Can totally relate. I can make $2,000 trading during the day... And that evening be really pissed off by a mistake or bad beat in an $11 SNG.
poker is easier because you have probabilities guiding your decisions. no reason to 'expect the unexpected'. trading has many more external variables than poker. no unforeseen circumstance will come and snatch a winning bet out of your hand at the poker table. both poker and trading can be influenced when big bets are made (size bid or offered). Both Professionals vary wagers, betting small most of the time, pressing winners and folding losers, and then when the odds are in their favor, going "all in" (not literally). both can be equally heartwrenching when emotion is factored into the equation (bluffing vs. being 'shook out). Professional poker players and traders both learn how to use that emotion to their advantage.
trading is more rewarding, at least to me. And professional traders are sought after, professional poker players are run out of casinos.
with trading,if a trade is going the wrong way i jump out with very minimal damage. poker,you can fold but your money is gone.i think trading is much more predictable, i trade catalysts so i usually have a good feel as to which way the momentum is.
Dont you lose your money if you jump out of a trade. You also lose if you fold...very similar in my opinion. Take small losers, increase size/bet with better probabilities. There are a lot of similarities in the two cards and trading. The major differences are Poker is a game of static probabilities Trading the probabilities change with the same trade. To be put another way the same trade put on last week at the same price has a different probability of a win. AA vs AQ prob is always the same. Now you could be bluffed off a winner in poker, just as you could be "bluffed" or head faked out of a trade. Also more factors go into making a trade...time is a big factor that poker never takes into account. ( i.e Am I trading on 1 minute 5 min, daily , weekly basis.) Can I hold though an earnings report, economic # like unemployment or beige book or crop report? Will terrorism affect my trade? A shutdown in oil supply? How about the possibility of an exchange going down or losing an internet connection?
poker is definitely a lot easier than trading.. poker is in your own hands and doesnt involve as much luck- the only way u lose poker is if u make a bad read or play badly.. i guess the same applies to trading but i would rather risk 10000$ on a poker table than on trading.. i trade lower budgets.
Hmm... So most investors here make more money playing poker than trading since it's so easy??? I don't get it. I make a lot more trading.... and I play alot of poker (online AND home games.)
I have done both for years, now I am in the casino biz and I see guys everyday gambling and some of them are traders. The bottom line is, if you play the stockmarkets and get "hooked" you could still call it an "investment" and have it turn around. IN poker when you lose, you cannot even write it off. Not to mention the uncertainty if you were colluded, cheated by a crooked dealer or just colluding players. Both pursuits are for suckers in my humble opinion but if you must do one or the other learn a good way to analyze stocks the fundamental way and then look at the charts.