Ask Pat Ditmar about this. I understand he recruited poker players to trade futures and gave them the training and technology. The tools he provided were proprietary, but I have no idea if these traders were ever profitable. That business is, I think, defunct, and Pat now is a vendor selling his trading tools (which he swore he would never do when he had the trading operation).
Former Poker player...Where do I start?
- Thread starter DuyLe
- Start date
Recognize from day one that trading is a game with two major advantages over poker:
1) There is essentially no ante. You have a few overhead costs but think of that as the carfare someone pays to get to the casino. Incrementally you pay opportunity cost when sitting tight but not a cash cost. Combined with point two it allows you to be even more selective with your starting hands than in poker.
2) In highly liquid markets -- ES is the best example -- every bet you make during regular trading hours will be faded. And the fact that you are a tight player will not be known to your opponents. Once you know what wired aces look like in this game you can bet them as heavily as you chose -- again in highly liquid markets -- and no one folds. Just as in poker, it does not mean your aces will hold up but it does mean you can go into every hand you play with a definable edge which will pay out over a large number of hands.
Build around these two facts and recognize, also from day one, you must scalp. From your description of yourself it is the only place in the market you will feel at home.
I spent 10 weeks -- a summer -- in AC playing Tuesday night through Sunday evening. I covered the nut -- which was modest -- but could not earn anything above expenses.
1) There is essentially no ante. You have a few overhead costs but think of that as the carfare someone pays to get to the casino. Incrementally you pay opportunity cost when sitting tight but not a cash cost. Combined with point two it allows you to be even more selective with your starting hands than in poker.
2) In highly liquid markets -- ES is the best example -- every bet you make during regular trading hours will be faded. And the fact that you are a tight player will not be known to your opponents. Once you know what wired aces look like in this game you can bet them as heavily as you chose -- again in highly liquid markets -- and no one folds. Just as in poker, it does not mean your aces will hold up but it does mean you can go into every hand you play with a definable edge which will pay out over a large number of hands.
Build around these two facts and recognize, also from day one, you must scalp. From your description of yourself it is the only place in the market you will feel at home.
I spent 10 weeks -- a summer -- in AC playing Tuesday night through Sunday evening. I covered the nut -- which was modest -- but could not earn anything above expenses.
For US residents is real money online poker playing illegal.
First they have shut down fulltiltpoker and then pokerstars stopped real money playing for US residents.
If you life outside of the USA, its no problem.
And if you are good at it and you play 5 days a week, at least 10h a day, you can make easily 4-5k a week.
Just inform yourself about Isildur1. Hes one of the best players and makes millions a year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Blom
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@DuyLe
The other option is to move outside of your USA, go to Mexico, drink tequillas and play your favourite game.
Trading is pretty hard to learn, and reality is that you have absolutely no edges against other newbies.......
Go to Mexico.
Once you are in Mexico and make a good living of poker again, you still can learn trading, if you like.
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The second option, would be to move to Las Vegas and play on the tables on the casinos. But i guess its pretty hard to make a living this way.
But if you are really good, it could be done.
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Move to Canada or some European country (Switzerland, Monaco, ...).
http://www.pokernewsreport.com/american-poker-pros-move-to-canada-3878
Or talk to Don Bright, here is his brother playing aside your grand grandfather.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYmUqaW0HDM
http://www.pokernewsreport.com/american-poker-pros-move-to-canada-3878
Or talk to Don Bright, here is his brother playing aside your grand grandfather.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYmUqaW0HDM
These guys offering you advice are funny....
Trading vs. Poker...
Ok... Let me learn you something...
1. Off the bat... Poker is not like trading in any way. Poker is a game based on unchanging solid "objective probability", trading is a game that is based on "subjective probability". They are two different beasts. Yeah, there are similarities in risk/reward etc... But you have no way of knowing what the real odds of actually getting a reward are.
2. Trading is a "cash game" all the time... You're always playing your own bankroll.
3. Trading is a negative sum game due to commissions.
4. It is ridiculously hard to create a strategy where your E. V. is positive due to subjective probability.
5. Trading is a game of movement. It isn't like poker where you have time to decide things... Price is always on the move. You're better off using your reflexes and playing the market like a video game but you need really low commisions to achieve this. Either way, automated algorithms have an advantage over you. Otherwise, consider long term trading based off of fundamental economic factors.
Out of curiosity, how good of a poker player where you anyway...?
Before I offer advice, DO NOT spend a penny on trading courses, systems, indicators etc., you can find all the basic info you need on about.com investopedia or youtube search. I'd estimate for every consistently profitable daytrader, you'll find 10 consistently profitable salemen who work in the booming industry of trader education (selling to dreamers with cash).
I trade futures, in the world of futures most major markets have a tight correlation (follow) SP500 or ES. The direction most of us were lead, when starting out was "learn to trade ES, when you master it, you can swing a 200 lot for 2 points with no slippage (20K)" Problem with that, slippage should be your last concern when trading a market as random as a roulette wheel.
If you want trade futures and have a fighting chance at gaining an edge, focus on secondary markets that are less correlated to SP500, but still liquid (actively traded), like wheat, nat gas etc.
There's been a few threads on this already, so check those out as well. Definitely some overlap: both are analytical, both required patients and money management skills, both take a long time to get to a cash flow positive skill level. So while there's some basic overlap, there is no overlap in the material. As said before, you'd have to pay your dues again in trading, like you did for poker. It can take years to learn to trade well, if ever, since you'll find people on this board who can't succeed after years of trying.
I tried poker as a serious hobby a number of years ago, and after a few weeks, I got bored with it. I never got bored with trading, and putting in the hours was enjoyable in itself. So, I would think first whether you have the interest level in trading that can get you past months to years in learning how to trade. And two, you've got to decide whether you can afford the sunk costs that'd be required in order to become cash flow positive.
I tried poker as a serious hobby a number of years ago, and after a few weeks, I got bored with it. I never got bored with trading, and putting in the hours was enjoyable in itself. So, I would think first whether you have the interest level in trading that can get you past months to years in learning how to trade. And two, you've got to decide whether you can afford the sunk costs that'd be required in order to become cash flow positive.