A gap in your resume being a problem is just not true. I've taken several sabbaticals and anytime I get back into the work force my stories only help in the interview process.

It may put off a small percentage of employers but those are typically the types of companies you don't want to work for anyways.

EDIT: Technically not a sabbatical as I never had the intention of going back to the same job.

Very nice, sounds like that game just got easier. Weekend warrior? We've probably played together before. Good luck with the surgery.

I'm typically there on Friday nights, sometimes Saturday. I used to have Fridays off and would play Thursday night but I quit that job.

Thanks guys for your answers ! It's actually giving me more questions...

I guess it's normal to have questions.

What I'm sure about is that I'm bored at my job and I don't fit in the team (corporates type of people)...

So for sure I need a change, maybe I'll do poker beetween my 2 jobs to see how it works.

Guess it depends how long the "sabbatical" is and what you do with it. "I quit for two years to play low stakes poker" I really don't think most employers are going to find an impressive story, but I'm not an expert on hiring practices and could be wrong.

I can testify to the resume gap being a Problem. During my heavy poker days I made a decent living, better than any option available to me at the time.

Now I’m here with a 5 year gap on my resume I’m going to have to figure out how to massage that.

I’ve done done a few businesses and side hustle type of things but I’m not sure that’s enough.

By the time I graduate I’ll have been out of the workforce for almost a decade and it’s really tough to cover up 10 years.

I’ve thought of getting some ****ty part time job and heavily embellishing my work history to cover my tracks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

As thin slicing says, if your going to step out for awhile it’s best to keep one foot in the real world so you don’t have to just shrug and say “I played poker for x years”.

Doing some volunteer work or working on some project related to a career you like can all be helpful to get some references and fill in some of the gaps.

This is the one thing that I’d change if I had to do it all over again. I would tried to get involved in something a little more interesting and noble for the future


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

why couldn't you tell them you've been a professional poker player?

I suppose you could.

I don’t know if this is different in upside down underland but I’ve often found that there is a bit of a stigma for playing poker for a living.

People tend to lump it into general gambling and unless you are dealing with an informed and sensible person they seem to want to peg you as a degenerate or somebody who is unstable.

At least this has been my experience


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

there is an unfortunate stigma there...people associate poker with gambling and gambling with dishonesty for some reason, tho i did get hired by an extremely well known company BECAUSE I played poker, but the job was very mathematical and technically oriented, so they had a hard time finding qualified candidates to begin with...turned into one of the hardest and most stressful jobs i ever had so I quit after 2 years to, uh, play poker

I've been lucky enough to involve travel in my breaks.

Also how you sell the story makes a difference.


"I quit for two years to play low stakes poker" would be horrible to say in a job interview.

Employer: I see you haven't had a job in two years.

Me:My Dad had recently retired and I took a year off to travel the United States with him player poker at some of our stops to supplement my income.

Employer: Wow, that sounds interesting. So you consider yourself a professional poker player.

Me: I use the term "semi-professional" and I use that term pretty loosely. I did take it seriously though, I tracked all my sessions, I have a warm up and cool down I do in between each time I play. There is also some studying off the table that is involved, usually just one or two hands from the previous session or time that I played.

The travel wasn't all about poker though. My Dad's a big bike rider so we went on bike rides, went hiking, and spent a lot of time in nature.

It was just the break I needed to come back and fire on all cylinders.

Employer: Wow, you might be the most interesting person we have ever interviewed. You are hired right on the spot and we are going to double your salary and give you bonuses. You can also marry one of my daughters.

Me: Your daughters are not property dude, I don't want this job anymore you sexist pig!

Employer: AWWWW MAN

This is a true story

I'm actually in the middle of some time off from the work force but during that time I have become a part time analyst for Pro Football Focus. It doesn't pay much and is very part time (6-12 hours a week) but when I do decide to jump back into the workforce it is something I can put on my resume and is a new skill that I have learned.

If I quit my job to play poker, I'll still be programming as a hobby/side money cause I love that.

Video games in Unity 3D, apps, commercial websites, learn new languages/technologies etc.

Maybe an easy solution is to start an LLC for your technology hobby and say you tried entrepreneurship if poker doesn't work out? It only costs about a hundred dollars to make one, and maybe a municipal business license of $40 per year. At least that's how much it was in my home state.

If you travel while playing poker you can just tell them that. Many people take a year off and "go see the world". Which actually works well for a poker player since there are Casinos *everywhere*.

Lol... Here's how it would go for me.

Them: So...I see you have a resume gap here for the past 2 years where you appear to have done no mathematical work. What have you been doing in this time?

