Posted on 08/22/2006 4:42:12 AM PDT by strider44
For many on campuses, trouble is in the cards By Bella English, Globe Staff | August 22, 2006
Mike Zakarian is president of the student government at Emmanuel College and co-captain of the baseball team. He hopes to go to graduate school in education. But he's also a whiz at online poker. He's so good that, at age 21, he won $12,000 and a seat at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, where last month he took home $15,500 more.
Article Tools Printer friendly Single page E-mail to a friend Education RSS feed Available RSS feeds Most e-mailed Reprints & Licensing Save this article powered by Del.icio.us More: Globe Education stories | Education section | Globe front page | Boston.com Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Zakarian started playing Texas Hold 'Em with friends in high school, and moved on to Internet poker in college. He'd win $50 here, $100 there, and lose only occasionally, he says. His first big score came at the end of his sophomore year: He put down $40 to enter an online tournament, and won $4,000.
His earnings have helped pay his tuition and afforded him nice vacations. But Zakarian hasn't always been cavalier about the game. ``There were times when I could feel myself inside losing control," he says, ``and I left it for a couple of months until I felt better. I just didn't want to get caught up in it and lose everything I'd won."
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His total winnings might be considered a year's salary in some parts of the US, and only 6 months worth in another..
Passing up an oppurtunity to get a good education and a degree could cost him hundreds of thousands in future earnings.. Maybe millions, over a lifetime..
Gambling is high risk for relatively little reward.. If any reward at all.
Best to stick to penny-ante and enrich one's life through the friendships developed through the weekly (monthly?) poker nights..
He will benefit far more from good friends than he ever will from the gambling..
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