people are going to do whatever they're going to do regardless of what some stranger on the internet says anyways.

And yeah if you're young with minimal attachments/responsibilities that's the time to do it.

A couple other things that added to my reasons for not liking the lifestyle is sleep schedule.

Also the fact that you need so much money and there's so much money that you you just have to keep on lockdown so you can play.

Like for a poker player you have 200k on hand? Cool how much of that can you just go out and spend if you have to? 200k for a regular person is much different. They can go spend it all and be fine.

So the mountain you have to constantly climb financially wasn't that attractive for me either.

Funny, I would kill for a poker player's sleep schedule. I love to stay up until 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. and sleep until 11 a.m. or noon! That would be perfect. Alas, I don't know of another job I'd want with those hours with the salary of my 8-5

Uhhhhh, making high 6 figures, 4 weeks of vacation etc is unique, and makes you a very small percentile of the population. It's very unlikely most people at college age and in college will be able to anticipate making high 5 figures, let alone 6. I'm sure good amount of people that opt for poker over a "regular job", would opt for a regular job if they knew they could be making 100k, let alone 250k...let alone high 6 figures. It's just not a fair comparison. There is enough argument that working in a cubicle for a 60k start and a path is smarter than creating a gap out of college to grind low stakes, but if there is anything I've learned in my short life, it's different strokes and all that. He already said hes going to finish college and how many kids do we see bail college to take their shot...and most of those stories we only hear because the player is on a good run or became extremely succesful and well known.

Fair enough. I'm probably sheltered by the area I live in. 100k/yr isn't much out here.

I'm just saying that when people decide to jump in they have a very skewed view of how great/freeing poker is compared to working a conventional job.

For me it's a lot of intangibles as well that are difficult to quantify.

But the thought of having to spend the majority of my nights and weekends sitting next unshowered shaun deeb looking degens and listening to their inane poker talk and "jokes" to maintain my source of income makes me want to blow my brains out.

It's different when you have a choice rather than when you HAVE to do it.

So interesting. I'm a 50+ woman making six figures (not including hubby's income), and I'd kill to get a lower-paying job and move to Vegas to try to play poker Seriously, I think it would be a blast. However, I've had a desk job for 25+ years and have traveled, etc., and am lucky enough to say that not much is left on my bucket list. And I have spent a lot of time at poker tables in Vegas (go three or four times a year) and other places, so I know a bit of what it's like.

If you are young, single, and don't have debt, go for it!

(I have a husband who has three kids, so we'll stay put for a while!)

While what you say is true, you are ignoring the fact that in order to be a successful professional poker player, you need to be extremely intelligent. If you are smart enough to do that, then you are smart enough to land a 6 figure job with benefits like Mr. Spyutastic has. "Most people at college age" aren't smart enough to be successful professional poker players either so your analogy is a poor one.

I also have an excellent, high paying job with all the benefits mentioned above. I've been faithfully tracking my results since 2013 and I've done well enough to go pro. But I choose not to because I don't want to spend 30 or 40 hours a week in a casino around broken down, degenerate gamblers.

Poker is a lucrative hobby for me, nothing more. I play when I want to. I win more than I lose, but I don't worry about paying the rent when I have a bad run.

Yeah the key is being young and having a back up plan. That way you can get it out of your system. Have your cake and eat it so to speak.

Thanks for this, Mr. Spyutastic

I like the way you think, Javanewt . Thanks for the advice