Great book - I reviewed it on Amazon back in 2002 after stumbling across it at B&N. Larry Phillips emailed me and we had a brief conversation about poker and trading. Neat little gem.
I would suggest the level beyond this is having no desire to act inappropriately- to be so immersed in the moment and the process that time does not exist and thus impatience does not exist. I think great traders have rituals they enjoy for their own sake- a method and a habit that acts as its own reason for being. When you have this mindset, impatience goes away- whatever is in front of you becomes too engaging to worry about what you aren't doing or could be doing. The amount of time a trader should be willing to wait for a good trade is infinite, because with the correct mindset the trader isn't actually 'waiting' in the traditional sense; being and experiencing yes, waiting no.
i also like "infinite patience yields immediate results" i agree with mind, they point the way, but it's up to you to walk through the door
I liked darkhorses perspective although I have yet to reach that stage. I like the humour in Brett Steenbarger's variation on this theme: "Many a trader fears boredom more than loss, thereby experiencing the two in sequence."
"POKER RULE #4: Don't feel like a martyr when folding. Don't start feeling self-righteous about all this folding you are doing... as if now it owes you (because you've b een so good, so disciplined, so patient...). This is a trap... As you keep folding, you must feel neutral about it." Whether you have been waiting for 5 min, 1 hr, half a day has no bearing to what is happening NOW. This is again - keeping our head and stick with the plan. I think bordom does get me but my bigger problem is seeing a marginal trade working out and go "Damn it, I knew it." Then jump on the next marginal trade and guess what I just kill my only soldier in the battlefield - the law of large number.
Typo: A Buddhist principle like Mahamudra ("the Great Seal of a King") is really all pervasive because the mind is all pervasive. The result of Mahahmudra is freedom from hope and fear (acceptance and rejection). "POKER RULE#5: Sometimes others get to play and you don't... But the most important thing is this: you must be comfortable with this - welcome it. Make peace with this idea. Cross your arms and sit back." It is getting silly trying to catch every swing or worry about missing a move. There are thousands of markets out there and we are missing a play ALL THE TIME. The objective is executing the business plan with precision over a long run. Precision = Speed. Marginal trade will only bring chaos into the statistical equation. There are also internal reasons not to play. The poker adage H.A.L.T (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) basically said if you can't play with a smile, don't play at all. Also scared money rarely wins.