[sumdumguy]

I can't do it.
You can't do it? What do you mean you can't do it?

You've presented some truly convicing arguments about how the skills and experience of a poker professional can displace experienced accountants, lawyers, actuaries, economists, engineers, dentists, doctors, psychologists, criminologists, and even executives! The way you paint the picture, I imagine if the games ever got real tough, the food lines will not by filled by former college poker pros, but by experienced professionals from all walks of life recently displaced by the uniquely qualified college poker pro's re-entry into the workforce.

How can you not find one "real" job where x number of years in poker makes an applicant more qualified than the applicant with x number of years in the vocation or related vocation? How do you reconcile "can't do it" with "embracing reality"?

The ideal opportunity profile would go like this:

1. Smaller firm
2. Closely held
3. Positioned in a growing industry
4. Poker-friendly (or at least poker-neutral) decision makers
5. Relatively easy access to info on the firm, or a friend inside.

But can a smaller, often undercapitalized firm, competing for market share in a growing sector, afford a pure decision maker? The decision makers in most smaller firms in growing markets do a lot of work themselves! What work can a poker player contribute that cannot be substituted by a college kid at minimum wage? Will he deal cards during lunch? And when the firm grows quickly (presumably the addition of a poker pro will facilitate this), in what senior, managerial, or executive capacity will the former poker pro contribute? Fresh Air Inspector?

As to a pure decision maker or advisory capacity, would it not be better to hire a consultant or recently retired executive instead of a poker player? Many successful early retirees in marketing, management, law, finance, banking, etc. of smaller of firms take semi-retirement night school jobs at small local colleges teaching business, law, and accounting courses. These people also do consultation work for small firms at very affordabe prices. They aren't underqualified or failures. They're simply older people no longer content with the daily grind, and seeking an opportunity to satisfy emotional or psychological needs by passing on their wisdom and experience as they prepare to enter retirement life.

What you have described, is an ideal opportunity for the poker pro, not the company! And this is not surprising that poker pros are opportunistic. It is consistent with the profile of a successful poker pro, in search of the ideal opportunity.. for themselves! And consistent with your point:

5. Relatively easy access to info on the firm, or a friend inside.

I concede your points about specifics. The job hunt is a high-stakes game featuring incomplete information on specific personalities who "own" the hiring decision.

It is about one getting what is best for oneself and how to do it. But what will one contribute once one gets the job? Clean the owner's washroom? How long will one remain employed?

One can not describe a single "real" job for which poker better qualifies an individual than field or related field experience because none exists. Nor can one find any extra-poker real world situation in which poker experience better qualifes a candidate than field or related field experience, as a consultant or advisor. The poker pro has neither the experience nor knowledge specific to the situation and industry to provide quality, informed, and expert advice.

Even in the capacity of pure decision maker or risk analyst, there are plenty of others better qualified. The poker pro is familiar and experienced only with self power and self responsibility. There is no such thing as a simple decision maker in any organized environment. With decision making power (from others) comes responsibility (to others). The decision maker must have strong leadership skills to direct and accept responsibility for subordinates, and an appreciation and adherence to fiduciary responsibilities to those that empowered him.. a reality not in the realm of poker experience.

Poker is not to all vocations, as math is to all sciences. Learn to, as you say, embrace reality.