Trading and Poker

There are definitely some similarities between poker and trading, but it is important to point out the big differences.

  1. With trading you can choose when to stay out and when to enter a trade.
  2. With trading you have more control over the outcome of a trade. You can only choose to take the best possible trades. While in poker there is that huge uncertainty factor of what the next card or cards will be.
  3. When you have a good hand in poker and want to hold it until the end and try to win, it forces you to keep risking larger and larger amount of your stake in order to see the outcome. With trading you can set your risk in the beginning, then as your trade goes in your favor you can reduce your risk. As the trade goes in your favor you never increase the risk, you can always reduce the risk. With poker you have to keep betting larger and larger amounts.

But isn’t poker “gambling”? :smiley:

If you have $5000 in you poker bankroll you can choose to only sit down at the table with $100 or 2% and it would be no different than setting a stoploss in forex

When you sit down at a poker table, every so while you are required to post a blind to play. With forex there is no such thing.

That would be like saying you need to pay half a pip to your broker every time you look at a chart and try to find a trade to place.

Poker is an odds game, but you will suffer huge, bad beats that are unrelated and divorced from mathematical reality. You get rivered and lose your whole stack.

With trading if you have a really good trade you can trail your stop up and actually reduce your risk, and not risk your whole stack.

Just my thoughts, hope it helps.

Fair point with the blinds and it should be noted that I was never claiming forex and poker to be first cousins or anything.

But where you say it’s an odds game “but” IMHO there is no but, so you lose a few you were sure that you would win it doesn’t matter as long as your wins are bigger than your losses and again your stack in any giving game represents a percentage of your account so if you do get rivered and lose your whole stack it shouldn’t break you.

In poker it’s recommended that when showing a decent profit that you move to another table and play with the profit and should you go bust then you broke even no harm done

And yes I have enjoyed reading the viewpoint of someone else who can appreciate the similarities in these fields I myself am just learning. Good day to you sir.

Poker is ALL about human psychology. It’s all about you being able to intimidate people when bluffing. It’s also a little about luck and a lot about skill. Same as Forex. Lots’ of skill, little luck and good discipline :slight_smile:

The only thing Poker and Trading has in common is that you need appropriate money mangement. Meaning spreading you load wisely. If your average skillset beats midstakes(200nl-1000nl) than it is very foolish to sit @ a 2knl table or higher if there aren´t any fish on that table(meaning you are actually the fish at this table). Even if your bankrollmangament is good and you can afford it. Thats money management in poker in general. Sitting in games that are +EV for you. Finding out if this game is +EV or not is a whole different story I´d say it takes a lot of hands and experience to know if this game is profitable and within your money/risk management.

In trading there is a similar aspect regarding money management and risk management. You have to know in what situation you will enter according to you rules if the rules doesn´t apply you will not enter the market.

But I would guess that if you understand risk management in poker you have an advantage over other starting traders. But it doesn´t mean you beat the game.

I think if you want compare other aspects there is a lot more psychology in poker than in trading. I don´t want to offend anyone but if you play like 4 heads up tables at once you know what I mean.

Conversly you don´t really know your opponent in trading. You don´t know who took the short if you are taking the long. The main difference is that in Poker you can quit and there is another day. In trading if you have your trading plan, you have to stick to it even if you have 10 losers in a row otherwise you will lose the game.

I´m sure I could come up with other aspects regarding MM in poker and trading but I´d say it that way: My trading isn´t anywhere near to my poker game.

This is maybe the worst assumption about poker ever!

He got it somewhat right -skill and good discipline. He must watch too many of the edited poker tournaments where they emphasize the bluffing action for the tv audience.

It was the assumption that Poker is ALL about bluffing and trapping your opponents. That’s just BS :slight_smile:

I´m pretty sure this assumption is from the TV shows. It is better for entertaining purpose but it has nothing to do with the game itself. The game nowadays is in some way very technical, just like chess. There are strategies that some of your opponents are using and you have to counter those strategies. Thats all. If that counter strategies involve more bluffing so be it.

But how often will a trader extend their stoploss when price is moving towards it? For the undisciplined trader, quite alot.

At the poker table, there are certain “distractions” which you don’t have to contend with in forex trading:

Those chip stacks are quite impressive.

You’re right, Jay. They sure are stacked.

The chips, I mean.

I’m talking about the chips.

(Sorry, was I getting distracted?)

Go to poker listings website and look under blogs to see Eugene Katchalovs story of transitioning from day trading to poker

cant post link not enough posts

The thought processes for the two are very similar. I look to get my money in with a high probability that my hand is ahead of my opponents range of hands and sure there is a percentage of the time where I am weaker but as in trading not every signal I receive is going to be correct 100% of the time. If you played the hand correctly or planned the trade correctly the outcome will go your way more often than not which makes you profitable.

Isildur = Viktro BLom? is that really you in these forex forums? :slight_smile:

also trading and blackjack! you have to work the probabilities!

Poker is more game than a job. Forex is more job than a game. This is the difference. In trading, you have your own plan you should follow, plan based on your knowledge and indicators. You deal with emotionless currency market. When you play poker - you deal with other people.

I use to be a good poker player, I haven’t got back into the game for some time now but I love the game, maybe the journey how I have gotten into the forex market?.
I would say that it is about 70 % luck and 30% skill, there are only so many times you and bluff no matter how good your poker face is, if you have a bad run of cards you will eventually get caught out.
The way I use to play was to keep changing my game around so that I wasn’t a predictable play.

I see this in the forex market to you should away be on your toes and ready to change your game at any time, because you can only play the cards that you have been dealt.

The forex market is not gambling if you know what you are doing, just as said earlier you should have good money management, as you wouldn’t go all in on rubbish hand because you WILL get caught out and this become gambling,. Some times it pays off but in the end you will be broke.