Dropping out College

That's really serious decision so better if you consider all positives and negatives ascpects of it.
And the most important question you have to ask yourself is "AM I ABLE TO BE THE LONG TERM WINNER??"

Anyway if you decide to become Poker Proplayer I wish you luck!

unless you are a stable nl600+ winner with decent save ups i wouldnt even think of quitting college. And half a semester try out time wont prove anything

Would you get a degree with those 2 years ? And with a 3rd year ?

Differences between incomes are huge in Chile, especially for employees depending on the "carrera". With a good business degree you would have something quite safe. (In which University do you study atm ?)

If your business turns to be good and stable, you could have this secure income that would allow you to put more time on poker and less time in studies. But I would say that a degree is the only thing you can't lose, while if you have a poor run at poker or business you would stay with "nothing" except some experience.

Imo, consider the pessimistic scenario, if still you can see a path to get some good work, or start studying again, then you may do it especially as there are a lot who "congelan" a semester.

Do NOT go ahead with it. Seriously, dropping out after two years is not a good plan. You might be able to beat 100NL in it's current state but it's not enough, the poker industry is not something to put your money on. You have to look at it long term, a collage degree will stick with you for the rest of your life. Poker might give you a decent living right now but god knows what poker will be like 1-3 years from now not to even mention 10 years from now, things turn so quickly.

You shouldn't quit anything to play Poker, unless you're doing incredibly well and even then :/. If your business is going really well, it might make more sense to take a break from college to get that stable.

My suggestion would be to just take less classes, even if you're only taking two per semester. Not sure if they have them there, but taking online classes can be a good break as well. They tend to move a lot faster, you don't need to commute/walk/etc, and you don't have to wait for a bunch of slower students.

If you're still taking GE classes, then you should really push yourself through classes until you get to the ones you want to take. If you're already taking classes for your major, maybe you should rethink what you want to do.

It may not seem like college matters now, but once you finish you likely feel proud of yourself. If you dropped out, you'll likely regret that decision when you're older and finish anyways.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

please dont drop out of school to play poker..

this is a terrible idea. Ask your friends / random people in colalge, a lot of people feel the same way you do. A lt of the stuff your learning seems useless, but a degree is nice to have. Furthermore if your too lazy to finish collage, what makes you think youll have the discpline to be a strong poker player? Just because you feel like it for a few months? A lot of people who play poker full time feel the same way you do about collage, they are burned out and wanna do something else. Very few of us love this game and play it for fun

Your reasoning is also incorrect, you should not try poker ebcause you hate collage. You should only be trying poker if you see a real potential in it one that far exceeds what any job can offer. (ex if a job is gonna make you 50k a year, but you think you can make 70k a year playing poker DO NOT PLAY POKER) the risk does not justify the reward. As a buienss person you should understand this

bad idea brah. gl

On November 17 2010 11:11 TalentedTom wrote: Your reasoning is also incorrect, you should not try poker ebcause you hate collage. You should only be trying poker if you see a real potential in it one that far exceeds what any job can offer. (ex if a job is gonna make you 50k a year, but you think you can make 70k a year playing poker DO NOT PLAY POKER) the risk does not justify the reward. As a buienss person you should understand this

I understand dropping out of college for poker is not a good idea. I understard a degree is a safe way of having a decent job and has practically no risk. But it just seems the lower variance/lower EV life move everyone does.

I am more in disliking my current studies situation atm I just feel college as a mindless grind, and I'll say I like 1 out of my 7 classes. I also feel in disadvantage with my peers; I cant do really good at collega cause I spend time on poker, and most of my thoughts seem to be about it. I dont even spend much time at it, and i am among the top 20% students, but it always sucks to not be the 5% I could be.

I actually love poker, but dunno how that's gonna be playing 6 hours a day on average instead of 2. I am not sure i'll be doing this forever, but i'd love to give it a try. I'll keep it as a my side income while I develop my business/start others. Remember a medic makes 5k a month here, unlike europe/usa where 5k is worth WAYYYYYYY less.

Risks seems so low and potential reward so big; dunno how is it outside, but I can just "freeze" (congelar) a semester, which means I can retake studies later without any hassle (i'll just be graduating a semester later).

I posted here to get a reality check obv, so keep posting ur opiniones. This is a decision i'll have to take in around 3 months, so i'll obv re eval later.

From our brief discussion I can tell that you shouldnt go for poker Gotunk and drop out of college or put less effort into yur business. Yes, this is me, LemOn the huge fan of going pro at any stakes telling you that.
No offense but when you ask me what you should do to improve and get better, I tell you what and you reply that that's boring I don't think you are in love with the game enough, and just want to go pro because of money/your heater. I'd be seriously worried you will give up the moment you get a large downswing and will regret your decision/will be miserable when that happens.

Read your last comment...

Dude why on earth why would you drop out when you dont spend much time at studying?
Just cut the time spent even more, and just get the degree if your modules really add little value and are dull (Reason why I GTFO Out of Czech Republic where you have 5+ subjects per semestre 90% of them you won't use in the future and you end up just studying for the sake of an exam). You will have more options in life for very litle effort.

Plus something to consider...Poker will always be there. Its not like it will dissapear in 2 years, thats the beauty of the game you can play it until you die...thats a lot of time. It really is hard for many people to go back to education once they left it, I do't think it will be that hard with poker.

I however would consider dropping out because of your business. The economy is recovering and Chile will have a ton of busines opportunities as many markets wont be saturated as in US or here. It might be true that there is a window of opportunity right here and right now for you to make big money. If you got the enterprenurial spirit, you found an unexploited opportunity and you got the means to follow it then jump at it, and put both uni and poker on hold, as you go back to them but the window might close.

On November 17 2010 11:10 TalentedTom wrote: please dont drop out of school to play poker.. this is a terrible idea. Ask your friends / random people in colalge, a lot of people feel the same way you do. A lt of the stuff your learning seems useless, but a degree is nice to have. Furthermore if your too lazy to finish collage, what makes you think youll have the discpline to be a strong poker player? Just because you feel like it for a few months? A lot of people who play poker full time feel the same way you do about collage, they are burned out and wanna do something else. Very few of us love this game and play it for fun

This.

Make sure that you think everything through. But I wouldn't recommend even taking a break on those terms.

pretty much every player who has dropped out regrets it and it's really hard to motivate yourself later, just push through it.

nm

going back to school is extremely difficult imo..

On November 17 2010 11:05 Samashki wrote: Do NOT go ahead with it. Seriously, dropping out after two years is not a good plan. You might be able to beat 100NL in it's current state but it's not enough, the poker industry is not something to put your money on. You have to look at it long term, a collage degree will stick with you for the rest of your life. Poker might give you a decent living right now but god knows what poker will be like 1-3 years from now not to even mention 10 years from now, things turn so quickly.

This

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

Make a run for it ! why getting a useless degree with all these HUGE amounts of monies waiting for you out there ?! (sarcasm inside)

if u said this 3-5 years ago it would be fine. The state of poker is shit atm. i wouldnt recommend it. I dropped out of school to play poker and im starting to struggle myself. I wish i had a backup plan.

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.