CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

Mr. Menlo's Poker Blog

July 30, 2009

I decided recently that I am going back to school, well actually I decided this about 8 months ago but finally am going to put the effort into taking the steps to going back. Right now, I have two options, apply to Santa Clara and stay living at my house, or go to junior college for a half year or year and transfer to a UC (UCSB or UCLA). Right now I'm leaning towards Santa Clara both because I like living at my house and because I don't really want to go back to a junior college.

It seems that a lot of kids my age who have had a lot of success in poker are going back to school. I think that the reason this is happening is because poker for these people (myself included) starts out as a hobby, usually in college, and it is the best thing ever, you are making tons of money and still living the college life with basically no responsibilites. Then all the sudden you realize, "wow, I can make a living off this, what am I doing in school," then all the sudden fast forward a few years and you have mortgages, investments, accountants, and all these meetings to go to and responsibilities, and it hits you one day... "I'm not a kid anymore, how the hell did that happen?" At least for me that is the reason I want to go back to school, to live more of a normal adolescent/young adulthood and get some of the awesome experiences that my friends are getting. This is not to say that the past three years has been a waste, I have gotten to travel and meet interesting, successful people and see the world and have some amazing stories/experiences to go along with it. It's just come to the point where I want to meet new people my age who don't gamble for a living and do different stuff than I have been doing for the past few years.

This doesn't mean I am going to stop playing poker, I will still play about as much as I do now (which recently has been very little) and travel to tournaments close to my house like LA and Vegas. As for poker right now, like I said I have been playing very little, I've tried experimenting some in the lower mixed games to try to learn the limit games, but the combination of the stakes being too small and me not really enjoying playing limit poker has put a damper on my learning process. My goal is to be able to be comfortable enough playing all the games that I can play in the 400/800 7-game in 3 months, a lofty goal considering right now I'm not sure if I could beat a 10/20 stud h/l game, but I think if I set my mind to it and really put in some hands at the smaller limit games I can do it.

Thats all I got for now,
Isaac

Entry Tags:

Jul 31, 09 10:29:15

good post -- pretty much sums up the reasons why i enjoy having a "job" and also am still considering graduate school.

gl with the mixed games, it's always nice to have a new challenge. even if it's not poker, conquering new challenges is something i think you'll always need to be doing. i know my life feels very bland when i'm not working to achieve something i've never done or done well before.

tay

Taylor

Jul 31, 09 21:26:47

I applaud your decision man. An education is priceless.

And btw, you're gonna love college. That is all.

vampa

Aug 3, 09 08:36:41

Wow, another one!

I envy the young guys (youre not a kid anymore but very young still) who got into poker at the right time, made good money, enjoyed their time as poker pros and still have all the options available as to what to do for the rest of their lives. Also, I think that poker and gambling as a life career is not what most people want to do. There are other paths that provide a lot more fulfillment. This, of course depends on everyone's personal preferences and character.

Gl with school !

SubZero616

Aug 3, 09 08:44:21

glgl! i know a lot of smart, cool people who went to santa clara from when i lived in california, you'll be getting a good education. plus they usuallly have kickass soccer teams!

lana

Aug 4, 09 02:20:09

With all the pros cutting back on poker, the games must in fact be getting softer, not tougher like everyone says :)

SubZero616

Aug 24, 09 22:03:46

games aren't getting softer...

abesilverbush