Position, your chip count, opponents (shark or donkey), their position on the table, their chip count and finally the hand you were given. In order of importance that's what it all comes down to in poker at least in No limit. With position you can shake a rock off a better hand etc.
*sighs* Poker is not gambling. It is a game of skill when it involves human interaction face-to-face, which make it all random odds with judgement. Poker against a deck is all about fixed odds. Combine the two (playing against someone with fixed odds) and you have a game of skill. Playing the lottery is pure gambling, against fixed odds. Playing a roulette wheel is pure gambling, playing against random odds (the fall of the ball). Trading is NOT GAMBLING! Trading is a skill based on neither of these (fixed or random odds), but about judgement. One does not see a human on the other side of the trade, just the market. The trader is making his/her judgement based on the patterns of the previous traders based on previous market behavior, and the likelihood of the market doing a thing or changing. You have no human interaction face-to-face, period. But you also do not have odds, fixed or random. So you have all of the fun of no odds poker with all the fun of no human interaction. I do not think I am making any sense. My bad.
To me poker is about cfinding a money making opportunity out of a given situation. A truly professional poker player does alot of what a professional trader does. They are both looking to exploit an edge. They both employ money management techniques and may have a cooling off period if they feel they are going on tilt, as emotion can cloud judgement. A poker player will use multilevel thinking. For example, what is (are) my opponent(s) thinking? What do they think I’m thinkng. What do they think I think they are thinking? Etc. Most players have fairly well defined styles. A defined style is very exploitable. A tight player will obviously have stronger starting hands. A responsive player can be bluffed. A player who can’t fold, you don’t bluff. However you don’t want to miss any value from them. A trader will consider how a market will respond to an event and may be able to develop a profitable trading idea as a result. It is said poker is a people game played with cards. Conditional probability based on opponent tendencies leads to more money-making opportunities than card probabilities. Additionally, a player needs to be alert for special situations, such as a new player entering the game. Someone going on tilt. A score in a TV sporting event. Attrition, where someone is getting sleepy. Patience to avoid being a victim in previously mentioned situations is a must as well. The successful trader may be able to properly price an unexpected event. He may find a trading opportunity by his sense of relative strength versus expectations. One difference poker has versus trading is in order to maximize ones’s return, the poker player will play a little sub-optimally against alert opponents in order to avoid being too predictable. For example, playing a substandard hand aggressively preflop in bad position. Playing a great hand conservatively once in a while will also tend to keep your opponents guessing. In general though, a professional poker player will seem random, but he is just attempting to exploit profitable opportunities in optimal ways according a particular situation. In both trading and poker, one has the learn the game and that entails finding a way for you to make money under changing conditions that you feel you understand. Guidelines and rules are helpful while learning, but are not enough to be able maximize one’s returns in such a dynamic game.
You may be interested in a Hall of Fame thread, Zen and the Art of Trading, based on Zen and the Art of Poker.
If one expects to play and win with premium starting hands only, its time to hang up the spurs and take up checkers... Poker is a game of deception...peace.
I've played as much as you have traded on your simulator. Since 2003, live 2/5, 200 days a year roughly. Don't make a living off of it and not saying I'm any good either but I'm positive $$ so its free entertainment for me. Maybe you can offer tips , or are you just a smart ass? The above is my opinion after all those years of playing, but yes I could be way off and would be open to any help to get better. I'm all ears.