Seems the question gets asked almost on a daily basis. And it has never been an either/or problem, to my way of thinking. It has long been my contention that poker and college can easily co-exist.
I came across this quote in a recent blog on a leading training site.
"Played for ~50 mins in this econ lecture (still going on becaues it's 2 hrs 40 mins), and ended up winning $600 at some NL$100 6max and HU, as well as a few 1/2 PLO tables (buying in for $50)."
MTTs might be an issue. And, while I cannot assess his academic achievements, this, ahem, student seems to be a successful cash game player.
If you are not going to pay attention, you might as well make some money.

I disagree for certain people. I got a degree from a top 20 school and have never used it in the five+ years I've had it. Smoked away most everything I've learned as well, but it was fun. I would go for the experience of it over the educational part.

Both.

Go to college, you have your whole life to waste playing poker.

 

Originally Posted by JACK WELCH

Seems the question gets asked almost on a daily basis. And it has never been an either/or problem, to my way of thinking. It has long been my contention that poker and college can easily co-exist.
I came across this quote in a recent blog on a leading training site.
"Played for ~50 mins in this econ lecture (still going on becaues it's 2 hrs 40 mins), and ended up winning $600 at some NL$100 6max and HU, as well as a few 1/2 PLO tables (buying in for $50)."
MTTs might be an issue. And, while I cannot assess his academic achievements, this, ahem, student seems to be a successful cash game player.
If you are not going to pay attention, you might as well make some money.

why not just not go to class and play in better conditions in your room

seems like an awful idea IMO

College b4 poker ANYDAY

I'm in my last year of university, it's kiling me to finish but I will finish. Unless you are making a consistent 100k a year at poker, it's just not worth it. College/university is an experience that can't be duplicated, and guess what, you can still play! a lot! I do..

It will be incredibly hard resisting skipping classes, prepare yourself now. Poker will be there when you're done.

you can do both but you won't realize your full potential in either this way. school takes away from your poker and poker takes away from school. ideally if i could do it again i'd say that i wish i didn't start playing til after school so i could've done the college thing 100% and not half assed both.

freshman year was amazing living in the dorms, getting girls and getting wasted every night, then i found online poker towards the end of the year and suddenly that's all i wanted to do with my free time. now that i'm done with school and can play as much as i want all i wanna do is go back to freshman yr : )

I dropped out of school and went back after I realized that college and poker could exist harmoniously (lol) for my situation.

 

Originally Posted by dodge_SOAPS

I disagree for certain people. I got a degree from a top 20 school and have never used it in the five+ years I've had it. Smoked away most everything I've learned as well, but it was fun. I would go for the experience of it over the educational part.

what a well thought out post. Would never think otherwise of you going to a top 20 school. LOL@ paying minimum 40k for an experience. Spend that on travelling the world

 

Originally Posted by gboro780

you can do both but you won't realize your full potential in either this way. school takes away from your poker and poker takes away from school. ideally if i could do it again i'd say that i wish i didn't start playing til after school so i could've done the college thing 100% and not half assed both.

freshman year was amazing living in the dorms, getting girls and getting wasted every night, then i found online poker towards the end of the year and suddenly that's all i wanted to do with my free time. now that i'm done with school and can play as much as i want all i wanna do is go back to freshman yr : )

def can do both i have been fulltime mtt shedule about 4 nights a week and still go to school during the day. i agree that u wont reach full potential in both until u focus on one. i believe i wouldnt of passed school if i had been doin this all 4 years. Grades have slipped a bit this sem do to higher volume of mtts. its obv easy to get good grades if u put same time into that as u do school. Luckily its my last sem and hopefully i can attempt poker fulltime. i do think u can do both ez just depends how much volume u are putting in on each and what expectations are. get degree then become poker pro imo

You can do both... Just not at the same time(I mean literally the sametime not in general), its something I struggle with but im getting better at it.... Personally I dont think MTTs and school can coexist, i played alot of tournys last year and it just takes up too much time and is really unflexable... but if you have to pick one or the other School FTW

If you go to college, you might have a better chance to get a job that pays well. Then you have money to play poker!

 

Originally Posted by gboro780

you can do both but you won't realize your full potential in either this way. school takes away from your poker and poker takes away from school.

Meh, same can be said for anything... if you have a girlfriend you can't realize your full potential at school/poker, or if you play alot of golf, etc.... shouldn't really be an issue. Think its more key to have goals for poker & school and give a realistic appraisal of whether you can meet both.

That said if you can't handle both to some extent, then you really just need to be more responsible and probably aren't fully prepared to be doing either to your fullest potential.

I see some comments like 'I have used my degree', thats not necessarily a key consideration either. ...... A degree can be a net not a ladder, and if you are considering playing poker full time instead of school you might consider that. I mean surely we can't argue that poker is a stable industry.

 

Originally Posted by Mr Galt

pokah is kinda fun -- but then again so are BJs by coeds

pokah available at age 35 -- the other not so much

sure they are, they just cost more, amirite

Poker isn't going anywhere. Gotta have discipline in both poker and school. Don't play poker when you can't concentrate fully and make sure you don't have any distractions when you're trying to study. They can coexist but poker should def take a back seat to school. The college experience between the ages of 18 and 23 are irreplacable. Go to school. Finish. Play poker as much as you can after. GL.