Fair enough, seems like valid concerns. But the media, with the movie 21 and the huge amount of poker tournaments on TV, seems to make is quite a 'cool' thing

Fair enough, seems like valid concerns. But the media, with the movie 21 and the huge amount of poker tournaments on TV, seems to make is quite a 'cool' thing to do. Maybe reality isn't as romanticised as the TV, but I guess playing poker takes a lot of skill and loads of hours, multitasking and so on that could translate to 'willing to put in work + smarts' that some recruiter could enjoy? Maybe you should compile these facts, time spent, focus on the 'number aspect' of it. And such things. Put this and 'self sustained/employed?' on your resume etc. Honestly I have no idea what hiring managers would think, and maybe I am far from their mindset.