Wish i never found out about this damn game. I dont know what to do with my life anymore. The idea of going back to college seems like a joke, even though i only have one semester left.

Have you tried the Dragon Age expansion?

omg dude. one semester????? FINISH THAT ****!

I know right now you're probably like "**** college, why do I even need it, blah blah blah". But the point is, you never know what life will throw at you. Having that college degree in your back pocket may end up being a huge help somewhere down the line. Life is crazy (and long), so you never know.

One semester? I'd give my left pinky toe for another semester of college. It was the best time of my life.

+1

Maslow's hierarchy of needs seems pretty stupid to me.

Me too.

For anyone going AGAINST op's title:

1) Most of you are young twenty-somethings...no?

2) Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? 10? 20?

The worst thing to do is wake up one day after a bunch of years have passed, look in the mirror and ask yourself...wtf are you doing? If you even think about playing professionally you are out of your f'ng mind.....keep the day job/401k/medical etc and keep poker as a HOBBY. I lol at these young kids who are making $$ playing poker and think that this is what they're going to do forever. Please please please let me know what it is/where you're going to be in 20 years. If you're still playing "professionally" then, you most likely will look 10 yrs older, be broke and be a miserable person.

Only if your a tard and dont invest it in anything.
If you play properly and make a decent amount of money then invest it, weather it be into some form of education or something else.

If you sit there playing and doing nothing then sure it may be stupid.
But whats the difference between doing a ****ty job for 40 years and playing poker?

You do the same stuff every day and never move on in life.

If you want to use your own money to make money you better be averaging > $75 an hour if you're paying taxes and buying insurance and all that stuff. I have yet to meet someone who charges under $80 an hour for labor and there is a real good reason for it. The sad thing is this number was $45 an hour 11 years ago but I guess that happens when health costs go up and the dollar gets halved during Bush II.

I know some people who had the same problem. Just remember my motto "C's get degrees". If you can go back to college and play poker as much as you want, and still get a C just by occasionally typing a paper, taking everything pass/fail, or if you test well - then there is no reason why college has to be anything more than the place that gives you a degree at the same time you focus on what you truly love.

I love how people are hinting that many jobs other than poker have "meaning" and allow you to prosper as an individual. Most jobs are ****. Obviously there is a % of the population taht feel fulfilled by their work. But I would think that % would be small. Most are just trying to pay the bills

Or, this could happen.

Other jobs have guarenteed income/medical/401k etc. Poker doesn't. Other jobs offer advancement, experience and comraderie (sp?)....poker is basically a loner profession. If one still aspires to be a poker "pro" they better have something to fall back on because rest assured 99/100 are going to fail.
Also dont forget you don't stay 21 forever. Eventually/probably you will get married and have kids (if you can find a good woman who doesn't care about your "career"). LOL trying to support them playing poker. Keep watching that Cada 2009 wsop final table kiddies....its easy..real easy.

I'm really happy I started businesses with extra money I had a few years ago rather than trying to "make it". I was paying my bills and living well off of poker while in college but I had ideas for businesses I really wanted to move on, and honestly, the thought of grinding hours on end just didn't seem enjoyable anymore. It seemed more like work than actual work alot of the time, if that makes sense. I have much more fun playing the occasional tournament or cash game now.

teach me

you could flip burgers

Hey, help me out?

sounds like you don't win at poker, to be honest.

That stuff can certainly happen. But it can also happen to people who don't play poker. That's why I play now, because the rest of my life got so screwed up. A partial litany:

I have Attention Deficit Disorder, which wasn't diagnosed until I was 40. My theory is that having a MENSA IQ, along with ADD, causes each to mask the other. For a long time I muddled along. I wasn't a great student, but I graduated with my high school class, albiet with a 2.6 GPA.

I tried and tried, on and off for 20 years, to get a college degree. I could never quite do it. I gave it everything I had, including repeating a bunch of classes. But I was just too distractable and disorganized to do anything like research and write a major paper.

I got in all kinds of legal trouble for stupid stuff like forgetting to pay minor traffic tickets. Not paying tickets eventually turns into a suspended driver's license, which turns into a DWLS (driving while license suspended), which turns into jail.

Skipping ahead to the last 3 years, during which I was doing a pretty good job of cleaning my messes up:

I got a decent job.
I got in an auto accident and broke some bones.
About the time I was ready to go back to work, my employer folded.

So, no degree except for community college, very spotty job history, and not much money to work with. The unemployment rate in my city was one of the worst in the US, at 19%.

But I did have one thing going for me. I had a lot of time after my auto accident where I couldn't do much. But I could sit in front of a computer and play poker.

I got online with $50 and found out that I was pretty good it. My education didn't matter. I didn't have to convince someone to hire me. My ADD had been diagnosed and I knew what I was dealing with. I could minimize the distractions by playing when I was the only one up, when no one was home, or at 3 A.M. if I wanted.

Life can deal you a series of bad beats, but that isn't limited to poker players. In a situation like that, you only have 3 options.

1. Give up.
2. Try harder at what you were doing.
3. Try something else.

#3 seems to be working pretty well for me. I absolutely love being self-employed, and it would take a pretty good offer for me to do something else.

Alright - Im 24 year old "kid", play professionally, have a college degree and will comment on this situation. For most playing professionally is a pipe dream - its not an easy profession and those making 50k a year getting by are wasting their lives considering they could be working on building themselves up in a company during these years. I myself made around 180 last year and have made about 110 so far in 2010. I love my life currently and have been able to save 300k roughly in cash through the years thus far, at a young age. If Im able to continue this profitability for say 5 more years Id be able to buy a home and still have 4-500k in cash in the bank. To do that by age 30 is amazing in my opinion - most of my friends in white collar jobs might be making say 120k by then, but wont have anywhere near that amount saved up and hate their jobs. I think it comes down to how profitable you are in poker - figure out your actual hourly rate and how much you can expect to make - if you're making say 80k/year, maybe poker is the right avenue.....If you're able to make 150k+ a year doing it then it sounds like a great way to save some money at a young age. No its not the greatest "career" to be doing at 45, but with alot of money in the bank theres alot of options out there. Just my opinion - I enjoy "working" everyday and love my life. I got my college degree worse case scenario, but I dont plan on leaving the online world anytime soon

I have no idea whether to believe you or not, but regardless, very few people are good enough to make this kind of money. If you are the type of person who is so poker compatible that money simply flows to you without any hardships at all, then OBVIOUSLY, playing poker is the best option... And 24 is pretty old in the online poker world. lol

Only the top 1-4% of anyone in any career can afford to grind it and only it. The rest of us must grind everything we know how to do or become comfortable with what you have.

I agree with this, new census numbers coming out, but I think that the median household US income was only around $47K, so not quite sure where all of the 120K+ jobs by the tender age of 30 are available for people without college degrees, let alone advanced degrees.

Mike Caro had an interesting article about one of the old Cali card rooms, and in his estimation only the top 10% of poker players play at a profit, so the bottom 90% donate (though they might think they profit from short term + EV)

Out of the top 10% less than 3% play well enough to live well, and less than 1% make enough to be baller.

Granted this was previous to online poker, so I think the numbers are skewed towards more pro's either grinding online, or live making a living now.

So wrong !

Baker makes bread, a chief cooks for customers, an artist entertains people, teachers educate, workers build houses, and so on, so many examples..

Poker players do **** except playing cards ! Useless to society.