Pro Poker Players as Job Applicants

[Dan Mezick]

Certainly business aptitude and poker aptitude are highly correlated.

My main motivation in making this post is to convince young winners to take the poker lessons to the world of business, where they can be easily leveraged.

Dr. Al has said that poker is every man for himself and ruthless, and yes I agree. My point is that the winning player is by definition a winning business person. This is an idea that winning college players need to be hearing.

These college guys also need to know that the $100 per hour that seems so hard to achieve in poker is actually pretty simple in business if you apply yourself.

There is an unlimited amount of money to earn out there in business. Unlimited. Young winning players that "think in poker" and adopt this belief can easily outearn all but the very best players.

The business you start and grow does not have to be sexy or techy or hip, it can be as dull as plumbing supplies or HVAC services.

I strongly encourage serious winning players to purchase the book The Millionaire Mind and read it twice. That book provides a roadmap for young winning players that want to leverage their hard-won poker lessons in a big way.

Anyone smart enough to earn $75 or more per hour playing poker is likely able to earn 2,3, 7 times that in a business. The business typically will have far less variance , a higher earn, and more overall satisfaction.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

Agreed to all. What they have to bring from poker to business is that almost all common conceptions of how to do success is wrong both in poker and in business. 95% are wrong, if you want to make success you have to be in 5% that dares to think otherwise.

[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

[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

[Dan Mezick]

These are good supporting arguments for why a young pro player would be a good entrepreneuer or business owner.

I have to concede these points to you in terms of hiring a pro player. Poker works against getting hired at a big outfit with say over 150 employees.

However, many small businesses are looking for people like this, making smaller firms prime targets for young college-grad pros who are looking for fulltime work.

[Dan Mezick]

A verifiable track record proves the winning player, the diff between a participant and a winner is huge.

As for chess, backgammon etc the human psychology aspect is less of a factor so I see this as an apples-to-oranges compare.

My assertion is that poker skills are much more widely applicable in more life situations overall than skills associated with other kinds of games, and that these skills are useful in getting and keeping a job. Poker skills are in fact very useful in any kind of goal-oriented activity involving people, incomplete information, and a range of possible outcomes.

[Dan Mezick]

My reply to Dr. Al states that from 2003 to 2005 the image of poker has improved dramatically, that many people know the lingo, and a few really appreciate what it takes to develop a complete game since they may have tried to do so and found it aint as easy as it looks.

None of these trends can hurt the successful player in terms of selling those skills to an employer who understands poker, in the right spot.

[Dan Mezick]

OK. Many hiring managers would not hold my viewpoint, I agree

But any decent player can turn poker from a liability to an asset by practicing good game selection when applying for jobs. Picking a small firm in a growing area of the economy is the first step, followed by a good amount of due diligence. Profile the players.

Now, I actually think that if I was looking for a job and used these guidelines, my goal would be to find an opportunity where the big boss likes poker and may even have a home game going. Playing in the bosses home game quickly after being hired is analogous to getting to play playing golf quickly with the boss. You have him isolated for hours and have access to him in a way others in the org simply DONT.

Most entreprenuers love poker, and they respect highly developed poker skills in young players. It says alot about the guy. Many successful entrepreneurs relate instantly to young, poker-skilled employees and may even identify with them, creating strong rapport and a huge edge work-wise for the new guy.

As the candidate, my goal would be to get into the bosses home game ASAP.

[archmagi]

For a sales or trading job, maybe a poker player can be considered.
But for any other type of job (decent job i mean), I would definitely kindly show the door to anyone like you described. My reason is: If I need experience, then it would be much better to hire someone who has had working experience and had some success in the position I'm looking to fill.
In comparison to recruiting someone who spent 2 years getting experience in poker (or any irrelevant job) I think it's better to recruit someone career minded straight off university.
One of the biggest down-sides I see with your suggestion is that someone who has turned pro straight off school has never had exposure to a corporate culture; never went to work at 9am every morning, never wore a suit to work (well, unless they play ni a suit which is unusual these days), etc etc. There's so much they need to get used to at work that it's not worth the risk.
I bet that should you employ someone like that, you will loose them within 6 months 75% of the time.

[Dan Mezick]

Kellermann is a player !