Top Law Schools

Hello, I have a couple of years worth of gaps in my summer employment history due to playing poker professionally. Should I include poker in my resume or leave it out? Would an addendum focusing on the skills I learned from poker be my best bet?

I have always been a full time student and my work experience has come solely from the gap between spring-fall semester.

Gaps between years of college? That won't be a big deal. The interesting essay you can write about playing poker professionally more than makes up for not working a traditional job over the summer.

It's been discussed ad infinitum at 2p2, don't put poker on your resume unless you absolutely have to.. there is a ton of anecdotal evidence that says it often hurts and rarely helps.

[/supbro]

So keep it off of my resume and no addendum either? After black Monday I know an even more negative light has been cast on the online poker world so I have been leaning towards not mentioning it.

Can't have been that bad for you if you remember it being a Monday

If it's simply what you did over the summer in between years of undergrad and not what you did as a job for years post-college I would definitely leave it off altogether. You and I both understand what the general stigma still is about it, no matter how many times we explain the difference between grinding and martingaling roulette. It's viewed as a liability. I don't even list it as an interest anymore.

If you were fortunate enough to travel because of it as well (think PCA, WSOP, whatever) then you can always just talk about using that time to travel.

What does the 87 crash have to do with poker.

Desert Fox wrote:What does the 87 crash have to do with poker.

the fbi seized a bunch of poker domains recently

on a monday i guess

It's known as Black Friday..not Monday. I think that was a joke or something because no professional player with thousands of dollars locked on FTP would get it wrong.

Also, although it may be tempting to continue playing on Carbon Poker, I would recommend Bodog if you prefer speedy cashouts and non-bouncing checks.

It was a joke referring to black Friday. I was one of the lucky ones and had my entire roll of ps. Im hoping everyone over at FT gets their money soon. (50/50?) The Merge network is starting to pick up a bit but it is going to be awhile before we get even remotely close to how it was.

minnesotasam thanks for the idea. I guess I can use the traveling and life experience idea to explain my one year transfer to UNLV lol

fixxion wrote:It was a joke referring to black Friday. I was one of the lucky ones and had my entire roll of ps. Im hoping everyone over at FT gets their money soon. (50/50?) The Merge network is starting to pick up a bit but it is going to be awhile before we get even remotely close to how it was.

FT money has been selling for .40 on on the dollar lately. Not looking good for those w/ $$ locked up on FT.

That price has to be low, wish I was more liquid. Wait I know! I'll just cash out what I have and then.. oh wait.. right.

is the poker-nono advice only for the employment section, or should poker not even go on the hobbies/interests section?

englawyer wrote:is the poker-nono advice only for the employment section, or should poker not even go on the hobbies/interests section?

I see no reason why it couldn't go there. The reason people say no to putting it on employment is because you are doing something that the government is trying to make fully illegal (internet gambling). If you actually did it in NV or as just a hobby, there is nothing wrong with that imo.

My interpretation from sporadic discussions over the last few years is that it's ok in hobbies/interests if you really want it. In my case I didn't (and don't) feel like it adds anything of worth and might be a bit of a reverse freeroll, so I leave it off.

bk187 wrote:

englawyer wrote:is the poker-nono advice only for the employment section, or should poker not even go on the hobbies/interests section?

I see no reason why it couldn't go there. The reason people say no to putting it on employment is because you are doing something that the government is trying to make fully illegal (internet gambling). If you actually did it in NV or as just a hobby, there is nothing wrong with that imo.

I actually disagree quite a bit. For one, the government never has made the act of gambling online illegal and there is no noise that anyone is trying to do so. The UIGEA made interactions between gaming sites and financial institutions illegal, it never discussed players. The reason that people typically cite when omitting poker experience is the societal stigma attached to being a gambler, mainly an inappropriately low aversion to risk, volatile personality, and possible addiction.

minnesotasam wrote:I actually disagree quite a bit. For one, the government never has made the act of gambling online illegal and there is no noise that anyone is trying to do so. The UIGEA made interactions between gaming sites and financial institutions illegal, it never discussed players. The reason that people typically cite when omitting poker experience is the societal stigma attached to being a gambler, mainly an inappropriately low aversion to risk, volatile personality, and possible addiction.

Fair enough. Since you've paid more attention then I'd assume this is closer to the truth than what I said. The question then goes back to what englawyer said, would it be okay in an "Interests" section of a law school app? I guess what I would say is that it is low risk but there really is no benefit to doing it so why bother putting something that could be potentially harmful.

I think it's ok there, but what you said about risk/reward is the stance I've taken and it's the one I'd recommend.

Online poker players have a reputation for being slacker losers. I wouldn't put that shit on my resume. You might as well put SC2 Clan leader on there.

Desert Fox wrote:Online poker players have a reputation for being slacker losers. I wouldn't put that shit on my resume. You might as well put SC2 Clan leader on there.

What about MMORPG guild leader? It shows I've had the ability to manage 40+ people doing highly complex tasks for hours on end!

Desert Fox wrote:Online poker players have a reputation for being slacker losers. I wouldn't put that shit on my resume. You might as well put SC2 Clan leader on there.

lol good point. i didn't mean to say online poker player or anything like that..more like i host a poker game at my place about once a month. but i guess that could still imply some negative characteristics so why even bother.

Desert Fox wrote:Online poker players have a reputation for being slacker losers. I wouldn't put that shit on my resume. You might as well put SC2 Clan leader on there.

This is true but still, should probly gtfo.

tyro wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:Online poker players have a reputation for being slacker losers. I wouldn't put that shit on my resume. You might as well put SC2 Clan leader on there.

This is true but still, gtfo now.

Who the fuck are you, motherfucker?

bjsesq wrote:

tyro wrote:

Desert Fox wrote:Online poker players have a reputation for being slacker losers. I wouldn't put that shit on my resume. You might as well put SC2 Clan leader on there.

This is true but still, gtfo now.

Who the fuck are you, motherfucker?

Good point but damn, some trolling itt.

fwiw though I wouldn't put it anywhere on my resume just because it's still a form of gambling and a lot of people will put online poker winners in the same category as slot machine or bingo winners.