Russell Aaron Boyd, better known as Dutch Boyd, has been one of the most successful poker players around. The 32 years old US pro began playing at the age of 18 and has achieved a number of accomplishments: in 2006, he won the WSOP $2,500 Short Handed NLHE event for $475,712 and in 2010, he took down the $2,500 LHE Six Handed event for $234,065, to mention a few. His live tournament winnings total at $2,122,906.
While Boyd has some major results, he began to play less and not that well after his 2010 WSOP victory, concentrating on a number of enterprises he had started. However, his businesses failed and Boyd became completely broke. Currently, he is looking for any minimum wage job but is unable to get none.
Dutch Boyd
In November, he published the following post via Reddit:
„I started college at 12, got my Associates at 13, Bachelors at 15, and Juris Doctorate at 18. After that I dicked around for a decade playing poker and working on my own business projects. Fallen on hard times since poker's black friday and I've been job hunting for the last two months. With money running out, I decided to suck it up and get whatever job I can, even if it's washing dishes for minimum wage.
Today, after a lengthy online application process and test, I made it into the local Manpower office in Silverdale, WA for the live interview for a Sprint call center job. Jumped through some more hoops and then finally the recruiter there says the magic words : "I'd like to officially offer you this position." I accepted and we start filling out more paperwork. Then she gets to a check box in the form and asks "do you have a high school diploma or GED?" When I started my first year of community college, I got in on the basis of my ACT score. I skipped high school and was too young to take the GED at the time. So I told her I didn't have a HS diploma or GED, but I had a BA and AA. I left out the part about the JD because I didn't want to sound overqualified for a minimum wage job.
"Oh. I'm sorry, but we won't be able to hire you. We don't treat those as high school equivalents." I put up a bit of resistance. She told me that she'd talk to her supervisor, but she already knew that the answer would be no. "I know it's silly, but that's the policy. I'd suggest perhaps going to take the GED and reapplying when you have it." She called me about an hour after I left the office letting me know that her supervisor indeed said it was a no go.
When I got home, my girlfriend said I should have just lied and said yes because the background check probably would have come clean once they saw a college degree. Looking back, I guess I should have just lied and said "yeah, obviously"."
The financial conditions for the WSOP champion have most likely not improved much since his post, as currently he is selling his 2008 Five Diamond World Poker Classic golden bracelet on eBay. There are at the moment 22 bids, with the highest of $2,305.
Boyd is unlikely to get any help from the poker community, either, as his name is closely connected to one of the biggest poker scandals: he was co-owner of the PokerSpot online poker site, launched in May, 2000. The site had been running until November, 2011, when it was suddenly shut down and never paid players’ money back, a total of about $500,000.
Once a leading member of the poker community, Boyd is now all but broke and it remains to be seen if he has a way back. He still entered this year’s WSOP and made it in the money in four events.
While Boyd has some major results, he began to play less and not that well after his 2010 WSOP victory, concentrating on a number of enterprises he had started. However, his businesses failed and Boyd became completely broke. Currently, he is looking for any minimum wage job but is unable to get none.
Dutch Boyd
In November, he published the following post via Reddit:
„I started college at 12, got my Associates at 13, Bachelors at 15, and Juris Doctorate at 18. After that I dicked around for a decade playing poker and working on my own business projects. Fallen on hard times since poker's black friday and I've been job hunting for the last two months. With money running out, I decided to suck it up and get whatever job I can, even if it's washing dishes for minimum wage.
Today, after a lengthy online application process and test, I made it into the local Manpower office in Silverdale, WA for the live interview for a Sprint call center job. Jumped through some more hoops and then finally the recruiter there says the magic words : "I'd like to officially offer you this position." I accepted and we start filling out more paperwork. Then she gets to a check box in the form and asks "do you have a high school diploma or GED?" When I started my first year of community college, I got in on the basis of my ACT score. I skipped high school and was too young to take the GED at the time. So I told her I didn't have a HS diploma or GED, but I had a BA and AA. I left out the part about the JD because I didn't want to sound overqualified for a minimum wage job.
"Oh. I'm sorry, but we won't be able to hire you. We don't treat those as high school equivalents." I put up a bit of resistance. She told me that she'd talk to her supervisor, but she already knew that the answer would be no. "I know it's silly, but that's the policy. I'd suggest perhaps going to take the GED and reapplying when you have it." She called me about an hour after I left the office letting me know that her supervisor indeed said it was a no go.
When I got home, my girlfriend said I should have just lied and said yes because the background check probably would have come clean once they saw a college degree. Looking back, I guess I should have just lied and said "yeah, obviously"."
The financial conditions for the WSOP champion have most likely not improved much since his post, as currently he is selling his 2008 Five Diamond World Poker Classic golden bracelet on eBay. There are at the moment 22 bids, with the highest of $2,305.
Boyd is unlikely to get any help from the poker community, either, as his name is closely connected to one of the biggest poker scandals: he was co-owner of the PokerSpot online poker site, launched in May, 2000. The site had been running until November, 2011, when it was suddenly shut down and never paid players’ money back, a total of about $500,000.
Once a leading member of the poker community, Boyd is now all but broke and it remains to be seen if he has a way back. He still entered this year’s WSOP and made it in the money in four events.
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