On Choosing to Go Back to School and (eventually) Get an Economics PhD

I could argue that I didn't really *choose* to be an engineer or a poker player (in the sense that I felt like I had no real choices, not in the free will versus determinism sense, but in the victim of circumstances sense), but I can't say that about my decision to get a PhD. In fact, it might be one of the few truly intentional choices that I've ever made.

In 2012, I had been playing poker professionally for 4 years. I had had moderate success and was continuing to improve, but I could feel myself starting to burn out a little bit. Looking back on old records I had from this time period, I had been averaging over 50 hours/week of play from 2008 to 2011. It was around this time that I found myself really missing the intellectual stimulation that I had become accustomed to in my years of schooling. I've always been "bookish", and while it is certainly possible (and arguably necessary) to continue one's education *after* graduating, I think many of us become complacent, lazy, or incurious as we age. Anyway, so around this time I started engaging in some deep introspection and career guidance exercises, and I came to the conclusion that I needed to find a way to tap into my natural interests and inclinations. I had been reading a lot of "pop economics" at this time (think Freakonomics-type books), and I realized that I had really enjoyed learning about the subject, but oddly enough, had never had any formal instruction in it. So I decided that I would look into taking a class and seeing what this whole economics-thing was all about.

Shortly after this decision, I went down to the registrar's office at Sac State (CSU-Sacramento, for those unfamiliar...I was living in Sacramento at the time) and asked about auditing a course as a non-student. I was informed that people did this all the time and that it would be quite easy, I just needed to tell them which course I wanted to take so they could see if there was availability in the class. I hadn't thought this far ahead, so I had to pull up the course list and make my decision while they waited. Well, let's just say that browsing a list of potential classes to take as a nerd who had been out of school for six years is akin to someone who hasn't eaten in a week looking at a restaurant menu -- it all looked so good, so why would I only order one thing? I ended up deciding to take *five* courses: intermediate micro and macro, econometrics, history of economic thought, and game theory. I was absolutely stoked in the same way I was when summer was ending as a kid and I couldn't wait to buy school supplies and meet my teachers.

The semester ended up being a wonderful experience. It more than confirmed my love for economics, it quenched my thirst for learning and exposure to new ideas, and it also introduced me to some wonderful professors that were instrumental in my future endeavors. During the term, I was encouraged by several people in the economics department to consider applying for the school's masters program, an option I had never considered, but it did seem like the logical next step for someone who enjoyed economics but who had already received a bachelor's degree in another field. In addition to being logical, it was the easiest practical way for me to get more economics knowledge (and for a low price!), so I applied, got in, and began my masters in economics the following fall.

I'm going to skip some steps here, but somewhere in the middle of my program, I realized that I had truly found my ikigai

This was a new feeling for me. I had felt pieces of this Venn diagram over the years, but never the intersection of all four. I started thinking about my future and how I could best leverage economics knowledge, and I quickly came to the conclusion that pursuing a PhD would absolutely be the best course of action.

-winning bracelet summer before

On Becoming a Professional Poker Player

No one *chooses* to become a professional poker player, it just kind of...happens. At least that's generally the case. My situation was a little different, though -- I *had* to become a poker player. I mean, what else do you do when you're laid off from your first job during a recession and no one is hiring? 

I graduated from Cornell with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering with an emphasis in Transportation Engineering/Logistics. I will admit that I wasn't particularly passionate about this major and that I was barely able to escape with my sanity intact, but I made the best of a bad situation and I am extremely happy that I finished because doing hard things is an essential part of growing as a human. Anyway, after graduating, I spent the summer training for a triathlon (I had gotten into tris my last year of college and was able to take a triathlon PE class that Cornell offered), which was a fantastic way to decompress from what felt like years of torture.

In addition to this fun little respite from the ass-kicking I had just completed, I also spent this time playing a little poker, both online and live. Now, while I was far from a professional at this point, I wasn't exactly a novice. You see, as anyone who went to college in the early 2000s can tell you, poker was absolutely BOOMING at this time. Online poker was exploding, the World Series of Poker was on ESPN, and there were at least a dozen other poker television shows airing at this time. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that a third of all college-aged men were playing poker at some frequency, and it was probably higher at Cornell. On any given night, one could find a game in either a dorm or a frat house.

Looking back, there are many moments in my life where I realized how much luck there is in life. Among the many, many things that poker can teach us, an appreciation for variance (read: luck, swings) might be the most important. One of these moments came to pass during my far from atypical poker game with friends. I was in a friend's dorm waiting for the game to begin and was introduced to a guy named Jordan. Now Jordan was known to be one of the more accomplished players and could often be seen playing online in his room, usually massively multi-tabling. We began to chat and he asked me what form of poker I liked best. I have to smile as I write this, but I had to ask him "What do you mean?" He then took the time to explain the different variants, live/online, tournament/cash, limit/no-limit, etc. I explained that I was relatively new, but that I was kind of a math guy. He encouraged me to look into a form of poker called "Sit and Go", basically a single table tournament that began when 9 or 10 players registered and that played down until only 1 player was remaining, with the final 3 players splitting the prize pool in a 50/30/20 fashion. He recommended this particular variant because there had been recent work done in "solving" this format, which turns out to be incredibly mathematical. To help me in my development as a SnG player, he encouraged me to explore to forum TwoPlusTwo.com. Now, I could write an entire *treatise* on TwoPlusTwo, but suffice it to say that my life was sent on a different trajectory because of Jordan's introduction to this forum. If you wanted to be a winning poker player in the early 2000s, you almost HAD to be on TwoPlusTwo.

Anyway, this is how I became...decent? at poker

Describe effect of recession on my job

Juxtapose that with effect of recession on gambling

Took severance into casino to play 4-8 LHE

Explain normal hourly expectation and/or daily win

Meeting David Mitchell and my first "stake" 3/30/08 (sharkscope)

Tournament and cash game success from discussing strategy with a peer group

Selling action to bigger tournaments, grinding the WSOP and WSOP-C

Qualifying for the national championship 2 years in a row

Discovering mixed games and becoming a specialist

Statistical analysis of my play,