Duke grad going to deal in vegas?

[bigfishead]

Most of the idots posting on this thread have no idea how lucrative the poker BUSINESS can be. What many also dont understand or believe maybe, is a degree is often req'd to move up in the biz into upper managment. Some of the most successful of casinos in my opinion are/were run by people who started at the bottom.

There are numerous millionaires in the poker BUSINESS. MANY started out as dealers. And you can make a good living at it. Some #'s have been thrown around here in this forum. But I can say from experience that if you work 8 hrs a day...avg, 13 downs per shift, you will be surprised. The problem is that it is so easy to "EO" Early Out and bail after only a few hrs. But that certainly makes it an easy life too. And benefits can be decent. But learning the biz can be more meaningful should you decide to go UP in the biz.

Let me put it too you this way. There are certain jobs in poker, though few and far between, where you can make 15K in a month of work. Those that have them all started out as dealers.


Best wishes either way.

[Luv2DriveTT]

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There are numerous millionaires in the poker BUSINESS. MANY started out as dealers.

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Name 2.

I am in upper level management of a multi-business company, whose owner employs over 500 people. As a poker player, there is no way in hell I'd hire someone who became a card dealer after graduating from Duke. It essentially announces to me "hello, I'm a royal F*ckup". You might as well drop out now, because that diploma will be useless.

Oh... for the record... I never graduated college. My parents couldn't afford it. Way to look a gift horse in the mouth. I wish I had the gift of an education, I'd be making a hell of a lot more than I am now (and I do pretty good). Why is it the privleged ones are always the last to know when they have it good????

PS: You would be lucky to have a father who gave you advice as good as GreyWolfNYC. You should listen to him....

PPS: Yes the business of poker is very lucerative, but if you start out as a dealer in todays market the chances of you advancing from that role is slim to none. Unless your ambition is to become a floor or a sweep.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[Diggslick]

Ok, .02 from someone who followed a similiar path.

Graduated Emory ( I know, not Quite Duke) and worked at Country Club as a waiter around my home after graduation. I spent more time golfing than working. My only regret looking shortly back (graduated in 2002) is that I didn't do it balls out and go to a resort in Arizona or Florida. Some random thoughts and advice based on your reported situation. Its in no way meant to sould like sage old wisdom, as Im only three years older than you.

-I think everyone's character could benefit from working some time in a direct service industry. Yes, people can be shitty, but I also had alot of time where it hardly felt like work from the great people I encountered. You learn mutual respect.

-No, you dont HAVE to be an investment banker.

-Only some people care that you graduated from Duke. Those are the people that will give you jobs and that you do buisness with. Anyone who want to give you [censored] over this is deluding themselves or just doesn't know any better.

-Live as so you can walk away. That means don't get any serious expenses (high car payment, credit cards, accidental pregnancy) that would prevent you from making an improvement in your situation if the situation waranted. This is harder than it sounds. In cash buisnesses, people tend to burn through money more quickly. Don't not be able to go to grad school or take a entry level position with a high ceiling because you have payments on your 3 series and your tips were spent on buying bottles in the VIP section with you co-workers to impress some JAP-ey U Miami coeds out on spring break. IMHO, this would be the riskiest part of the cross country move in term of getting yourself "stuck."

-Employers seem to allow for a certain amount of time that you "take off" outside the corporate world without raising an eye-brow. The magic number seems to be aroung 1-1.5 years. Don't let this creep up on you without takeing somes sort of action.

-Anyone who tells you that that you are wasting you education and only values it at what it directly garners as a wage doesn't truly grasp its values.

-There is nothing to say that this couldn't lead to opportunity for advancement. I started doing some marketing and P.R. for the course and its banquet facility. It certainly served its purpose for the time and could have been a strong opportunity had the company been larger.

-There is no better time to take a chance in life than now.

Keep posting on you progress. It's looking more and more like I'll be attending UNLV for their jD/MBA program this fall. It be good to have someone to touch base with.

[coffeecrazy1]

To add to that notion,

I too have a degree, though not from a Duke...from a large state school. I also have two years of graduate work under my belt, with one year of graduate finance to boot.

