“The basic concept that applies to both poker and option trading is that the primary object is not winning the most hands, but rather maximizing your gains.” – Jeff Yass

I’m not sure whether I learned this concept about trading and then applied it to poker or if it happened the other way around. Either way, this is something that has always been at the forefront of my mind with respect to both. My goal in poker is never to win the most hands, but to make sure that the pot is as large as possible when I do win.

I really liked that Yass described situations in poker where you have nothing to gain from betting and the check/raise is the best play. This is a concept that I have always had a strong grasp on. There are many situations in both trading and poker where pushing all of your chips in is not the optimal move in terms of long term survival. I need to keep that in mind.

“I learned more about option trading strategy by playing poker than I did in all my college economics courses combined.” – Jeff Yass

I often joke about all the things I didn’t learn in college. This is an interesting take on that. It makes me question whether there is some aspect of my life that I could apply to trading and improve my performance. I think that it can be broken down to the fact that I simply think different than normal people. This is why things like location independent work, the paleo diet, and trend following are so interesting to me. (more…)