Professor or Pro-player?

Professor or Pro-player?

Tuesday, 4 December 2007

Steven Garfinkle had a decent summer at the poker tables. Finishing 58th in the $3000 No Limit Hold’em Event at the WSOP was ok, but the tenth place in the Main Event was the news that got him onto the front of his local paper twice, as well as the n

Steven Garfinkle had a decent summer at the poker tables. Finishing 58th in the $3000 No Limit Hold’em Event at the WSOP was ok, but the tenth place in the Main Event was the news that got him onto the front of his local paper twice, as well as the newspaper for the school where he teaches.
An associate professor of history at Western Washington University, Garfinkle finished on the dreaded Final Table bubble for this year's Main Event, meaning he didn’t get the ESPN airtime that would have made him famous around the country and beyond.
However, Garfinkle was asked by students, as well as reading on various internet forums, about whether successful players should leave school early to follow a career in poker. The professor felt so strongly about it that he wrote a letter to an American website arguing that even the most successful young players should see through their education before heading to the felt.
Keen to sell the fact that education affords all sorts of opportunities in life, as well as presenting a once-in-a-lifetime experience in itself, Garfinkle said, “There are so many things going on for students, and they’re at an age when they really think they can do everything at once, and what oftentimes gets the short shrift is their actual college experience.”
The message from the man who finished on the bubble? Don’t forget there are opportunities away from the table or computer screen, and don’t let poker become an all consuming thing.



Tags: Poker News, Professor, or, Pro-player?