As I'm lying in my bed writing this, it is 2 hours and change until the last final exam of my undergraduate college career. More than ever, my last year of college has made me realize how happy I am that I made the decision to stick it out and get my degree, despite all of the surprised reactions I have gotten over my time here. It's a decision that every one of us poker players has to make based on their own personal motives, goals, and characteristics, but for me I am 100% sure that I made the right decision. At heart, I am an intellectually curious person and someone who is motivated to be well rounded, and spending 4.5 years at Cornell University getting a liberal arts degree has helped greatly to push me in the right direction.

This last final exam I am taking is on International Economics, a class in which I have learned a great deal about how the global economy works. It has led me to start reading some books about the world economy and discussing economics/finance/business with friends on a regular basis. One of these friends is Taylor Caby, and his most recent (I think) blog was excellent and imo a must read for all professional poker players. When I was a college freshman and had several people around me asking why I was even bothering with college, Taylor always pushed me to stay in school. While I also got this advice from other sources such as my parents, it really hit home from Taylor since he had been in my shoes just a few years before, had made the decision to stay in school, and was confident and content with his decision. His blog entry touches on a lot of the reasons why - namely that the future of poker is wildly uncertain, and while the very best always stand to be able to be solidly profitable at poker, these same people also have skillsets and characteristics that would translate to great success in other industries which very well may interest them more than poker. Over the years, I have seen many poker players gradually tire of the game until it essentially feels like a chore. I, personally, have not reached this level yet, mainly thanks to the variety of games that have become popularized over the past few years. I transitioned to NLH to PLO and now most of my poker playing is at mixed games, in which there are 7 or more games to master. For sharp minds like top poker players, learning the intricacies of the games is the most rewarding part of the experience imo. Once one has a game mastered, interesting situations that come up can be stimulating, but after playing hundreds of thousands of hands, these situations become pretty damn repetitive.

The thing I like about economics is that the world is always changing. There are always new situations to tackle, and there are major problems that are unsolved. Poker is a great game, but it has its limits. I am starting to realize this, and although I still have much to learn in poker, I can see that one day this will not be the case and I will start to burn out. I don't really know what my future holds 5-10 years down the road, but I suspect that at some point it will start fading away from poker and toward other interests. Whether that is a Ph.D. program, starting my own business, trying to get into the finance industry, or something else unforeseen, I really don't know, but I'm excited for the road ahead. For the time being, after my graduation on Saturday, I will be a full-time professional poker player (and Cardrunners instructor). I'm not sure how much travelling to live events I plan on doing, but certainly more than I have in the past. I will definitely be playing online much more than I have been. And I plan on being active in the CR community more than ever.

I also want to briefly thank a few people who are very important to me. My parents have been wonderful parents to me, and while initially skeptical of my poker playing they are now very supportive. I am lucky to have parents who are so understanding and who fundamentally believe in me. They may not understand the nuances of poker, but they understand that their son has a good head on his shoulders and knows what he is doing, and I am more appreciative of that than I can express. My sister (who just landed a full-time job at Funny or Die - congrats!) is the best sister I could ask for and someone I can always talk to about anything, and she's also a lot funnier than me. She makes a brief cameo in this video at 1:22. My girlfriend, Julianna, has really helped to teach me how to be myself and how to be confident in myself. She is an amazing young woman and has been a great influence on me. She is studying abroad in Rome in the spring and I plan on spending quite a bit of time out there. I'll be flying out there with her on 1/6 for a short amount of time and plan on spending the bulk of March, April, and May there. If anyone has any tips on stuff to do in Rome besides the obvious, I'd love to hear it.

Ok I guess I should do a bit of last minute studying. Until next time...

Brian H