Life after Professional Poker

[Mike Gallo]

Consider yourself lucky. I had an entire thread devoted to a former screen name.

Nothing but haters Dave, nothing but haters. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[AdamBragar]

Nate,

Unfortunately, I agree with you 100 percent. If I had taken off time between college and a first job, that may have not looked as awkward as the dreaded gap in the resume. I've got a lot of other stuff loaded on my resume that actually makes me look like a pretty competent person.

If I was thinking of taking time off and then going back to the workforce directly, I would probably think this is a bad idea. But, I'm going to grad school where I will be hidden from the real world for another 5 or 6 blessed years.

It comes down to a few things:

1) Will a 1 year gap in my resume actually matter when applying for a job 6-7 years from now (after grad school)?

2) Will playing poker for a year make it harder for me to get into Grad school?


3) Will I be able to get away with saying to a grad school admissions person (that's probably the technical term for it) that I played poker for a year?

[SA125]

Two characteristics of successful people are sincerity and enthusiasm/passion. The honesty in those things can be sensed. That's what makes a salesman successful. A sense of honesty and sincerity. Your level of intelligence will be taken as a given with your academic accomplishments.

If you can communicate with sincerity and enthusiasm whatever it is you're trying to communicate when that time comes, it will be sensed and you'll have no trouble dealing with the men who hire for the openings in the jobs you want. No matter what you've been doing.

[TStoneMBD]

i certainly dont have near the life experience as nate does, and his advice is excellent. however, my opinion on the matter is that its important to do what you love. to many people, its important to make oodles of money. poker is a career with an unstable future as noone knows what is to come, but for the shortterm the oodles are there. if you cannot find a job that pays more than 70k a year within your first 5 years then play poker if you can make $100/hr+.

many people from these forums discourage turning pro, and it certainly has its pitfalls, but i have been pro for over a year now and have no regrets whatsoever. as much as id like to think so, its not like im some sort of prodigy either.

poker is easy money. to make the kind of money most people are making in poker at a job it generally takes great training, talent and skill. turning pro may be a dream of yours, but its a very attainable dream if you have hardcore discipline and selfcontrol. during the current golden age, poker makes for very stable income if you do things right and are overrolled.

[iraise50]

I think many of you are actually wrong on this issue. I have several years of management experience working with charities in a variety of positions. For an entire year the only "job" I went to was playing poker, and while I dind't crack 6 figures, I did ok enough to enjoy it. I more or less miss at least some of my time being with others, so I was looking for only terrific jobs that I would truly enjoy being at. It really amkes your job search entirely different when you say, and mean..."Well, I jsut don't think that your organization is compatable with my needs". So, I finally found a position at a place I really love, I manage a coffeeshop. I love coffee. It's my friend.

I told you all of that to tell you that...I enver misled anyone about my poker playing. What I found was that people were uniformly impressed that I was willing to take such risks, had enough beleif in myself to do it and the courage to admit it to what could possibly be a skeptical audience. I think if you focus on the romantic aspects of it, of pitting yourself agaisnt others in a kind of real life survivor...if you focus on your willingness to try something new, to take risks, to be totally accountable for successes and failures, to have to reasearch and learn ever-more efficient methods of success...all of these things make you a more valuable employee. You'll sound too phony trying to replicate an imaginary year of your life in an interview.

[smb394]

I think that the gap in the resume can be significant. But it depends on what you are trying to do with your Econ PhD. Tenure-track professor, government, private firm? My best advice would be to find an at least semi-interesting position that would both look good on your resume and not require too many hours (so you can play at night).

Also, I had an interview for a spot on a derivatives desk with a large market maker/trading firm earlier this year in which poker came up. They were asking about my BB/100, s.d. per hour, etc. (in addition to probability questions). These all went well. The fact that I am not an Ivy or MIT grad did not. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]


FWIW, I am currently out of school 1 year myself and considering grad school down the road.

Good luck.

[bufrakbh]

Just my thoughts. Its a long post so I have only read some, and apologise if it has been written before.

First of all do what you feel is the right thing for you. NOW. If that is playing poker for the next year, then fine. Enjoy it and dont worry about what might happen in a years time. Ofcourse this assumes that you really want it, and are not just addicted or looking for an easy buck [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Well, basicly that you have fun taking it seriously, I guess.

Secondly it is all about presentation. When you after a year goes back to your PHD or a job in the private sector, I believe it can be an advantage to have played poker. Think about how much you will have learned! Its not all just about cards. You might be better at picking up signs of how people are, you might be more decisive or goal directed, you might have some good materiale to use for the PHD etc.

On a personal note I will tell you a little about my life. I recently quit a very well payed job in finance to write a book. I know I wont earn much doing so, but also that it somehow will get me in the direction that is best for me. Along the way I am learning poker from scratch. I played my first game ever about 2 months ago. My goal is to slowly build a bankroll and see how far I can get, and to me that is a fun challenge.

And I KNOW that it can be an advantage to play poker when aplying for a job - atleast in the private sector. I play a lot of backgammon, and although I never went pro I won some big tournaments, and went to the world championship. I wrote this on my CV, and it seemed so out of the ordinary and exciting that I believe many employers called me to interviews partly due to that fact.

I hope this helps you in your decision [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[J_V]

Getting a job as a trader is easy. I-banking is a different field and very different.

[Nate tha' Great]

Again, it depends on what sort of graduate program you're looking at.

I'd think that the 'gap' would be almost as devasting from the standpoint of a top-tier business school as for a top-tier employer. Perhaps even more so. Although frankly I think business school is fairly worthless and have had some Very Smart People who have been to some Very Good Business Schools tell me as much.

Law schools tend to be highly numbers and formula-oriented and if your LSATs and undergraduate credentials are good, I don't think you'd have too much trouble.

Masters programs are cash cows at most univerisities and will let you in if you're smart and can foot the bill.

PhD programs - I had a friend who was recently asked to join a very selective PhD track in spite of essentially having been a professional alcoholic for about seven years out of undergrad. Surely being a professional poker player isn't quite as bad as that. You do need to write/present well though in a wonky sort of way.

EDIT: I'm not any kind of career counselor, although I do happen to have an odd diversity of friends/acquaintences who have taken an oddly diverse array of career tracks. I've also been on both sides of the interviewee/interviewer process, the later half of which is extremely helpful.

[jason_t]

[ QUOTE ]
How could someone with an undergrad degree...IN THE STUDY OF MONEY, not be able to grasp the sheer lunacy of leaving a job to "give professional poker a whirl".

And seriously, can't you hold down a low paying job and play poker on the side? Don't you get weekends off?...although, from your only 110 posts in 8 months of membership, I can assume there's an outside chance, unlike others here, that you have a girlfriend.

I know you'll make the right decision, not that I could ever give a flying [censored].

-Matt

[/ QUOTE ]



Also, economics isn't the study of money.