I was wondering how many of the "pro" online poker players actually went to college and when I say pro, I mean 85% of your income comes from playing poker in some way. Personally I don't think college is for me, but I'm not saying I want to become a pro poker player either, I just don't think college is worth as much as it costs, especially my college. In fact what I want is just a nice little job doing something I enjoy that will bring me a decent amount of income and player poker at the same time, that way I have a steady income from my job and a boost from poker. I guess I'm at a crossroad in my life because I haven't been happy since I came here, it has begun to affect my poker game (online at least it seems because I'm alone and get down quickly, but in the live games I play I pretty much clean up house, I guess because I'm in a more up beat mood), but back to college topic. How many of you who make their income based mainly on their online winnings didn't go to or finish college?

Until you make $500k playing poker, don't even think about quiting school.

I think GambleAB may respond to a few people in this post...

GG Wellesley College. I'm never coming back!!!

i would say you stay in school unless you have a some sort of degree that will "expire"

Example. When you take a course to be a pilot. If you just finsihed it to have it as a backup, its only good for abou 3 years and then its just gonna be hard to come back. Its a skill, and with every year you don't fly your not as good. Also your knowledge starts to slip etc etc.

If its something like a Bachelors in art, or business or w.e Just finish it. If its something that could help you down the road, like an apprenticeship to be an elictrician etc. Keep it.

As far as naming pro's with an education. GG tards. They got that education 10-20 years ago before the poker boom. There was only a select group of people playing poker for a living. School was the only way to go but ALSO. school was something special then.

A bachelors degree today is just the normal. Won't be much longer before you need a masters just to get a decent job.

It's a lot easier to think that way when you're young, don't have a family (i'm assuming), don't have to worry about things like health insurance, mortgage payments, don't forget income taxes, etc. Having a good full-time job that a college degree will get you will make you enjoy poker even more because it's not your financial life at stake every time you play. It will take a lot of the stress away from playing poker and you can truly enjoy and improve your game, IMHO. I came to a similar crossroads when i was in college, not with poker, but just not knowing for sure what i wanted to do in life, getting bored with college, etc. I took a semester off. Went out and tried to find a decent job, which isn't very easy without a college degree, but did get a piddly job and after doing that for 6 months realized what a mistake i was making. Realized how tough it was going to be to get where i wanted to go financially. I went back to school, changed majors from engineering to accounting and am more thankful than i can express with my decision and the life that it has afforded me. I love my job and it pays the bills very well and still allows me to play poker plenty and not have to worry about the money. Do yourself a huge favor and tough it out. You will not regret it. Take some different classes and consider a different field/major if you need to but don't give up bro.

A college professor once told me that if you aren't ready for college or don't really want to be there, then don't go. Go work for a few years. He said you will see why people go to college, and how much more money it can get you. And when you come back, you will be ready for college.

But I also realize that college isn't for everyone. Some people just aren't cut out for school and have no problems working. I have a few friends that got killer jobs without college, but they are all tech nerds and finally did end up just going to school for certifications.

just because the goat liked eating tin cans it didn't mean the cow had too.

every person is different. Some of us don't enjoy school, some of us don't need school, some of us don't want to leave school. Its about doing what makes you happy now, but without neing naive to what will make you happy in the future.

meh i guess now as good of a time as any. I left school because flying wasn't what i wanted to do. Iam currently working with 2 sperate investors to get some e-commerce business's up and running and iam going to go grab my real estate course.

Also am building a nice affiliate program for myself which is almsot covering my monthly expenses from me not even playing. My first month of rakeback brought me in a bonus of $2000 and of course i have my winnings put on top of that. I am very happy with my decision but that is jsut me. I am lucky to get many business idea's and know some people who can make them work. I also am lucky to have met many great poker pro's during my quick stay at high stakes NL who took intrest in seeing an 18 year old hold his ground there for a month.

Working with these pro's iam learning alot and basically receiving a degree in how to live as a poker pro. What it comes down to is doing what you want but making sure its smart. I killed myself from the inside out for over two months considering whether to leave or not. Most people say that leaving school is no big deal but you have to understand that when i quit. It ment that $24,000 was going bye-bye. I also had to couple that with losing another 25,000 CAN on the day that i pulled one of the stupidest moves a poker player can do. (chase back losses by climbing stakes)

Anyhow, i think you need a good support group and you really need to be sure about your choices. Never leave yourself with no outs. I would never of left school jsut to play poker. I also set aside 15,000 incase i need to go back to school at a later date. I entrusted that with my parents so that i could not be foolish with it. Currently iam just looking to get all of my base business's running so i can focus on my major one. Just want to have that steady monthly income without poker but also have 40 hours a week free so i can really make things work.

