Trading firms put their money on poker experts

[imurhuckleberry]

Source: LATimes

Chris Fargis thought his big job interview was over. But when the partners at Wall Street upstart Toro Trading finished with their questions, they broke out a deck of cards and a green-felt card table. Mind playing a few hands of poker?

It was a final test, and Fargis was relieved. The 30-year-old never went to business school or even took a finance class. But he knew poker. He had made a living playing the game online for six years from his Manhattan apartment, betting on up to eight hands at a time.

Within a few days, Fargis — with no Wall Street experience — was offered a position trading stock options, a job that entails making multimillion-dollar gambles. His poker skills sealed the deal.

"If someone's been successful at poker then there's a good chance they could be successful in this business," said Toro partner Danon Robinson. "If you have no interest, that's almost a red flag.... It's almost the equivalent of not reading the Wall Street Journal."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-poker-traders-20100516,0,1873140,print.story

[dadzilla]

1. Do you laugh, cry or scratch your head?

Seriously? I'm not sure how to react to this, it's almost surreal.

[imurhuckleberry]

3. What in the world has it come to ...

it's as if I live in the Twilight zone everyday.

[WhiteTara]

5. Welcome to DU

it probably won't put you in the land of reality, but at least you can stumble through the Twilight Zone with like minded travelers!:hi:

[imurhuckleberry]

7. Thank you~

[quakerboy]

12. You learn to play poker and apply for a job

at least, thats the first thing in my head. After that, what to do when all the rest of the card houses fall down.

[glowing]

2. Well, Wall street is just one big roulette wheel anyway.

[Lucky Luciano]

4. Being a good poker player is very highly correlated

With being a good trader for so many reasons.

[Scuba]

6. Maybe, but when I play poker I use my own money.

[TheEuclideanOne]

9. If you are so hooked that you are playing 8 hands at a time with your own money

imagine how you would conduct business with other people's money.

Anybody puzzled as to how we got into this mess? Yeah, sure, it was all those laws that went into effect BEFORE dubya? Yeah, that's the ticket!

[Scuba]

15. Ray-gun Voo Doo economics meets Texas Hold 'Em

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Is it, or is being a good trader highly correlated with good poker skills?

For example, being good at mathematics is highly correlated with musical ability, but being a musician isn't highly correlated with skill at mathematics.

[enki23]

10. well, that's fucking stupid. poker has defined odds.

the only thing poker has in common with the markets is that they involve gambling. on another note, the grandiosity of these fucking pricks never fails to astound me.

[Lucky Luciano]

16. if you play poker only by defined odds, you will nto do well. You have to

know who are playing against...and Wall St traders have to know who they are trading againt...they have to know the other players well. They have to keep track of large positions entered by their clients so they can try to understand the ripple effects. As I said above, there are so many reasons why poker skills go hand-in-hand with trading skills - investing is different of course.

[tomm2thumbs]

11. and the house always wins - the house that sits on Wall Street

may as well just send them your money by check and get it over with - oh wait, you already are through your taxes!

[harmonicon]

13. "the market" is nothing but gambling; no news here (nt)

[MisterP]

14. "trading firms have no idea what they're doing or how to hire,

expect to be sucked off 10 ways from Sunday nevertheless"