So is this the new poker 604? Regardless, it looks great.

So hopefully I'll start recognising some of the handles as I (hopefully) get some replies.

So tell me if I'm delusional. I'm asking for honest and critical comments.

I used to play some low-level cash / tournaments back in the day and did pretty decently in the first few years of university. Made one splash (Q'ed for a 1k buyin for a 17th place finish just shy of the final table.) Decent cash games at the time, but low stakes poker. Anyway, i left the game laregely to focus on school. But now... I'm leaving school (finishing) and thinking about coming back to poker (while working full-time) to supplement my income AS much as possible. I will be applying for the third time next year for medical school (If I don't get in this year), and for the first time to the US. I have benn told that I will be a shoe-in for the US, but with a lower chance to come back for training in Canada. I'd like to practice in Canada eventually. The only thing that concerns me still - is the tuition. It will be 50-60 k a year for tuition alone (200k+). And I'd like to rip into as much of that as possible in a year. I thought, hey why not give cash / tournament poker a try again.

Easier said than done... I had terrible bank roll management, horrendous discipline, and was, in hind-sight, way too much of an emotion-based player. But now* I'm playing for a different purpose.

What do you guys think? I'm more in my element live, but will not mind getting back into online either after reading up on the current metagame, using the right programs, etc...

Thanks for any input!

Comments

  • Good luck to you, I hope you do well. There probably will be threads on here passed and present that you should read.
    Theres a real good thread on cash games posted by GTA Poker, he seems to do well at cash games. I`m sure someone can create a link for it. If not just check all threads started by GTA Poker and you will find it.
    Also, welcome to the forum
  • You want an honest answer, don't go anywhere near poker until you finish medical school. Get a part-time job or student loans, etc. to finance your education. There are plenty of sources of funds to pay for school. You don't need the added pressure of poker variance to add to the stress of medical school. Sounds like you already have some issues with your poker playing in the past. Once your earning $300k a year, you can play all the poker you want! GL with the road ahead.

    Btw $200k may seem like a lot of debt to deal with in the future, but its all relative to your future income stream. When I graduated from university, I had over one year's salary in student loans. I managed to pay it off in full within two years. I would focus on getting into medical school and graduating. Don't they offer some sort of intern or co-op program where you can work part time?
  • Thanks for the kind and earnest answers. I was not expecting this, but it's now clear i need to divulge some more info.

    I am still waiting to hear back from some Canadian schools. I've already been rejected by my "home province" school (best chance in my opinion) twice now without an interview. I have a Master's degree and just did an extra year of courses to bump up my (already decent) GPA. I've been volunteering up the ying yang (inner city work, big brother program for young adolescent boys, etc., the works). I'm about to be published in a scientific journal for my grad work. It's just too competitive these days. With the grade inflation and the number of applicants (2000 for 288 spots in BC), it is just a numbers game. Last year I came within 3 points/100 to an interview. This year, the subjective portion of my file dropped 8 points, and I am now over 12 points from the interview cut-off this year. Anyway, I can't bank on UBC and am not willing to move to other provinces, live for a few years to obtain "in-province" in order to apply for a shot into their medical school (maybe not as competitive, but still competitive). I am competitive in the states for an entry somewhere, but cost is the ONLY thing I am worried about. Being a North American MD or DO grad would mean I would likely also ohave to do my residency in the States before trying to come back to practice in Canada. And if I wanted to, it's still an uphill process to be fully liscense and practicing in Canada. Residency is 2-5 years after you get your MD (4 years), and pay starts at 50k/year as a resident (slow and steady increases). Bottom line. A lot of uncertainty and risk (which is something I'm fine with), but US schooling would be at least double the tuition in Canada (which is subsidized). Literally, I will be doing a service for the Canadian medical system if I decided to came back (which I want to do) i.e... fund my own expensive medical undergraduate system.

    Anyway, I've decided that the only way I'll do this is if I'm able to earn some decent money to help with the loans / tuition. I can secure a loan at prime +1, but really don't want to use a big chunck of it because of the uncertainty of my post grad training. (plus I'll need my parents to cosign, which I'd rather not have). I finish my extra year of courses next April (2013), and am currently working part-time for a buddy making 14.5 an hour. Super flexible and necessary, while in school. American applications start next May, and the earliest I would be able to obtain an admissions - I'd find out Spring-Summer 2014. This gives me a year that I might spend re-writing the MCAT and volunteering. But I'm trying to come up with ways to make some real cash. Also, my "back-up" school, the one my friend is studying at, offers a 1-year deferral once accepted no questions (I'll have to look into the stipulations), but I think I'll make full use of this extra year as well for fund allocation.

    1.) F/T with my buddy- ~26k a year take home. Bar-tend on the side for extra cash? Bar-back?
    2.) F/T with my buddy, and play poker (riskiest)
    3.) Move somewhere else for higher paying work (Alberta?) I have an undergraduate and graduate degree in biochemistry - jobs in this field do not pay very well.
    4.) Oil sands?
    5.) Teaching overseas
    6.) Any high-paying work that doesn't need special qualifications in Alberta?

    I'd be ecstatic and will go if I can make ~ 100k for tuition. That is my current goal.

