Not everyone in life can say they are living a dream with their profession at 21 years of age like former Penn State student Prabhu Narahari, who just this past December put his college career on hold to play hold'em in Las Vegas.

Narahari, nicknamed "Prabs" by his friends and fellow poker players, withdrew from Penn State during the middle of his junior year and chose to forego his major in economics to pursue one of his greatest talents -- the game of poker.

Ever since picking up the game at the end of his freshmen year here at Penn State, Narahari has taken off with it and turned a career out of his poker playing days in East Halls.

"It was definitely a big step, the next level in poker," Narahari said. "Everything depended on it. There was a lot of uncertainty, but I was still confident."

No longer was playing cards merely an activity, a recreational event or a way to release the stress of school, it was also becoming a pure talent for Narahari, one that couldn't be contained within the boundaries of State College.

Fortunately for his new professional poker career, his parents supported his decision.

"A lot of things had to happen in the right sequence for this to happen. They had known I played, but they didn't know I was that serious about it," Narahari said. "They just wanted to support me emotionally."

Living in an apartment roughly 10 minutes away from the majority of casinos in Las Vegas, Narahari has settled into the life of spending about 30 hrs a week between online poker sites and live play at the tables in various casinos.

After beginning his vocation mainly playing no limit hold'em, Narahari has recently switched to limit, usually playing 8/16 or 10/20 on the online site PokerStars.com, while still maintaining his no limit game in live arenas.

Even though poker is now his job, Narahari will never let the joy of it disappear into the Vegas night light.

"Poker is always fun, it's my favorite thing to do," he said. "I don't enjoy gambling at other table games in the casinos. Poker is very serious, but it always has been fun."

In a city like Las Vegas, where all the other distractions could doom someone on such a poker journey, Narahari has not let it affect him.

"I haven't gone out a lot. I've been basically concentrating on poker. It's just so important for me right now," he said. "I know it's a party town, but I haven't been able to take advantage of that part yet."

With the immense popularity and growing tournament fields at the World Series of Poker, Narahari has inspirations of one day bringing home a poker championship.

"At least one bracelet is not out of reach, a main event however is another story with the size of the fields these days," Narahari said. "But I'm only 21 years old, and it really depends on how many events I am able to play. However, right now the focus is to make money."

Even though he currently lacks the bankroll to put forth such large sums of cash to buy straight into these events, Narahari hopes to satellite into one in the near future.

"I'm going to take some shots. I haven't looked at the schedules yet, but in the next couple of weeks I am going to hit the satellites hard," he said.

With his aggressive style of play and dedication to improving his game that he says he's always trying to work on, there's no telling when students at Penn State, as well as the rest of the country, could see Narahari on ESPN playing poker.

"I'd definitely wear my Penn State stuff throughout the tournament," he said. "At a final table though, I'd probably be wearing a suit, but definitely a Penn State hat."

By finally becoming more comfortable with life as a pro, and with dreams where the sky is the limit, Narahari has no second thoughts about his decision to leave Penn State.

"No regrets. I didn't have anything holding me back. I have friends back at school, but most are planning to come out here when they get their degrees," he said. "I talk to them everyday. We discuss strategy, how certain hands were played, basically keeping in touch because that's important."

One such friend is sophomore Alex Levin, who just this past December while playing with Narahari in a computer lab on campus, finished second in a massive online tournament, netting the both of them 14,000 dollars each.

"He's a very intelligent player, and a very intelligent person, which translates into his poker," Levin said. "I think he can go really far, as long as he dedicates himself to the game, the sky is the limit."

Another person who feels the same way about Narahari's future is freshmen Mitch Turrow, who logged many hours at the table with Narahari last semester.

"Being in Vegas is where he belongs, a player of his caliber doesn't need to be in school," Turrow said.

While that appears to be true, Narahari has hopes of returning to Penn State once he is financially stable and has succeeded in his poker quest.

"Once I become successful, finishing a degree is something I'd like to do, but it's not in the picture right now. I'd like to take my shots when I'm young," Narahari said. "My goal is to learn to support myself and to make a name for myself. But after that I want my value to society to be high. That's definitely a part of my life I want to fulfill."

Even with his success up to this point, and the future looking so bright it's sometimes blinding, Narahari has words of advice for anyone considering taking the same path he has just embarked on.

"I'm not going to say don't do it. You have to do what makes you happy because that's what life is about," he said. "Just do a lot of thinking before any decision is made. Definitely be confident and finish up as much school as you can before doing something like this."

With the sounds of students taking notes in classrooms being replaced by the harmony of cards being shuffled and chips being stacked, one former Penn State student has decided to leave Happy Valley for the chaos of Las Vegas, in order to live his dream. Just don't forget to turn on ESPN or ESPN2 in the near future to see how he's doing.