College vs. Poker a symbiotic relationship?

coillcam

A little history first: I have been playing poker for over a year at a pretty casual level small tourneys and home games, working part time and playing when I felt like it. After 6 months or do I decided I would stick €500 or so into live 1/3nl cash games(€150 as buy-in and see how I fared. I broke even which was quite satisfying over the first 2 weeks. Then I had exams so on the back burner for a few more weeks. That’s when it took off. I had seen guys cash for 1k 2k etc. fucuck me I thought lets have some of ttat. I decided to play a bit more taking down 3 small tourneys for 1 k in total , cashing out of cash games for 1k 1.2k 1.5k 1.8k and 2.2k over the summer, playing pokerevents inter county team event. All which sounds good but I donked off 500 quid on monkey tilt on at least 3 nights, had some smaller losing sessions, bought a laptop, new phone, I pod, bought clothes and generally had an exciting summer in many ways. In the end came back to college with 2.5k for repeat fees (grrrr lost my grant) and deposit for my gaff and rent for the month. So no more poker but thank god for boards. So I need a plan for next year and some bankroll management.
The great one year plan

College will be 20 weeks long for semester 1 & 2. Essentially with the grant at ~ € 3,500 it will be approximately €175 per week(have to re-check the validity of this). So a supplementary
income of circa € 80 will be required for an above par standard of living in college.

To achieve an average of € 80 per week on winning online poker( at a BB/PH average of 5/100.). Based on 20 hours per week :

€ 80 per week required.
5BB/100/HR.
20 hours per week.

Calculation: €80per week / 20 hours per week = € 4 per hour.
€ 4 per hour / 5 BB = € 0.80/ BB.

Seems like a level that doesn’t exist…. Not quite! As we play in dollars €0.80 is roughly $ 1.
So our stakes are for single tabling at $0.50/ $1. Easy. For multi-tabling modify accordingly.

Now I know what my level is. So now I proceed to estimate my required initial bankroll.
20 X 100 BB = $ 2000. Which equates to roughly €1600 / €1700.

Conclusion:

Here’s where it will really annoys me. Based on my previous job experience prior to college if I get a part time job I can easily expect to get a job that will pay me € 9/hr as minimum wage has increased accordingly.
So is it really worth devoting all that time to poker and saving up the initial deposit whereby possibly missing a j1 in LA with mates this summer? Or should I just play casually when I feel like it, ie. Small tourneys and home games?

phantom_lord

5bb/hr

that's big bets btw, big bet =2big blinds.

coillcam

i had this discussion with a mate before i and he convinced me it was big blind, i said to him how could €10 an hour at 1/2 be acceptable. so i realy should be aiming for 25c/50c and a smaller outlay of ~ €900, anyway cheers for the heads up.

RoundTower

Normally you do this calculation the other way round, you find a game you can beat and then earn as much money as possible at it.

Instead since you're confident you can beat any game for 5BB/100 (even though you're not entirely sure what that is) why not shoot a bit higher, start with an expected winrate of €100/hour and take it from there?

Realistically you should get a job and play poker for fun.

DeVore

For god sake go to the US on a J1 and have an adventure.


You are only young once and there are more things to life then money or indeed poker.

DeV.

Lafortezza

Go drinking, chase wimminz, go to American, get a part-time job you enjoy, live it up.
If you still have time and money and energy after that then play some poker.

phantom_lord

skipping a trip to save up to play poker when you're likely to be a losing player and probably wont make 5bb/100 is a bit silly.

cooker3

coillcam wrote:

So is it really worth devoting all that time to poker and saving up the initial deposit whereby possibly missing a j1 in LA with mates this summer? Or should I just play casually when I feel like it, ie. Small tourneys and home games?

Hmmmn the fitz or the commerce, that is a tough one

Go to LA man, poker will be there forever. A J1 can only be done very few times and hey I may see you there as I am in process of trying to organise a J1 to LA myself!

sikes

J1 will be the highlight of your time in college, and you should expect to come home broke then take a part time job and repeat next year.

cooker3

sikes wrote:

J1 will be the highlight of your time in college, and you should expect to come home broke then take a part time job and repeat next year.

When I did my first J1 in 2005, I came home breaking even on the trip.
Now that is bankroll management for you!

sikes

cooker3 wrote:

When I did my first J1 in 2005, I came home breaking even on the trip.
Now that is bankroll management for you!

In 2005, i came home -$2k although i did own a car in the states worth $1k which i still own. Might drive it to vegas in the summer for the WSOP. So if anyone is looking for a lift from Orlando, or anywhere in Florida, Georgia, or any of the states on the way give me a shout.

Shadowless

cooker3 wrote:

When I did my first J1 in 2005, I came home breaking even on the trip.
Now that is bankroll management for you!

You obviously didnt do the thing properly at all. I blew the last of my money on the poker tables of the Trump Taj-Mahal in Atlantic City. I couldn't afford a coke in the airport on the way home.

Best experience ever though. I'd thoroughly recommend it to everyone. Way better than spendin your summer playing poker for a living.

Glowingmind

I'll mostly be echoing what's said above.

I played poker while in my final year at college, and also had a couple of different jobs - one steady one, and one irregular one. While i made a bit of money at the poker, i'm really glad i wasn't playing as much as i am now. It's really important to only have one or two things at the top of your goals list for a college year - that's doing well in your exams and having a really good holiday at the end of it (along with a nice lady to accompany you).

The fact that i was earning a good amount of money in student terms from my jobs meant that i didn't need to worry about going on a losing streak when playing poker. This is really important as far as i'm concerned. I'm out of college recently enough to know how stressful things can become, and if I'd gone on a losing streak like i went on a couple of months back, it would have severely f'd up the academic end of my life.

So to sum up my little ramble, if you're gonna play poker make sure you're enjoying it, and that the ups and downs aren't so big that they're going to mess up what's really important.

Ste05

lafortezza wrote:

Go drinking, chase wimminz, go to American, get a part-time job you enjoy, live it up.
If you still have time and money and energy after that then play some poker.

QFT!!

phantom_lord

Shadowless wrote:

You obviously didnt do the thing properly at all. I blew the last of my money on the poker tables of the Trump Taj-Mahal in Atlantic City. I couldn't afford a coke in the airport on the way home.

Best experience ever though. I'd thoroughly recommend it to everyone. Way better than spendin your summer playing poker for a living.

can always do both.