Dropping out College - Page 2

Playing the devil's advocate here...

I was always an A/B student and I essentially dropped out after 2 years of dicking around in a decent public US university in California. I think it'd be easy for me to go back if I ever wanted to so it's nice to have that "cushion" but I really don't see myself ever going back.

I saw poker as an opportunity cost that I would waste by attending school, not to mention I was on my way towards a relatively useless degree (I was Undeclared for 2 years then they forced me to choose, so I picked Sociology). I was taking art classes because that's what I found to be the most engaging for me and I couldn't really stand the traditional classes, despite being able to acquire decent grades. If I were to go back I'd have to put in at least 3 years of schooling because I took a bunch of art electives.

I ultimately saw it as a waste of time and effort, I didn't think I was smart enough to be academically stellar in anything useful like law, pre-med, business/management, and I've always had this disdain for school that I'm sure everyone is familiar with. I felt like overall I've learned a LOT more by traveling the world, living for extended periods of time in foreign countries (and not just to party either), and by studying the things I wanted to study on my own time through the internet and books. I still maintain this position but obviously don't mind if people think that schooling is the better option, in fact I would probably err on the side of telling most people not to drop out but I fully acknowledge the gamble I was taking.

I will say though that if you're only a 100nl player you need to really change your perspective. When I dropped out completely I was crushing 1/2 and doing well at 2/4. The games in late 2010 are a LOT different from the games in early 2009, and I also personally don't see myself playing poker for that much longer because of a combination of 1. increasingly tougher games, 2. the uncertainty of poker's future, 3. not enjoying the game as much as I did years ago, 4. having other ventures I can focus my time and energy on.

don't see the logic in your story

you clearly are focused on the dollar side of the story, but you're 'only' a smallish/normal winner in nl100. it makes more sense to focus on your import business if you do quit

you say you are in the top 20% without much effort, then why quit college? it's not like you're failing courses then are you

plz dont do it.~

On November 17 2010 13:17 milkman wrote: finish school get a job 100%.. when you were saying you could make 3-5 K in your first few years, you were talking about that much per month right? Poker is only getting harder and more stressful for everyone.. you can do school and poker at the same time, but dont fuck over school for poker.. thats just retarded

5k per month in Chile seems huge when avg salary is 600-700

On November 17 2010 14:35 LemOn[5thF] wrote: Show nested quote + On November 17 2010 13:17 milkman wrote: finish school get a job 100%.. when you were saying you could make 3-5 K in your first few years, you were talking about that much per month right? Poker is only getting harder and more stressful for everyone.. you can do school and poker at the same time, but dont fuck over school for poker.. thats just retarded 5k per month in Chile seems huge when avg salary is 600-700

its not just about the money. poker is a fucking lonely depressive job. Not to mention very hard to gain respect from the outside world. If i made like 100k less a year than i do now i would snap quit poker.

if you think you can make 200k+ easily making poker then yeah drop college, if not, don't

I've made low 6 figs (€ not paper US-money) the last two years, I'll probably not get a great job from soon-to-be-finished law degree and I'm happy I havn't dropped out yet despite preforming like shit.

+1 to not dropping out. Just play poker on the side and if it picks up to where you reach higher stakes and start crushing souls then maybe drop out at that point, you're most likely going to regret dropping out if you do so now

While I agree with most of you here, have in mind he is not talking about quitting for good - is it really that crazy to try to pursuit poker for a semester while still young (20) and living at your parents place?

Worst case scenario is a missed half year of study, which might be bad for some but perhaps not life changing for him.

I don't know - It could probably be a good wake up call too, if poker fails miserable then at least college is back and he end up focusing on it instead of playing poker for the next few years with low success.

But I agree that this might be a bit premature since you haven't really proved yourself at the tables yet.

so is there the option of skipping one semester and then continuing where you left?

If your so burned out on it imo it's a fine plan to do something else for a year but if starting again is problematic in some way then do not.

haters gonna hate

On November 17 2010 14:50 wobbly_au wrote: Show nested quote + On November 17 2010 14:35 LemOn[5thF] wrote:   On November 17 2010 13:17 milkman wrote: finish school get a job 100%.. when you were saying you could make 3-5 K in your first few years, you were talking about that much per month right? Poker is only getting harder and more stressful for everyone.. you can do school and poker at the same time, but dont fuck over school for poker.. thats just retarded 5k per month in Chile seems huge when avg salary is 600-700 its not just about the money. poker is a fucking lonely depressive job. Not to mention very hard to gain respect from the outside world. If i made like 100k less a year than i do now i would snap quit poker.

Woah Woah, lets not make this a poker is a depressive job thing. There really are people that came to terms with variance and are enjoying themselves. Just because you don't enjoy it doesn't mean other people can't. I agree that unless you make way more money than in a regular job you should quit or not go pro if you don't thoroughly enjoy poker as you don't get benefits/sick pay/pension but if it is something that fulfills you and that you enjoy playing then giving it a shot will never be a mistake if you don't completely shut doors to other opportunities. And it doesn't have to be lonely if you don't want it to be Wobbly. Would you like a hug?

take a semester off and play. if you fail no excuses go back to college. if you succeed continue forward and don't look back

online poker will not set you for life, think of this, we complain about rake and most dont even pay the proper taxes, soon time will come when we all will have to and then that's gonna be ridiculously -EV long term. it prob wont even exist in the next 5 years. be smart about this all and plan your life without thinking about poker. i mean how long has the industry been in existence, 5 or 6 years? and now everything has changed so much for the worse already and countries are slowly privatizing operations per country/region. up to you if you're cool with grinding exclusively in pokerstars.chile in a couple of years. ive also noticed the only growth poker is experiencing is from people who wanna grind and make this thing a livelihood and that player demographic is definitely not gonna make the games any softer

also you seem to have some potential in real life, you are into business while studying at a young age, it is quite remarkable tbh
poker taken too seriously disconnects you from the outside world and its extremely difficult to reconnect since you miss out on a ton of stuff and you end up with no idea what to do next when youre 30 years old with no job or business experience. just play poker while doing what youre doing now

Drop out of school 100%. You will then play poker or do a business, and find you are either 1) very successful, or most likely you will find out 2) That starting your own business/playing poker is a grind and sucks.

You will then go back to school after a year with a drive to succeed that you didn't think you had in you.

On November 17 2010 19:12 Big_Rob_48 wrote: Drop out of school 100%. You will then play poker or do a business, and find you are either 1) very successful, or most likely you will find out 2) That starting your own business/playing poker is a grind and sucks. You will then go back to school after a year with a drive to succeed that you didn't think you had in you.

this is a good thought process, only problem is it may take some people a SUPER long time that its not gonna work out, Im talking 5+ years

if ur thinking about it, maybe just drop out for a year. thats what i did in 2009, made a bit of money, now on the home run to finishing my degree and i'm pretty happy about how its worked out. i also think it depends if ur degree is something with a job at the end, or if it's an arts degree which wont get you very far.