Pro Poker no Longer

[Cleneagearm]

Hey Everyone,

I'm a 28 year old that is back in college pursuing a computer science degree. I was actually a professional poker player for almost a decade, and was even hired by a major online poker site to "host" games or keep games going. The money was great, I even have some major tournament wins under my belt. I also got to travel the world. But I felt like I wanted more, the increased competition, and online poker being shut down for US players all got me on the road I am on today. At least the stress of being a poker player has prepared me for trading.

I find myself with tons of time these days, and I find myself reading about the stock market more and more. I am almost clueless when it comes to trading, and this forum looks like it could be great for someone with an open mind like me. I don't even know which type of trading interests me most yet. Of course I need something for the long term, but am also drawn in by the appeal of day trading futures and commodities. What books should I read? What sites should I frequent? Where do I go to get information on stocks to help me make a profitable trade? Are there coaches out there for traders as green as me? The questions could go on and on.

I plan on helping everybody I can to the best of my ability (which will be limited with my knowledge as of now hahaha), and I hope to recieve the same in return. I believe the moment a person stops learning, or believes he/she doesnt have to, is the moment a person stops growing. This forum could be the beginning of something awesome, hope to meet some great people.

Casey

[CurtisMug]

CaseyNewYork View Post
Hey Everyone,

I'm a 28 year old that is back in college pursuing a computer science degree. I was actually a professional poker player for almost a decade, and was even hired by a major online poker site to "host" games or keep games going. The money was great, I even have some major tournament wins under my belt. I also got to travel the world. But I felt like I wanted more, the increased competition, and online poker being shut down for US players all got me on the road I am on today. At least the stress of being a poker player has prepared me for trading.

I find myself with tons of time these days, and I find myself reading about the stock market more and more. I am almost clueless when it comes to trading, and this forum looks like it could be great for someone with an open mind like me. I don't even know which type of trading interests me most yet. Of course I need something for the long term, but am also drawn in by the appeal of day trading futures and commodities. What books should I read? What sites should I frequent? Where do I go to get information on stocks to help me make a profitable trade? Are there coaches out there for traders as green as me? The questions could go on and on.

I plan on helping everybody I can to the best of my ability (which will be limited with my knowledge as of now hahaha), and I hope to recieve the same in return. I believe the moment a person stops learning, or believes he/she doesnt have to, is the moment a person stops growing. This forum could be the beginning of something awesome, hope to meet some great people.

Casey


Congrats on pursuing your computer science degree - be sure to finish that. If you're having success playing poker - keep playing. Money spends all the same whether it comes from a plain vanilla W2 job, from cashed in chips at the poker table, or from a weekly trading account sweep.

Right now, trading means so many different things. One route is to learn how to sell volatility based premium on actively traded derivatives. This is a primarily non-directional approach to trading and while accessible, there is a learning curve. Another route is to trade futures with a directional bias. Be careful with this route because there are about a million vendors out there willing to teach you an "easy" way to do it. It's not easy, so save your money - and use that as a litmus test for anything you consider investing your time into. If someone says it's easy, or offers a short-cut, put your hand on your wallet and squeeze.

As foreboding as it must be, this forum is a treasure of valuable information. It will take some time to separate the wheat from the chafe. But on this forum, it will be time well spent. Good luck.

[couckWalopela]

Welcome to futures.io (formerly BMT). You've come to the right place. The journals here offer examples of other trading endeavors. And this is the best moderated site out there with vendor spam strictly enforced. Plenty of reviews here too. Surprised to hear banning of online poker in the U.S.? There are a lot of trading books but no set definitive "scientific" works on practical trading methods since market behavior is mostly mass psychology and an auction bidding process which can only be approximated in behavior but never precisely predicted by analysis. But there are methods and elements to learn that can provide incremental edges better to have learned than not. One of the more popular methods is price action and the 3 set by Dr. Al Brooks is a substantial favorite here on futures.io (formerly BMT).

Link to a list of links to introductary trading videos: Many are excellent futures.io (formerly BMT) webinars freely available to watch via youtube.
https://futures.io/beginners-introductions/23361-introductory-trading-videos.html

Computer Science may be a useful major to help with your trading endeavors. Classes I would recommend to take in the major could be Simulation, AI, Software Engineering. You could do projects on algorithmic and/or HFT trading. I recall one guy did a project of neural networks on the weather. Whether it really worked was besides the point. Anyways highly advised to trade sim only until you find or create the methods you feel comfortable to trade with. For example some say to only trade live when one reaches a consistent "profit factor" of >= 2.0(or 1.5) on the Ninjatrader stats. Good luck.

[Danieldig]

Thanks
Thanks, every bit of info helps, and /i've already started watching some of those videos you've responded to me. Yeah online poker was shut down for US players over a year ago. There are still some very small sites still running with very long waits for cashouts (who knows how they are eluding the law). Things may change in the future.

[Darrelteni]

Welcome to the trading World. Although I just watched these videos, about a sponsored trading challenge in the UK, I wish I would have watched them at the very beginning of my journey to give me a hint as to what I would be dealing with. They are fun to watch and very instructive to those embarking on this journey. It's almost like watching a poker tournament but less boring. Good luck to you (although you have already had great luck finding futures.io (formerly BMT) prior to starting):

Million Dollar Traders (Full Series 1 of 3) - YouTube

Million Dollar Traders (Full Series 2 of 3) - YouTube

Million Dollar Traders (Full Series 3 of 3) - YouTube