I have worked in about four jobs since leaving graduate school last June: waiter, counter help at a bagel shop, telemarketer, music store sales associate. All of these jobs saw my resume with the degree on it, and all of them started me in the same place.

We do not live in a world where a college degree means as much as it used to. More and more emphasis is being placed on skilled labor and stable work history(i.e. working in the same job for several years). Finding a job that pays better than $7/hr is a difficult proposition, even for college graduates, it would seem.

This has been my experience. On a side note, I am also looking towards the desert as a possibility for employment. By my thinking, an average poker dealer deals between 25-30 hands an hour. Even the low-limit tables tend to tip $1 a pot. The math seems easy enough. Am I wrong thinking about it this way?

-Coffee

P.S. What's that noise I hear? Oh, it's the sound of the Maryland and Wake Forest basketball teams shouting as they watch the NCAA tournament on TV. Let's go Duke!

[Yobz]

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We do not live in a world where a college degree means as much as it used to. More and more emphasis is being placed on skilled labor and stable work history(i.e. working in the same job for several years). Finding a job that pays better than $7/hr is a difficult proposition, even for college graduates, it would seem.


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*cough*bullshit*cough*

The fact that my resume has an ivy league name on it (along with a good interview) allowed me to get a *very* well payig internship over the summer for a giant company. My roommate, who has had *no* work experience, also has a job over the summer for one of the largest companies in the US.
College does matter.

Just because someone chooses to flip burgers or be a telemarketer after getting a degree only shows that they were either in a useless major, did poorly in school, or have no motivation.

BUT, this does not mean that if you want to be a dealer then you can't be. If you really want to be a dealer, go for it! Enjoy being a mobile single in Vegas while you still can. I'm simply saying that the person who said college does not matter is wrong: it does matter. It is something you should value and appreciate. If you don't want to do anything but deal, then be a dealer.

[d10]

I wouldn't worry too much about what a lot of people are saying in this thread. They clearly don't know what it's like to be in your situation. The way I see it, you've set yourself up for a very successful, although not necessarily interesting career. That's a great security to have, and allows you a lot of freedom now to do what you want to do, while still having something very nice to move into when your priorities change and you feel like settling down. If dealing cards is something that interests you then go deal cards. If you get tired of that, move on to something else you enjoy doing, or put that degree from Duke to use and get a comfortable job doing whatever it is you know how to do. To say that you're throwing away your education because you're not ready to use it immediately is incorrect. You'll always have the knowledge and the degree that you acquired from Duke. What you won't always have is a time in your life when you're young and there's nothing holding you down, and your options are wide open. If there's anything you risk throwing away here, it's that opportunity to enjoy life on your own terms before starting up a career.

According to a lot of people who have responded here, I probably threw my life away a few years ago when I dropped out of college to do something that always had interested me. I had plenty of potential and I could have been doing some decent paying 9-5 job right now if I had stayed in but I couldn't imagine grinding out my whole life like that. Some might say my situation is different because I took a job that's much different from dealing, but I don't think so because my reasoning for it was the same. I was young and not ready to settle down, I saw a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something that I might enjoy, so I took it. Do what you want with your life while you can.

[zaxx19]

Do what you want with your life while you can.

Truer words have not been spoken on 2+2 .......

[slickpoppa]

Confucius say:

"Find a job you enjoy, and you'll never work a day in your life."

[Pokrok]

Hey Four Eight! I am 28 years old and have been dealing cards in Colorado for three years. When I started dealing my goal was to make 500 dollars in tips a week. Since that time I have steadily improved how I deal along with my expectations of what my goal is a night. I deal four days a week and shoot for $300 dollars a night in tips with a paycheck goal of $2400 take home every two weeks. I meet this goal more often then not and have not received a two week check of under $1600 in the last year. (Vacation being the exception). I hope this helps and feel free to private message me if you have any more questions [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[JoeC]

I had no idea the rest of the world hated Dookies as much as us Carolina students did. What a great thread.