Crossposted from another thread, thought it would apply here as a mid stakes player and seeing other going pro threads etc. This is aimed specifically at players in college although it applies in varying degrees to everyone.



What percentage of players in college will later wish they had played less? I think 100% will regret the amount of time they played to an extent at some point in their lives. You only get the college experience once in your life and there will be plenty of time to make money later.

I quit playing poker this last semester and have never been happier. I never realized before how much I was missing by playing poker ~2-3 hours a day with another ~2 hours browsing 2p2 or reddit etc. I had what I thought was a very fulfilling social life, spending lots of time with friends and going out every weekend night etc, but since I quit I have been amazed at how much time has opened up which I have spent meeting more people and making more friendships that would otherwise never have been created. These extra friendships have been priceless to me so I'm very happy with my decision although I still play maybe 5 hours a month to grind a couple thousand to pay for food/drugs/misc etc, but I just want to encourage people who are putting in 15 hours a week etc. to try giving up poker for a month or two (internet as well) and see how it is; for me it has made me much happier, and this is coming from someone who had an avid social life by most standards but still, the more social time the better while you're in college (imo).

I probably wouldn't do this if I didn't already have a nice chunk from poker sitting in the bank and the ability to just crank more out if necessary, but to people who are just padding their roll and cranking out dollars for down the road I really urge you to spend your time at school away from poker and the internet and with the enormous amount of kids your age, you won't get that chance again, not the way it is in college. You can always play during the summer and obviously no one is going to straight up quit because of reading this (in fact I hope no one does but rather reflects and makes sure they are doing what they really want to be doing) but I hope other people who are in a similar situation to mine will tone down their playing time and benefit as a result.

One extra note, I'm sure a lot of people will say that there is no reason that you can't have a social life etc. and still play 1 hour a day and I completely agree and think this might be optimal IF you are able to completely leave everything poker related at the computer and not waste extra time at 2p2 etc. Personally I now can't even stand playing for a single hour even if I haven't played in a week because that hour could go towards so many things that are more fun than poker. For people who can already buy everything they immediately want, food dvds plane tickets etc. why play when you could be doing something better? I write this because I know many players and friends who are plugging at the computer towards a goal that they themselves are unsure of, many who go through swing after swing, many who build up their role and give it back at higher stakes after a month of grinding, and the question is what is all the time playing poker really yielding them.

I hope this doesn't sound condescending at all because I realize everyone is in a different situation and this will certainly apply to some poker players and not all; different strokes for different folks, some love the game, some only like it etc, some are making $1000 an hour and don't want to miss that opportunity; everyone has thought about these things before, but everyone at one point or another falls "off the path" and starts playing merely for the sake of playing. I merely hope that this will provide insight to college players when they decide how to construct their poker/life ratio and hopefully help players who have fallen "off the path" with a poor balance realize this and get back on, achieving a better harmony for their health and happiness.

Bump

didn't read your post b/c i am lazy. i didn't get into poker until after i finished school and while it would've been nice to come up in the party poker days i have absolutely zero regerets.

Really good Poker Players do not need Time for School!

I really wish I would have found poker after school rather than at the beginning of my college life. With that said, I probably wouldn't even still be in school if it wasn't for poker.

I just started playing poker three weeks ago so I don't know how poker will affect me when I start my third year, so I'm putting in as much hours as I can while in the summer so I can be on a decent start once the fall semester starts.

Maybe I can chime in with some thoughts.

I went to a pretty good school on the East Coast, and like most guys here discovered poker around the end of my Frosh year in late 2004 (graduated last May). I worked my ways up the micros and SSNL like others, but at a relatively slow pace compared to most. I generally put in my one hour a day, but also browsed the forums in my spare time. In general though, I think I was able to balance my life pretty well with social stuff, a pretty grueling class schedule, and a bunch of extracurriculars.

Now, I'm working a pretty solid management consulting job and get an hour or two of poker a night in when I'm on the road in the hotel. I 4-5 table the 2/4 game as a semi-reg and still actively post when I can. I've tried the 3/6 stab a few times and missed. I've got a coach now to help with future attempts to move up as well. The one thing I really need to make that leap IMO is more time. More time to play, to watch vids, to think about the game, and to be honest there just isn't enough time in the day for me in order to reach those HSNL games that a lot of us strive for.

