Hello.

I am 25 and this year I dropped college for poker. I had a carreer in music, which I had alrady dropped before to try philosophy. This was last year. And that was when I met poker. I started to dedicate much time and I almost forgot about school, and I started losing interest in the carreer. I left philosophy by the end of the year, and joined to music again this year, knowing that I was more interested in poker, but I did it to fulfill "status" expectations of other people, the traditional "you have to have a degree". I played my intrument in the university orchestra, and that payed the academic year, so it is not that I was spendig money in school. I had 2 years left to finish the school, that I think it is medium to long time (however, in music, as interpreter, it is not totally necessary a college degree, since the most important thing to get a job in a professional orchestra is to win an audition).
I left the college a couple months ago since I wasnt able to play poker and go to school and excel both activities simultaneously. I pay all my bills, and have a "back up" job to cover my expenses. I still don't rely on poker to make a living, but that is what I expect to do in the medium term.

Good advice in this matter will be well apreciated.

Regards

whats to say, sounds like you are already on the path, so good luck.
I think its a good idea to keep your backup job for a while until you are fairly certain you can bring in enough money to support yourself.

Hey gl with u. I am on the same path too but still trying to make decision though. But, I still want to continue my education in college so I probably take few semesters off, take a job and play some serious poker.

take those semesters' off and statisically at least you wont go back.

imo Stay in school and play poker part time. Get that degree, stick it in your back pocket. [/I]n this day and age so many people have degrees, and while I think experience will trump qualifications long term, these days without a degree you wont even get a sniff. I think often poker seems like the easy way out; you are your own boss, "work" when you want have great freedom, and not have to work on assignments etc, but I think the reality is its not easy to make a living at poker, and who knows where you will want to be in 5 years? The guy in the first post said he doesnt need a degree to be an interpreter, but hes 25 and by 35 he may want to do something completely different. A degree gives you some options. If you drop out at 25 with 2 years to go and are not extremely rich and poker does not work out, you will definitely regret this move as the doors open to you will be few and far between. A degree gives you options, cant stress that enough, (not saying that is how it should be necceserily) but the more options you have in this world, the broader your horizions can possibly be. Gl for the future and invest in it well.

I can't speak to music since you probably have mandatory attendance in a program like that but with anything like Philosophy (or any arts / social science program) where attendance is optional why would anyone want to drop out of school? You have as much time as you want to play poker and you are in one of the best environments with respect to having fun and getting laid.

By second year I knew I was never going to use my education in a professional sense but I stayed in school for seven more years and got a handful of degrees. If I was currently living in a city that had a good university I'd still be in school. Other than tuition I don't see any negatives of staying in school. I don't ever see myself needing a job but if I ever do I have the educational background to be over qualified for just about everything, when the eventual stigma associated with poker comes up I have my advanced degrees as proof it is a choice to gamble rather than be a lawyer or professor, and I got to spend a decade drinking, getting laid, and having a great time. School is one of the best times in life. You don't want to miss the experience.

Stay in school, graduate, get a degree, and geta post college form of employment. If you feel the need to play poker recreationally part time, go ahead and do this. Down the road, when your life is settled well and you have a nest egg, you may be better suited to try and turn pro.

well i am playing music. i am studying philosophy. and i am playing poker. and i have a girlfriend and a social life. and i am successfull at all of them. not always as much as i want to be, but in the end all things work out.

nevertheless i am saving my pokermoney for a second degree after my philosophy degree, in 3d artists game engineering at the games academy.

after i got both degrees i will be about 25 and will have plenty of options. music, philosophy, poker, game industry. then i can choose.

you wont be able to do that. dont know if that is good.

Learn to spell "career" and then ask me again.

I have asked nothing to you, Mr. Orthography. Thanks for your interest.

PS:

Henry is right on.

I can tell you that the biggest regret of my life that I can think of right now is that I didn't go away to school and study/party on campus for 4 years. I had my fun but it would have been more fulfilling in an on campus environment.

Don't be so quick to throw that chapter of your life away.

Not really sure what this means. I, as well as anyone else, could conceivably apply the choice in the same fashion you are. Most people here are a similar age as you, with some level of education, who have played semi or fully professionally.

The people here is saying the main reason to go college is fun. hello? It is not the intellectual challenge, not the intellectual enviroment... it is the partying in the campus.
That is not a good reason to me.

looks like you have a lot of options but you need to stick to one.

also see how much you make in a year w/poker and decide if its good for you. if it doesnt work then go for your gaming, music or philosophy degree

Fixed your post.

You asked any member of the forum to reply and I did.

Orthography is a nice word.

You can play poker but you can't write.

Are you a semi-literate cowboy who learned to play poker in the saloons of the West?

As for doing the planet a favour (UK spelling): please take your own advice.

PS: nice brunette.

LOL @ last post.

