Some advice for a total newbie?

Hey all,

I'll try to keep my background as short as possible. I dropped out of college my first year to pursue a career as a professional poker player. I made lots of money over a few years, eventually going back to school, while still playing a bit. and finishing my degree in Computer Science. I got a job as a consultant after I graduated, but I hated it, and quit after a few months. Since then, I've been looking for something else to do. Some former poker pros turned stock traders suggested I look into it too and it seems ideal for my skill set and personality.

Before I even think about applying anywhere, I need to study up. I have a few unique experiences (wrote a poker bot that did well online - I think this might be good for HFT firms) and connections that might get me a phone interview. If I get that shot, I really want to wow them. I should also mention I live in Chicago.

These forums don't have a great search feature so forgive me if this has already been asked a lot.

From what I've found, I'm going to do the following things:

Be extremely good with mental math. I've found the following resources. Please tell me if there are more/better ones. http://www.buildquiz.com/speed_math.swf http://math.usask.ca/emr/menu_arith.html http://www.scribd.com/doc/4108845/Trachtenberg-sp…

Read the WSJ daily.

Lots of books, obviously. A lot of the employer websites list recommended readings. Could some members recommend a few books that I should read 100%? I'll likely end up reading everything, but I'd like to know what to focus on. The only book I've bought so far that everyone seems to love is "Heard on The Street: Quantitative Questions from Wall Street Job Interviews."

Are there any online courses at MIT or such that are useful?

I'm also going to look into local finance organizations/groups I can join and attend.

I want this badly. I have a nice savings and no obligations so I'd be willing to work for free and whatever hours to get my foot in the door. I'm hoping with a few months of study, I should be prepared enough to begin submitting my resume.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks.