Today's finance wizards tomorrows poker players

Did you know that Martin Jacobson won $10 Million (INR 60 Crores) in the World's largest poker tournament with over 6000 participants from over 40 countries the World Series of Poker (WSOP) this November? He beat the top prize of $6 Million Nico Rosberg got when he won the Formula One Drivers Championship by miles. Compare that to the $3 Million Novak Djokovic won at the 2014 Wimbledon and all other sport games begin to look like peanuts.
But money is not the only thing common between the big and busy worlds of Finance and Poker. If we dissect the anatomy of a poker player and a financial wizard, we find many parallels.

From the time American Hedge Funder David Einhorn finished 18th in the 2006 WSOP, the wall street has been atuned with the poker world. Wall Street Traders and Financial Wizards keep a close eye on everything that happens on the poker tables and the grapevine suggests that there have many recruitments from there too. Over 100 million people play this game in around 120 different formats making it the most played indoor game and the 3rd most watched sport on TV after F1 and Football.

But where is it that the worlds of finance and poker collide? We give you a primer on how the skills of a financial wiz and poker player are similar and where the two worlds bridge the gap.

1. Mathematical Mind- To succeed at poker, players have to be good at probabilities and calculations.. They have to beat the maths to always stay ahead in their decisions. Financial markets throw similar challenges to businessmen each day. They have to calculate and strategise to minimise their losses and maximise their gains at each juncture. While the former does rigirous anaysis of their hand, the latter reviews the market before making the decision to invest.

2. Rational thinkers- With a flair to identifying investment trends and behavorial patterns, business men are rational thinkers who don't let emotions enter their world. Similarly, poker players make high pressure decisions on when to fold or when to raise with millions at stake without letting emotions enter their game.

3. Not Chasing Losses- With a penchant for discipline and objectivity, both professionals know when to exit their market when faced with the occasional loss. With evaluated risk to reward strategies, none will ever chase a loss or get married to their past. Always on the look out for the best opportunity, they judge their success with smart decisions and not merely results.

4. Money Management- A well schooled poker player knows the secret to long term profitability - Bankroll Management, often called Money Management in the Financial World. Just like a poker player would never risk more than 30% of his bankroll on a single buy-in, a businessman would never hedge more than 2% on a single deal.

There are multiple examples of financial wizards who have gone on to use their skill on the poker tables, with David Einhorn leading the pack. Bill Chen has earned around $2 Million from his poker career and amassed a similar amount from being an Statistical Arbitrager. Andy Frankenberger has earned more since 2010 when he took up poker than he did from his days in BNP Paribas and JP Morgan. But none of them landed on earth with these skills. It is with patience and practice that they mastered these money and maths skills to use them as a crossover in finance and poker.



Legality of Poker Tournaments

In a statement on legality of playing poker in India, the honorable Chief Justice of India, Y K Sabbarwal indicated that online poker tournaments in India can be legitly played by ring-fenceing and implying that Indians can play with fellow countrymen within the geographical boundries but not with others overseas. Hence flagged the total activity of playing on foreign poker sites and involvement of foreign nationals in those tournaments to be in violation of Section 7 and 8 of The Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, Rule 3 and 4 of the Foreign Exchange Management Rules, 2000, Section 13 of FEMA 1999.

Poker in India

Did you know that there are multiple opportunities for Indians to play poker within their own country? From the offshore goa casinos to the world wide web, Indians can now challenge their fellow men for a game of poker anytime. While there are casinos in ships anchored in the River Mandavi in Goa, some of the best online poker sites include adda52.com, the pioneer of the online poker revolution in India. With secure payment gateways and a plethora of game choices, online poker sites in India offer many promotions and giveaways and feature the best Indian talent.