So what's the bottom line? I'd say for most people (and this is a big generalization with definite exceptions) it just isn't feasible to have a balanced lifestyle and still become more than just a very good poker player. I'm happy with the choices I've made and think the combination of work, poker, and other life experiences I have right now is best for me. But I'm a 2/4 semi-reg without any major aspirations beyond trying to reach the 5/10 someday. The time and effort I think it takes to go beyond that may be incompatible with the balanced lifestyle you recommend.

Part of me wishes I was dedicated enough to become one of you guys and reach that next level, but personally and financially I think it's best for poker to remain a (very profitable) hobby for me.

i like to think that i balance it pretty well, but i think that sometimes i struggle. it was definitely much easier when i was playing much lower and not really winning, because the draw to playing poker was more about me wanting to get better and win, then about $. i definitely agree about the problem of time.

when you have a competitive personality playing anything (be it poker, warcraft 3 or diablo ii to give my own video game history) for 1h/day just isn't happening


also not everyone prefers 15 friends over 5, not everyone feels the need to see friends every other day, to party/get drunk every night, etc etc

im the exact opposite and wish I had started earlier just so i can take advantage of this making xxxx per month while having like 0 costs per month as a student period.

i have never not done anything I wanted so I could go and play cards though, why do you guys

yeah, this too. i played ~40k hands per month over the last ~18 months and can honestly say i've never cancelled anything i wanted to do to play poker

how is this even remotely possible with a full scholastic work load and any semblance of a social life? do you guys have more hours in your days or something?

poker is my life

i'm euro where on campus living is less common, so i 'only' go out/see friends or gf 3-4 days per week

regarding scholastic workload, i guess i'm smart? ^^

To OP: great post. thats def some really important stuff. i also agree that as a full time student it is extremely difficult (if not impossible for most) to ever become that great of a player (big winner at 5/10+) while maintaining a great social life. But maybe im just kinda dumb and cant learn to be great as quickly and easily as others :/

the beginning of my freshman year (last year) was when I REALLY got into poker. I got so much better in one year's time but part of me wishes I did more social things to have a wider friend base but I do have several good friends (although basically all play poker) so not too many regrets. I've definitely skipped things cuz I was stuck tho. never skipped stuff just to play although once I stayed up way too late but there was a massive fish so couldn't leave lol.

Quit school and see how much time that frees up.

it is definitely possible even with a g/f, school doesn't even take up a full day, maybe switching majors or something

arent you a grad student?

o rly? In one of his videos, stinger compared the 25/50 NL game of 3 years ago to todays 5/10. If in 3 years, the online 1/2 games become like todays 5/10 (unlikely at that level but very likely at 2/4), you can say goodbye to your easy 3 digit/hr. Not only that, having finished school recently, I'm really excited about traveling and playing in live events, which is something that I would not be able to do if I still had school next year.

Bottom line, if you manage to balance your life with social activities with friends and family along with your long hours in front of your monitor, you'll realize that the money from poker and the poker itself is great for you.

regret is a waste of time sir. With that said i don't think i'll ever look back and wish i played less becaue i enjoy poker. I certinly don't think it's because of poker that i will recieve my distinctly average grades (I have an exam in 2 hours, and im on here when i should be cramming). I'm naturally lazy and hate working on something i don't enjoy. So if it wasn't poker it would be something else.

From a purely social point of view, meh i don't think it's done much harm. in my 1st year when i wasn't playing poker much at all my day would go something like this: wake up at midday, go to the odd lecture. Sleep/watch films in my hungover state. recover, then go out. rinse repeat. After i took up poker in 2nd year my day was: wake up at midday, go to the odd lecture. Play poker, chill w/ housemates. Go out a bit less often cuz people seemed less up for it in 2nd year. Think evreryone started working or something, which i certainly was not going to start doing!

anwyay, each to their own. Shouldn't waste too much time/energy regretting things though.

lol how is there no period where u do homework or something during your day?

+1!

homework is for the morning it's due in. I don't get many compulsary homeworks on my course (maths) anyway. I've manged to copy most of them off someone.

some majors have a lot, like chemistry, biology, etc...others, like business degrees, require about 3 week of class and doing jack****, and maybe < 1 week of cramming, group projects, case studies etc etc. rinse. repeat....not having friday classes helped too. oh, and also, finding out which classes you actually have to attend helps as well...

I really think its easy to balance, i had friends who got drunk/high wayy more often during the week and/or also worked more than i played poker...and they still got good gpa's

yea, its really just about finding little ways to beat the system or make it less work