[MicroBob]

Your points are decent...but I think you are not properly differentiating between someone who is a 'good, responsible, talented poker-player' from someone who just SAYS they are a 'good player and have played for a living'.


In other words....MANY people who say they are (or have been) a professional poker player are exactly the type of person I would NOT want to hire.

A good poker-player has the discipline to do it.
A kinda lousy poker-player who THINKS he is good is probably more lacking in discipline than most people and likely has some sort of gambling-addiction.


Not that Dr. Phil is worthwhile...but someone mentioned that there was an episode with some guy maxing-out all of his wofe's credit-cards, etc etc because he KNOWS that online-poker is a beatable game.
This guy probably considers himself to be a 'professional' since it is how he is attempting to make his income.
The fact that he is a sucky player and keeps losing has nothing to do with his own declaration of his professional-poker-hood.


I've met some elder folk who claimed to be 'pro poker-players' back in the day.
Their personality nor their play at the tables particularly impressed me.


For someone who is hiring...I hold no grudge against them thinking that someone who has been 'playing poker professionally' is not much more than an unemployed gambling-addict until proven otherwise.

It's not unlike how when someone (friend or relative) tells me that they are 'pretty good at poker' I have serious doubts that what they are saying is true.
Because usually it evolves too, "No...I haven't heard of those poker books you mention. I just play by instinct and it seems to have worked pretty well for me so far."
and then later...
"Oh yeah....I have also figured out how to beat roulette. I'll have to tell you about that sometime because I'm SURE you would be interested. We could go down and play 'team-roulette' sometime and just tear them apart. I guarantee it works!!"



So if I was going to consider someone who did the poker thing I would be more impressed with the way you said it ("at college I learned to master aspects of the game of poker...blah blah blah") and if they couldn't speak in such terms or show me that they really have been winning all this time and not just losing money on their parents' computer in their basement THEN I would start to look at them more seriously.


I think much of the problem is not just the perception that others have of someone like you and me....but also the thousands of BAD poker-players out there with REAL gambling problems who create those perceptions in the first place.

Bad poker-players are the majority. If you are a poker-player then the chances are higher that you are part of this majority.