I hope you understand some of my points. Life is poker, dont call something that will leaving you drawing dead and don't fold a hand that is the fav.

I went to school for 3 years and had 3 semesters remaning and I quit.

It was definitely the right move for me, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone else unless they were sure it was right for them too. Honestly, there aren't many people my age that I think are mature enough to make the decision correctly to not go to school. I think that even if you don't plan on finishing school, you should at least stick it out for at least 2 years and experience alot of it. That's what I realized after quitting, is that it's not necessarily the degree you are getting when you are at college. You are growing up and learning things that are pretty damn hard to learn on your own when you're just working or playing poker.

I'm in the same boat. I can still taste it. I'd give my middle nut to go back and have no real responsibility and be around my friends 24/7.

I'll throw my hat in the ring as someone who has gone the college route and am now kinda floundering as to what to do next. I did the college bit for about 4 years seriously before leaving school to start my own business. I went against the advice of my parents and pretty much every other successful person I knew who told me, "Hey finish your degree first, then give your business a shot, if it fails you have a degree to fall back on." Well being 22 and bulletproof I of course laughed them off. Well my business tanked after 6 months and I was forced to scurry about and pick up the pieces. I'm 25 now and pretty much have nothing to really show for my life, if you read my off topic stuff you know that I eat, live, sleep, and dream gambling, it's pretty much all I know how to do. So I hope to land a job with the new Harrah's extension that is opening up here soon. And I hope that they provide some kind of tution reimbursement (sp). You might not be cut out for school, but unless you've got some insanely wealthy parents or have a superstar connection to a job that will pay you well ($25K is not a lot of money!) then I say gut it out. I worked at a Country Club through college and I know anyone who is anyone here in Omaha, but these guys can't help me until I finish school, I'm smart (obviously not that smart duh!), funny, and generally a good guy...but here's the thing, you don't get a great job because you're a 'good' guy, or you know someone, that helps you get your foot in the door but you need a solid background to back it up. Readzie has a good idea with real estate but the fact of the matter is you're only 18 and your existing group of friends and family probably can't help you much in the way of real estate. Which means you have to pound the pavement and beat out other agents who are more experienced and have more connections and a better field record than you. But the main thing is find something you want to do. Someonce said, "If you're passionate about what you do, you'll never work a day in your life." I wish the best of luck in your decision process and I'm confident you'll make the right decision.

ya if anything just give an effort. I tried quitting 3 times. Each time i wasnt sure and had doubts so i took 1-2 days off cleared my mind and tried to come back. Eventually i knew that "program" was not for me. I love to learn and i do plan on going back to school because it is definitly very important in some sense to meet the people and have alot of fun. I plan to go back for either small business management (would like to just run a biking/hiking/clothing store up north in canada etc) or for paramedic because i want to know at night i helped someone out.

Even if things go well in poker i still have plans to volunteer as a medic at a ski hill so i can do something benefical. Its like barry greenstien. Sure he made tons of money but he felt a bit empty with his existence, he hadn't done much to help society. So thats why he started the robin hood charity thing. its important to me to give back but its also more important that i need to be happy with myself and the choices i have made.

You will never appreciate what you are giving back until you appreciate whats been given to you.

Best of luck to you.

tues, I go to Kentucky Wesleyan College, quite possibly the biggest joke ever. The only real reason people come to a school like this is sports or home town and I came here because of sports. I want to transfer to a real University, this just feels like highschool with a twist, kind of a joke really. The school only has 755 students, which is not even 2/3 of the size of the high school I went to haha.

I'm about to switch my major over to Computer Scince from Computer Information Systems I think, so maybe that will help me in class. I'm not quitting any time soon, but if I don't think that college is for me after that time then I will probably start looking up some things and what not ahead of time. I know I need to degree though.

Thanks again for all the replies.

I wasn't a big fan of college, but I never considered quitting, just graduated a semester early to get out faster (and save money). I went to a top 10 private college, and I don't think it really got me anything going to state school wouldn't have given me. But I would never advise anyone not to finish college no matter how good they are at poker, at business, anything. The fact is, no company will hire you for any kind of decent job without that piece of paper that proves you read a few books. Some people are successful at it, but I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people who leave college early or don't go when they had the chance end up regretting it 5-10yrs down the road.

I went to Indiana University (91) and received a degree in Computer Information Systems. You mentioned that you wanted to switch to Computer Science. If your school is like IU, then I imagine Computer Information System gives you more of a business background. If so, stay in your current major. It's more important to get the business background.

Once you get a job, you will have plenty of training and work experience in the technical expertise you choose. Good luck in school and feel free to pm if you have any questions about your career in computers.