Post World Series & Some Words About Trading/Poker

Four Horseshoe Hammond poker sessions since my return to Chicago and my 1 winner out of 4 was for less than you can pay in tolls to get there. I got beat up in HORSE, PLO and Hold 'em on separate occasions. Live poker is slower and more boring and losing certainly doesn't change as quickly as it can online into winning over the short and long term. Truly, I miss playing tournaments and having the shot to throw up the belt every day whether it's something small online for a few thousand or a Sunday major or a WSOP 6 max tournament. Competition fills my blood, so I've been channeling that energy into trading lately, which is more rigged than any human should care to think about, but I have managed turbulent times in markets fairly well lately and can't complain.

Similarities in the lessons around the games of trading/investing are much more than just risking money. Bet sizing, bankroll management, mental flexibility, discipline and patience are all required to be successful in the brutal games being played in your respective financial markets. Knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em as Kenny Rogers would sing applies to trading as much as it does to a single hand. Decisions are constantly changing by many inputs and outputs. Buy here and sell here. What price do you want to get? How can you maximize value in any one situation by using both volatility and price? It's tough to explain, but I feel more and more comfortable finding situations and understanding what's going on. The true test though will always be protecting money and growing it in the lowest risk way for the maximum return. It doesn't mean you can't push a lot of your chips in the middle with a strong hand, but it does mean that you are prudent in times of market correction and when your trades just simply aren't working.

I may be adding more business and investing/trading things into this blog mainly because it's been keeping my mind sharp during the lull in poker. There is a ton to learn on the subject and if I could say the most important things I've learned so far about it they would be:

1. No one cares about your money more than you. No advisor, tweeter, blogger, person on CNBC, or even your parents can you tell you what you want to get out of investing/trading and what your actions are going to be when you lose money or win money. Winning money in poker or trading can easily go to your head. The money needs to be bound by a purpose, goal, and risk management.

2. Pigs get slaughtered. It only takes a few bloodbaths to learn this. Gains aren't gains until they are booked. Getting too greedy is one of the worst things you can do.

3. Much like in poker. When you bet, ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN. You must have a method because actions of the game will change and not always go according to your plan.

4. Nothing comes easy. Everything takes work. Poker/Investing/Trading/ LIFE!!!

5. Don't listen to anything I say. Mistakes are how I've learned my most important lessons in both poker and trading, but I'm not advising you. In fact, not once unless you are my close friend have you even talked or heard my theory behind investing/trading.

There are tons of resources on the internet and the two things I use most are Stocktwits and Finviz.com. Stocktwits is a great idea generation site as their founder always says, but don't get caught up in the panic or try to trade based on some random tweeter's ideas. Finviz has tons of good research tools/charts/etc.

On Saturday, The Horseshoe Hammond is holding a $1500 tournament and it will be a nice going away present when I win it. The next few months will be hectic as I'll be traveling for poker/moving/getting back online (fingers crossed). London is my next destination for EPT London, and I will be in Europe (hint,hint) a lot in the next few years. I'm excited to get back to Europe. I am 1/1 at making final tables in that continent.