This is what people want a degree for? To be a spelling police in internet forums? Ok buddy, you won.

You can spell poker so you have Phil Hellmuth's blessing for your career.

As a serious answer to your OP, I think at some point you have to stick to your decisions. Your life seems to meander. You are still finding yourself. You talk about poker for the medium term and ask what the forum thinks of it. Well here goes: you say you are winning money and have a back up job. You talk about your music which you intend to be your long-term career. It all seems fine to me. It is your life. I say, "live it".

I wouldnt consider poker as a "career" if I were you. Only my opinion of course but if you have a decent life and can get yourself a decent education then I would value these far higher than playing pro poker. Long term you will do far better concentrating on another career than poker. Even if you consider poker to be a fall back career, or use it to fund your studies and life then you will still be making money and you will continue to learn the game.

I have paid my way through my phd the last 3 years playing poker, and at the moment I am between having submitted my phd, and starting my new job in november. I have made a decent amount of money over the last few years grinding but I have been trying to grind full time for a month now that I have nothing to do, and Im bored stupid. I love poker, love thinking about it and playing it, but it can be a very lonely existence. I feel frazzled and ive only been playing a couple of months. Starting my job in november I will effectively be taking a pay cut from poker, but to me it will just be more interesting than sitting grinding all day.

If you were uneducated and had crap future prospects, or lived in a country with little money, then I would strongly recommend playing poker. You seem to have a decent enough life so I would just enjoy it and spend your poker income on whatever you please. Good luck whatever you choose

This is actually a good post.

If you want to make a career out of poker, you can't worry about what other people think. No matter how much you make, some people are going to judge you as being a degenerate gambler. By posting this thread, you're showing that you're still looking for approval.

Stop worrying what other people think, and live your life the way you see fit. Only you know if college is the correct choice for you. If you want to play poker for a living, don't wait for people to post a reason why you should, just go ahead and do it.

Cross posted from my blog - I didn't feel it was right of me to plug the link (since it would look like advertising) here so instead I've copied the article. Hopefully you can gain something from it.

Although many people assume it will, playing poker for a living doesn’t mean you aren’t still working full time. To do it, and do it well, you’ll need to be putting in similar hours – you’ll just get to choose when you do them. It’s a typical grandiose notion that professional poker will release you from the shackles of the rat race, but you still put in the hours, you still have to be wise with your money and accounts, and you still have to pay taxes. Essentially, you put on a new set of shackles – provided you see normal life as being chained down.

Before you consider playing poker for a living, make sure you really love the game. You may think your job is repetitive now, but multi-tabling poker all day can be just the same. You should also take into consideration what future opportunities you have in your current position – is it really worth giving up a potentially good long-term career for what could possibly be short-term money and freedom?

However, if you have strong self-discipline, and the ability to critique yourself (this is a particularly handy skill for post-flop match reviews), then poker may just be for you.

So you’ve played a few hundred hours of poker online, have an established win-rate over a large number of hands (250,000+), and want to take a shot at becoming an online poker professional? Where do you go from here?

First of all, think about how much money you would be comfortable with having in reserve. Now double it. Having far more money at your disposal than you need not only decreases your risk of ruin, but will help you cope with those inevitable ‘down days’ that much better. You’re not going to profit every day – and if you don’t know this before you start, you should reconsider your decision – and having a large amount of cash in reserve is nothing but a good idea.

Secondly, what are your expectations? How much money do you want to make, and how many hands do you plan to play each month? When you first go from having a 9-5 job to what may start out feeling like an endless weekend, it’s very easy to start slacking off and not playing as often as you should. Have some goals to help keep you focused.

Third of all, what are your pre-session and post-session routines? When you were working you presumably had a routine. Whether it was the drive to work, or a morning coffee, you would have had something which mentally prepared you to work. As a poker professional, having a pre-session routine will help you to mentally prepare to play your absolute A game. A good example of a pre-session routine would be to wake up, have a shower and breakfast, grab yourself a bottle or glass of water and then start locating good tables. Post-session routines aren’t that different – this could be opening a video site, such as StoxPoker or Deucescracked, and watching some videos, or posting hands from the day on TwoPlusTwo. Either way, your post-session routine should help you to close off your day until you start again tomorrow.

I doubt you are being honest with yourself.

Your life, so its your choice, but dropping out of college to play poker makes no sense. These aren't the Doyle Brunson days where you need to travel around Texas to smoke filled back rooms. College occurs in the day. Poker occurs at night, online. Both college and poker are remarkably flexible, and about as mutually compatible as any two undertakings could be. if you can't handle poker and college, you can't handle professional poker right now. Brutal but true.

More to the point: play poker, get a degree. Be in a college town. Get Laid and Drink. Be philosophical, or whatever it is that philosophers do, and play music. One of them will emerge as the way you will make your living, maybe. Or it might be something else.

There is no need to throw away college to play poker.