    Thanks all! REally don't want to not chase this as I've explored other careers and this is all I see myself doing. (specifically inner city medicine)
  • problem with the whole poker plan is what if you lose money instead of making $$? I play poker with students every week and they all think they got the world on their shoulders and have this poker thing figured out. Then when their AA gets cracked by some rich guy's 72off, their whole world is shattered. Sometimes I feel bad for them because I know the money they are playing with really means something to them in terms of basic needs. Whereas, the rich players can burn through money without blinking an eye. Be a shame to delay your education because you are on a bad run of cards.
  • 50-60k?

    School is for fools!
  • Macke wrote: »
    50-60k?

    School is for fools!

    Please, please don't turn into another one of these....
  • Macke wrote: »
    School is for fools!

    Don't know many doctors that didn't go to school. Except those that show up in the newspaper once in a while.
  • Doctors? please that's all a scam...

    Turn around... bend over... all just an excuse to play with people's bums.
  • If you want the big bucks, no risk...poker isn't the way. You can make some serious coin in Alberta with little to no education...just have to be willing to commit, and be able to deal with camp life. Go to camp, work 20 on, 4-6 off..back to camp...don't blow your stack in between...easy game. 100k/yr is pretty easy to do out there with the right crew.
  • DennisG wrote: »
    If you want the big bucks, no risk...poker isn't the way. You can make some serious coin in Alberta with little to no education...just have to be willing to commit, and be able to deal with camp life. Go to camp, work 20 on, 4-6 off..back to camp...don't blow your stack in between...easy game. 100k/yr is pretty easy to do out there with the right crew.

    also note that these are the guys that I made most of my money off of when I was playing poker in Alberta...many of these uneducated guys making 150k a year end up bankrupt because they are retards
  • Plus you have to live in Alberta and snow...

    #CalgarybornlivinginVancouver
  • I've been working around poker (in operations and marketing) the last few years and have observed three groups of people.

    1) full time grinders, who come and go at the drop of a hat. Some have cobbled together enough staying power to be okay, but unless they hit a big score...end up trying to maintain a bankroll that will get them through the next short term period (session/week/tournament..etc) and have a very nomadic and isolated lifestyle.

    Those who don't make it end up broke, can be on the hook with backers (weighing on them heavily both in and out of poker)...and often find themselves with a lot of undesirables (drugs, degens, etc.).

    2) Those who split time between an "okay" job to get by and play poker often, but not fully committed to the circuit, grind, etc. They're not committed to either lifestyle and seem to be miserable at both. Not investing enough time to advance a career and not enough resources or time to truly make a run at poker

    3) Professional Amateurs...(with full disclosure, I consider myself in this group, but at a low level and small bankroll). They put their careers first, along with long term and life goals. They mix in poker when they can and understand that it's an outlet to pick up some supplemental income (if they're winning it's walking around money, if they're losing...it doesn't impact their lives).

    The pro-ams I see having the most success (and enjoying the game most)..are the lawyers, doctors, business men, etc. who are well established in their careers and can take time off to play serious poker when it fits their schedule. They're the ones who have the skill and income to enter higher buy-in tournaments ($1k+) and consistently do well.

    I attribute it to the fact that they have the rest of their life in place (job, family, etc.) and aren't stressed by the day-to-day grind the other groups have. Poker is enjoyable and takes them away from their regular life. (BTW most of these men and women, are 40+)

    Their "normal" lives gives them a chance to recharge the poker batteries and makes them that much more effective at the table.

    I'd say if you're having success at poker, use it to supplement the life you'd like to have and when the career falls into place, make the switch to playing more poker. This way you control poker, poker doesn't control you.

    There are going to be many times when poker and opportunities (school, family, job, etc.) are going to conflict. Error on the side of life, there will always be another poker game.
  • you control poker, poker doesn't control you.

    How true is this. Think you forgot one category, the full time professionals (i.e. luck boxes).

    Moral of the story, get the good J.O.B. and then you can play all the poker you want!
  • pokerJAH wrote: »
    How true is this. Think you forgot one category, the full time professionals (i.e. luck boxes).

    Moral of the story, get the good J.O.B. and then you can play all the poker you want!

    True that pokerJAH, they either end up free rolling their way into a good (undeserved?) life, or on the streets!
  • I wish there were more BC players here.
  • Macke wrote: »
    I wish there were more BC players here.

    will be in Vancouver Friday-Sunday -- any info about what they spread at River Rock?
  • Macke wrote: »
    Plus you have to live in Alberta and snow...

    #CalgarybornlivinginVancouver


    Snow > Rain.......fyi
  • T8urmoney wrote: »
    Snow > Rain.......fyi

    -40 though :(
  • T8urmoney wrote: »
    Snow > Rain.......fyi


    Give me +5 and rain over -25 and sun anyday
  • Macke wrote: »
    Give me +5 and rain over -25 and sun anyday

    fair enough......but you're taking the extreme on one end, and comparing it with the norm on the other

    soooo.....+6 and rain > -10 and sunny?

    me thinks not

    and this is for Edmonton, not Calgary.....Calgary would be -3 avg high temp for the coldest month of the year

    being born in YYC, I would have assumed you would know this
  • -50 edm norm ftw
  • I'd take rain over snow EVERY time . . . no shovel required, and I do not ski.
  • Milo wrote: »
    I'd take rain over snow EVERY time . . . no shovel required, and I do not ski.

    You've obviously never lived in Vancouver's rain/drizzle 1/2 year season.
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