Zen and The Art of Trading

"POKER RULE#58: Don't out-clever yourself. Stick to basic poker most of the time. Keep the creativity (deliberately wrong plays) to a minimum... They begin to drift into the area of long odds..."

If it is not broken, don't fix it.
 
pg 90: Never forget that you're not the only one who has problems. Your opponents have problems too. Play into their worst imaginings - don't be afraid to use their as part of your strategy.

In war one sees one's own dificulties, and does not take into account those of the enemy; one must have confidence in oneself. - Napoleon Bonaparte

"POKER RULE #59: Perfect the poker face... Because other players are looking for a reaction - or lack of reaction. It is best to always look as though no card that appears has any effect on you whatsoever; either that, or that every card that appears is exactly the card you knew and expected to appear."

The closest thing to a poker face for me is trying not to forget to keep a smile. In terms of looking for a reaction or lack of reaction, volume studies are most relevant.
 
"POKER RULE #60: Determine whether an opponent is acting."

Low volume, choppy market (low volatility) may be considered as the stage for actors. The market can be muscled one way or another like a fish net.
 
"POKER RULE #61: Learn to read your opponents' voices"

This may applied to someone using a squawk box service. I was told that a bunch of people shouting buy makes a different pitch than a bunch of people shouting sell. I have no experience in this.
 
"POKER RULE#62: Good poker is not a gentleman's game, it is a war... It becomes a game in which you pick your spots, attack, and retreat strategically."

Sun Tzu's Art of War puts utmost priority on strategic planning. Knowing oneself, one will not lose. Knowing oneself and the opponents, one will be victorious. Just because you can win the battle, does not mean you have to go in and fight. You have to take into account of your current conditions (focus, fatigue, emotional balance etc.) and avoid taking on unwanted risks.
 
Using war metaphors can be problematic, however, as they tend to emphasize winning and losing and thus inject the ego into the process, and that can create all sorts of conflicts which affect clarity and detachment.
 
Quote from dbphoenix:

Using war metaphors can be problematic, however, as they tend to emphasize winning and losing and thus inject the ego into the process, and that can create all sorts of conflicts which affect clarity and detachment.
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Hi db,

How's Thanksgiving? I agree with you. War-like metaphor can be problematic if the images in the head get someone to fight their way out like a man at the worst possible time. But the people (Sun Tzu, Lao Tzu, etc) who truly understand war (lived in the Waring periods of China), do not advocate war because it's always a Lose-Lose situation. However the pre-war strategic planning, advance/retreat movement, risk/reward calculation, and the game theory logic(How your opponents are trying to get you? Where is a dangerous spot?) can be useful concepts. Perhaps I should try to extract the logic but not the emotions from the metaphor.
 
Quote from martys:

the game theory logic(How your opponents are trying to get you?
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This is where the similarities between poker and trading can begin to unravel. If one views the market as an enemy that's trying to "get" him or trick him, he creates an environment for himself that is not conducive to joining the flow.

While I found the rules up to 50 or so to be highly applicable, I found the rules past that point to be much less so. However, I'll follow your observations with interest.
 
Quote from dbphoenix:

This is where the similarities between poker and trading can begin to unravel. If one views the market as an enemy that's trying to "get" him or trick him, he creates an environment for himself that is not conducive to joining the flow.

While I found the rules up to 50 or so to be highly applicable, I found the rules past that point to be much less so. However, I'll follow your observations with interest.
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Yes, maybe I am forcing the similarities just like forcing the trades. I had good profit this morning and was not going to trade the afternoon. But I felt good so I go in anyway. You know I have been talking, meditating and self-hypnotizing this "don't try to will some number" thing for a while, it just creeps back in today. This agenda (number) in the head creates all kind of chart images in my head and makes me lose touch with reality. I started trading differently. Failed to take profits even on the winning trades and ended up giving back all my profits and $30. It still felt like a big failure because I thought I was very clear about this. Talk about butterfly effect. Oh well, it's better to find out (weak link) now then later. Will try again tomorrow.
:)
 
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