Law Grad Decides Poker Is More Lucrative than Practice, Wins $542K in Poker Open
After honing his poker playing skills in law school, Josh Mancuso decided that the game could be more lucrative than law practice.
The gamble paid off. Last month, Mancuso won $542,000 at the Borgata Winter Poker Open in Atlantic City, NOLA.com reports. After paying off investors who helped with his entry fee, Mancuso was left with about $250,000.
At Louisiana State University Law School, Mancuso played poker online and in-person at casinos in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the story says. He decided to pursue poker full time after winning $38,000 in an online tournament shortly before his graduation in 2008. He won $132,000 in another online tournament in October 2008.
“I felt like I could make just as much, if not more money than I would as a starting lawyer,” Mancuso told NOLA.com.
He’s not the only law student or grad to succeed at poker. Others include Yale law grad Vanessa Selbst; Pace University law student Jeffrey Papola; Supreme Court litigator Tom Goldstein; and two poker-playing lawyers, Serge Ravitch and David Paredes, who helped crack online cheating scandals.
