Zen and The Art of Trading

martys · Dec 25, 2004

Hi Larry,

I am not sure this is the best way but this is how I usually do it. If you see the "Edit/Delete * Quote * Complain" at the bottom right hand corner of this post, and click on the "Quote", you can then insert text before or after the quotation. I am now typing parentheses instead of square brackets here to bypass the encoding. You can see the (QUOTE) control code to start a quotation and (/QUOTE) at the very end to end a quotation. The (B) is used to set things in bold and (/B) to end the bold.

Here are examples on how I divide an old post into segments by inserting control codes.
Again all parentheses should really be square brackets instead:

(Quote)This is just a quote(/Quote)
(B)This is bold(/B)
(I)This is italic(/I)

(Quote)(B) old post segment 1(/B)(/Quote)
my comment 1
(Quote)(B) old post segment 2(/B)(/Quote)
my comment 2
(Quote)(B) old post segment 2(/B)(/Quote)
my comment 3

EliteTrader has extensive HTML-like coding if you click on "red" ET Code link on the post reply page underneath all the smilies faces.

Thank you for your great insight. It only gets better as I reread the posts.

Regards,
William

martys · Dec 25, 2004

I am now typing all the control codes with square brackets instead to display the result of the examples above. But you can't see them all by clicking "Quote" because they strip some of the control codes.

This is just a quote

This is bold
This is italic

old post segment 1

my comment 1

old post segment 2

my comment 2

old post segment 2

my comment 3

martys · Dec 25, 2004

Quote from roberk:

Great comments Larry.
Don Bright mentioned that one of his traders won a million dollar poker tournament and that this traders father is a professor of gambling/probabilities at a University in Las vegas.
I forget his name but you might know of him - anyway it shows how related trading and poker are.

Do they have a major in gambling/probabilities at the university in Vegas? :eek:

Larry Phillips · Dec 25, 2004

Quote from martys:

Do they have a major in gambling/probabilities at the university in Vegas? :eek:

Not sure. I know they have a Gambling Research Studies Center, and occasionally offer courses in sports betting and other gambling related activities. And whenever a new casino is being proposed anywhere, they-- pro and con-- always seem to cite various gambling studies from UNLV, so they must have something big going on there.

Best,
Larry Phillips

Larry Phillips · Dec 25, 2004

Thanks, William

martys · Dec 25, 2004

You're welcomed. Merry Christmas!

martys · Dec 27, 2004

"POKER RULE#84: Don't complain when you lose. Not complaining when you lose is not only good sportsmanship, it also has an important practical value... Who wants to call a bet against a guy no one can remember losing?"

Even though only my wife would hear all my complaining, it will solidify the losing experience in my own head and become a source for self-sabotage. This dwelling onto the past also makes me lose touch with the present. My complaints are not even honest half the time... probably just trying get out of the responsibility - further delusions. It simply goes against the rule to conserve one's energy and vitality.

martys · Dec 28, 2004

"POKER RULE #85: Don't be mean-spirited. Playing poker brings out the worst in certain people - they take losses personally, act rude, get nasty, launch vendettas, and so on... This sort of mean-spirited approach to the game is not particularly helpful for the player or anyone else... The real reason is this: It can get reinforced, by success..."

Be nice to ourselves and others with our short time being here.

Larry Phillips · Dec 29, 2004

Quote from martys:

"POKER RULE #85: Don't be mean-spirited. Playing poker brings out the worst in certain people - they take losses personally, act rude, get nasty, launch vendettas, and so on... This sort of mean-spirited approach to the game is not particularly helpful for the player or anyone else... The real reason is this: It can get reinforced, by success..."

Hi, William. Yeah, the worst thing is that being nasty and rude might start working for you. Then it gets reinforced and you start using it all the time.

Be nice to ourselves and others with our short time being here. [/QUOTE]

Good idea. And what's more, it's just simpler and takes a lot less energy.

--Larry P.

Larry Phillips · Dec 29, 2004

Quote from martys:

"POKER RULE#84: Don't complain when you lose. Not complaining when you lose is not only good sportsmanship, it also has an important practical value... Who wants to call a bet against a guy no one can remember losing?"

The central conundrum about complaining and whining is that it feels good. It really does get it "off your chest". Unfortunately, at a price-- you becoming known as a loser and a whiner.
I've sat in a poker game some nights getting bad cards and losing all night long, but because I never mentioned it, or made a big deal out of it, at the end of the night other players were quite surprised to hear that I lost. This is more the image you want. That "he never seems to lose" image. It is the image of a winner-- not someone blabbing it all over town how he's losing, he's unlucky, he never gets a break, etc, etc. Practically speaking, you're not going to get any sympathy from them (opponents) anyway, so why bother?

"
Even though only my wife would hear all my complaining, it will solidify the losing experience in my own head and become a source for self-sabotage. This dwelling onto the past also makes me lose touch with the present. My complaints are not even honest half the time... probably just trying get out of the responsibility - further delusions. It simply goes against the rule to conserve one's energy and vitality. [/QUOTE]

It does, unfortunately, feel good, though. Like the famous chess player who stood up during a match and shouted, "Why must I lose to these idiots!!"

--Larry Phillips