So obviously we've seen tons of people with questionable backgrounds, and I have no idea how some of these people can scrape together 10k or more. They seem to lack the competence to be a successful criminal or scammer, or even a petty thief.

One of the more unexpected professions I've come across: professional Yahtzee player. Apparently there are some big money underground Yahtzee games in The Villages.

Hedge fund bro in 2013 showed me a powerpoint selling the idea of purchasing XRP.

Tournament pro. I mean that's masochistic.

Bought some at .82, sold at .36. Buy high, sell low, amirite!!!

But XRP is going to $7 they say....
Unfortunately I am in my late 30s

Stand Up Philosopher

poker dealer

One of the live regs that I play with had a scrap business. His focus was on catalytic converters and he just happened to be holding a lot of rhodium and palladium when the prices went bonkers. It's a very interesting business, especially dealing with thieves in the last few years.

Or, of course, there are the equivocations. Nik Airball may have worked for some small-time investment bank rather the BB places like GS, JPM or boutique like Moelis. Since analysts might pull in 200k the first year it would be hard (by hard I mean impossible) to fund consistent 6 figure losses even at the MD level.

Gang enforcer - Crappy £10 pub game. I'm next to a middle age guy who's a complete donk, keeps making exasperated sounds if he folds and his cards come up, also keeps trying to tell me his hand.

Eventually does something stupid with his chips and someone calls it out. Guy leaps up and yells, 'Are you calling me a cheater?'

Table freaks out and tries to calm him, and the tournament organiser immediately calls a cigarette break. Turns put this guy literally just got out of jail for GBH or possibly even murder, and was in one of the gangs in Manchester.

Owner of the Kia dealership whose employees took a video flipping a car and posted it to YouTube. A guy who observed road construction crews comply with court orders to protect endangered turtles. A professor of German history who asked everyone, who’s the third worst person in history? A professional trust fund recipient with expertise in securing sex and drugs while losing thousands playing poker. A high-executive functioning prosecutor from rural Ontario who took speed in Las Vegas to play in degen games.

Typical regular in my casino is a tradesman, professional, or small-business owner making over 100 k. No kids. Divorced or never married. Most of the easy money comes from gangsters and the little brothers they treat with wads of cash. When a gangster wins a high hand and gives his social security number for withholding tax, he has washed his money.

One guy told me he was a fighter pilot and had the skills, namely reaction time, to defeat anyone in the world at rock paper scissors.

Once played with a gentlemen in a velour tracksuit and rockin tons of bling. He was quite talkative and charismatic and seemingly didn’t care one bit about playing any hands or the outcome when he did. After an hour or so a few ladies wearing very little clothing appeared by his side to chat with him. They left and he proceeded to tell me their services are available tonight if I’m interested.

While drinking and getting stuck bad playing PLO, a guy was asked what he did replied “You aren’t going to believe this, but I’m a councilor for people with addiction problems”.

Also had a guy say he was a professional disc golf caddie.

When someone asks you what you do for a living, they are trying to determine how much respect to give you.

Back when Sunset Station had a poker room, there was a regular game, generally deemed the Mafia game, amongst relocated former Chicagoans with stories for which the statute of limitations had passed. They had a variety of former given professions, (I was welcome to play because I knew which Alderman's brother was a police captain and I had done field work for the Teamsters Pension Fund out of Chicago and in Las Vegas in the mid 1970s.)

FYP.

Back when Imperial Palace had a legitimate poker room.....

I played with this older, middle aged guy where we talked for three hours about his "profession". He said he was an importer of high end European cars. For three hours we talked about how they needed to be modified for U.S.A standards, how there were tons of hoops to jump through, etc.

It was one of the most engaging conversations I have ever had. I learned a ton of **** about importing cars, customs, EPA regulations, and all sorts of ****. Great conversation.

Three or four hours into this conversation this absolutely gorgeous woman shows up and starts playing. Gorgeous. Turns out she knows Mr. Car importer. They quietly talk personal stuff. My immediate thought is good for him.

After a few minutes, he introduces us. We make small talk, and he pushes us together. No other way to put it. Literally. The game breaks, he says he is going to bed (it is 2:00 am) but he says we should go hang out. So we go to the bar, turns out she is his daughter.

Yes, his daughter.

He wanted her to hang with me. She was willing to do whatever. We hung around at the hooker bar for a while. She literally told me how she "closed" all of her father's business deals. Even though her father and I were not doing any business deals, he appreciated the fact that I talked to him about his business for 3 or 4 hours and had good conversation. He was literally willing to give me his daughter. Literally.

I was 100% freaked out.

I went to bed by myself that night and I couldn't even masterbate. I was literally freaked out about the circumstances that led me to meet the most beautiful woman I would ever get close to. Even to this day being happily married, it still freaks me out.

WTF.

I often play with (self-proclaimed) "Gypsy King of Thiefs". He once got drunk and told me about his "business", which is managing a network of petty thiefs all around our country. Obviously, he's in and out of jail constantly, but super nice guy when he's around. Still, probably wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley.

Fagin?

The biggest fish I've ever played invented a golf glove with a better grip that was later sold to the military for an unspecified large amount. This is one of three ways to get rich in the deindustrialized west, the other two being some variation of fraud or selling pictures of your *******.

Who knows? Maybe in the future being impoverished will be equated with being a honest person.

you meant to say he was fagin with you

questions:

1) why didn't you sleep with this beautiful woman?

2) see question #1.

I've played with former PGA tour pro and a guy who was the focus of the documentary Murderball about wheelchair rugby.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murderball_(film)