Pro Poker Players as Job Applicants

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
I think for the most part poker players would make incredible employees. Bright, adaptable, quick. There is a mile-wide gap between a poker player and a gambling addict. Addicts are desperate people and probably would give themselves away in a heartbeat to any right-thinking regular poker player in a personal interview

[/ QUOTE ]



Go to any poker-room in the country at any time of day and tell me how many players in there fit the 'bright, adaptable, quick' image and how many fit the 'gambling addict' image.

I suggest that the majority convey an image closer to 'gambling addict'.
if you narrow it down to 23-30 year-olds in the poker-room you might do a bit better.
And still better if you narrowed it down further to 23-30 year-old college educated individuals.

But, in general, the perception one can get of the 'typical
poker-player from just looking around the room is NOT one that would likely be attractive to many employers.
And I think this is the image that still persists (and, in many cases, rightly so).

[Dan Mezick]

The whole foundation of my argument is that *winning* players are the desireable candidates.

This would amount to 3 to 5 percent of all the players in a typical poker room on any given day.

A very small subset of the player population.

[Jeffage]

The problem is some people doubt there is such a thing as longterm winners and will think you are a delusional, self-centered person that went broke gambling and now are looking for a job.

Jeff

[Dick in Phoenix]

Bob, you make an important point here (already agreed to by Dan in a parallel post).

We here on 2+2 have intelligent discussions with expert players, and posting here, it is easy to forget what a tiny minority the experts comprise. I posted, years ago, that of my several years playing 3-6 to 6-12, all games, in the AZ casinos, I could list the players I thought were long term winners on one hand. And at least 2 of the 4 had already moved up. And the low limit players are the vast majority, when you go into the cardroom and look around.

So my opinion on the job application is that you had better emphasize the part about winning !!

Dick