[VBM]

i don't think anyone is saying poker players can't be hired for anything ever.

for some jobs, where all prospective candidates are likely to be coming in roughly equal, i.e none are likely to have salient work experience, sure.

e.g. if i'm hiring a car salesman and none of my candidates have car sales experience, i might give an extra edge to the poker player over say, the guy who's been working in retail.

but, if i'm hiring for a more specialized profession & my choices are between:
1. a 2-year removed college grad who has been playing poker successfully and
2. a 2-year removed college grad w/ a successful 2 year track record in the job or field i'm hiring for

unless there's some compelling external factors, i'd likely go with 2. if 2 has been successful, there's likely less ramp-up time to adjust, there's some verifiable track record, and less likely to be a change in work/lifestyle for the hiree to adjust to.

doesn't mean 1. won't or can't be a home run. but you're just more likely to have some-degree of successful quantity with 2.