Me: I'm glad you asked. I've been playing online poker extremely successfully. I played up to 30 tables at once and was the #1 winner in my game according to sharkscope. My overall results placed me in the 99.99th percentile of players on this site. (Hands graph and sharkscope screenshot)

Fantasy response: Wow! 30 tables at once? And still you manage results like these? That is incredibly impressive and must take tremendous drive and focus. You're hired!

Actual response: Hmm...so you felt the need to play THIRTY tables? It sounds like you have a serious gambling problem.

Me: Well no, I see it as a form of risk assessment where I used my mathematical skills to leverage an edge over the competition. And my ability to multitable allowed me to maximize that edge. These kind of results were inevitable with my approach.

Them: So you use your mathematical skills to prey on gambling addicts and weaker players? Have you done any volunteer work or contributed anything meaningful to society?

Me: Umm...

Them: And isn't online gambling illegal?

Me: Well no, it was illegal for banks to process payments in certain ways but not to play online poker

Them: No I'm sure I read something about this. Didn't the Department of Justice shut down these sites for money laundering or something?

Me: Well yes but I had nothing to do with that

Them: So you don't take responsibility for your actions. Hmm. Well thank you for coming in and best of luck to you but I don't think we can find a place for you in our organization right now. We do important research here for the betterment of mankind. I'm actually calling security right now to have you thrown out. You're a disgusting human being and your "poker career" represents everything wrong with this country. Get out.

Me: Cries softly

Obviously exaggerated but I could tell by reactions these guys were not impressed by my poker career and looked at me like some kind of degenerate parasite, or at best like a lazy and useless person.

I just stopped telling people about poker because my responses when disclosing were never good. But I live in the American South. Your mileage may vary.

I laughed at this. Very nice.

Since we're talking about looking dishonest......is it that hard to lie on a resume? Just make up a few organizations you worked for. Not all employers check references. If you are worried about references, can't you make up being self-employed as a "consultant" for something that doesn't sound Degen or related to your industry?

Vandelay Industries. Mostly working on the Penske File under the tutelage of Dr. Martin Van Nostrand.

Airtight.

G7.0bb/hr@4091:45hours,justsoGdoesn'tbanhammermeG

You're not Penske material.

We'll just see about that... Ta-ta, Tut-tel!

Start an LLC with a reasonable sounding name.
You're the owner/ operator.
It covers all employments gaps.
Easy game.

HAHA, I would imagine the real interview would be in between our two stories.

Is it agreed upon here that vegas is probably the worst place to play poker for 1/2 and 1/3 and 2/5nl because its infested with lot of 2/5nl pros?


I posted this from a vegas thread about quality of game and would like if anyone has input on it.


Is it true the games in vegas are very bad now compared to say 2012? Back then when i played there for a few months, i mostly played 1/3 at wynn and caesars. The games there were damn soft at caesars. Very rarely would there be say more than 2 players who i say are competent... if they were they were tight. The wynn i recalled had quite a number of regs at 2/5 i notice and some played 1/3 as well waiting for 2/5. The players at wynn were particularly stronger than anywhere else at 1/3... but again this was back in 2012.


Are the games in vegas pretty bad now even at say 1/2 and 1/3 now? I have to imagine 2/5 is probably mostly regs during the day and at night, its probably half regs? Of course it could be bad reg as well but any reg at the table isn't good for you. The thing is it seemed like most poker pros in vegas are 2/5 pros right? Since if you check bravo, seems like very few 5/10 games if any and if so, its max 1 table.


And i thought the games in 2012 were pretty bad because there were definitely competent players at 1/3 at wynn.


Im also curious about winrates now. Are solid regs getting 30/hr at 1/3? Obviously if they are solid, they dont play 1/3 for long and move up to 2/5. With so many regs in vegas, i can't imagine there are that many players even making 50/hr right? Im also curious what would be the winrate of those tight players. Are solid average players at 2/5 making around 5bb or 25/hr still or they might even be close to breakeven.


Now those of you who play in vegas, would you say the play there is considerably different than say at borgata or florida or the east coast? The last time i was at borgats was maybe 2012. And when i played 1/2nl few times there, there weren't exactly that many bad players there compared to vegas. So when i played some poker in vegas, i thought, these tables are much better than borgata. However, from reading threads here, it seems like vegas is probably the worst place now for 1/2 and 1/3 and 2/5 compared to everyone else? However, you would say that statement would not be true say back in 2012 right? Because the play at borgata vs say venetian or caesars etc... there certainly wasn't that many bad players at borgata.

On the east coast, on a weekday I'd say 6-7 are solid enough regs that they aren't losing too much money. Most people rely on variance for their winrate

I'm actually in Vegas now. I will say this, if you can't play LAG, you are going to have a hard time making money from the nits. There's $ to be made raising over limp folders as well as bluffing scary boards post flop.