The $9 million man

I will never forget the first day of the first journalism class at the Missouri school of journalism. The first thing they tell all the hopeful, optimistic 18-year-olds is that the best starting salary these students with a dream can hope for is about $30,000.

I thought this entire speech had one motive: force those without the desire and dedication to perform journalism without financial incentive to quit. I pressed on, surviving weed out class after weed out class. I went from the insanely hard Convergence reporting class to the incredibly difficult broadcast 2 with only a week off in between.

Now just a month away from graduation, I wonder if I chose the right career path. Journalism requires so much work for so little money. It is stressful and demanding. Challenging, yet simple to those who excel at it.

This past weekend I watched a rerun of the world series of poker final table. Jonathan Duhamel, a professional poker from Canada became a 9 million dollar man with just over a weeks worth of actual work. Duhamel is just one year older than I am. He attended college with plans of earning a finance degree. He dropped out of school to focus on playing poker professionally. The decision obviously paid off.

I love playing cards, especially Texas Hold em. I have played cards since I was four with games including bridge, gin rummy, and poker. I now play Texas hold em as often as I can. I went to Vegas this summer and played in three tournaments, taking 5th place in two of them, cashing in one of them. The two tournaments I did not make money in, I was over a 90% favorite when I sent all my chips into the pot.

With just one cash in three tournaments, I made money. I have calculated that I generally earn money in one out of every three tournaments. I am the reigning champion at my fraternity house and believe that with a little luck and some good plays I could do what Duhamel did and become a millionaire.

I am torn. My family spent thousands of dollars to send me to school here to obtain a degree and get a job in the field of sports journalism. However, there is little money in this field and even fewer jobs. Looking at the job landscape there is vast array of unpaid internships, but no careers. Maybe when I leave school next month is the perfect time in my life to take the ultimate gamble and try make my living playing poker.