Poker players make the best traders?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by viruscore1, Jan 20, 2018.

  1. I never quite understood the sensation and glory of Poker...it's basically just Blackjack, with the added element of being able to mind fuck/bluff other players at the table.

    There's not that much Skill required to differentiate all the players. Bullshitting and luck play huge factors in determining who are the greats.

    I kind of understand the correlations between the gambling/Casino card world and Wall St trading -- but a huge grey, ambiguous....yet distinguishable area between them still remains.

    World Trading Competitions should be more popular...rather than those silly poker diamond platinum bracelet tournaments, if you ask me. o_O
    The Best Traders...are much more skillful and complex and deep....rather than poker champions.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2018
  2. Overnight

    Overnight

    "One habit of poker players that doesn’t translate well to trading: working solo.

    “Poker is very individual and successful trading requires teamwork and partnership, and sometimes poker players can be bad at that,” Brown said. The inherent loneliness of poker can make the highs and lows feel much different than the trading world’s ups and downs. "

    Well for crying out loud...Of course solo poker doesn't work when compared with trading. You need an opponent. But trading is not gambling. There are no tells, unless one considers chart patterns "tells" in trading.
     
  3. Handle123

    Handle123

    If you have 2 beginning traders and one been playing poker a number of years, he has some experience on risk management. I now believe risk management is more important than best entries. Whereas before all that mattered was concentrating on making most profits, whereas now concentrating on lowest drawdowns. But we all have different experiences.
     
    Cuddles, beginner66, VPhantom and 2 others like this.
  4. Jzwu2017

    Jzwu2017

    There are indeed quite a few commonalities between poker and trading.

    1. Risk management as stated by Handle123. Good poker players know when to fold to limit loss, instead of going all-in. Same with good traders.

    2. Psychology. This is a very big and relevant factor in both and can break or make a hand/trade.

    3. Both can be lone activities (trading can be a team activity but many traders do it alone), and one needs to practice and learn from the wins and losses.
     
    VPhantom, comagnum and heispark like this.
  5. Good points, but what separates big stake poker players from amateurs, is the bluff. Can't do that trading. Unless you're an adviser, promoter, or selling a service.
     
  6. This has been discussed a million times on ET.

    I would say that knowing the probabilities of hands/trades being successful is the most important point of all. In junior high I skipped lunch every day so I could save my lunch money to buy books on how to win at poker. Learning the art of using probabilities enabled me to win constantly . Made good money playing poker, but lost all of my friends!!
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2018
    VPhantom and SimpleMeLike like this.
  7. Jzwu2017

    Jzwu2017

    You are right.

    The only thing that (sometimes) works well in poker but doesn’t work in trading at all is bluffing, which is just a simple mind game.
     
  8. There is something similar to a bluff, being the false breakout that manipulators often use.
     
    VPhantom and lcranston like this.
  9. Traders may apply all sorts of technical analysis, which may be equivalent to card counting.
     
    #10     Jan 21, 2018