Poker and Investments
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - Billy Kopp
Recently, I have been talking and meeting with different financial advisors to decide who to basically trust my life with. This is a very important yet exciting step in someone’s life. Fortunately for me, the time came sooner than I had ever planned. At just 23, I have been fortunate in many aspects of life. I received a great upbringing with instilled values and beliefs. The years of private schooling and years of college education that I was privileged to receive are now helping me to make the life decisions that I am being confronted with today.
The reason I am sharing this with you is because I firmly believe to make poker a profession, you are ultimately trying to better yourself and your lifestyle. This is made a reality through educated decisions and carefully planned investments. I am now seeing how poker and investing are so closely related.
In Poker, one WILL encounter times of downward variance in the short term. It is inevitable and unavoidable that this WILL occur at least once if not many times. This is the time in which you rely on your trusty bankroll management skills to help you through the tough times. This is exactly the same in investing. You trust the “professional advisors” to make educated decisions to get you the best return on your money (ROI). There are times of upward and downward swings in this field as well. By having capital to invest, being diversified, accessing and adapting to situations (as in poker), readjusting your position in companies, etc., you will see great profits in the long run as well.
When I began playing poker very seriously online I got a “backer”. This person invests in the player and is also a mentor to the player. They help the player to advance their game, analytical skills, and strategies as well as passing along other valuable tools and information. In return, you give them half of the profits for their services. Any skilled poker player can communicate to others the amount of short term luck that is present in the game. However, by making the proper strategic decisions all the time, in the long run you will eliminate most of the luck factor, resulting in great profits due to countless hours of experience and profitable play. Once this is complete and you are able to sustain a bankroll to play on your own and no longer need a backer, you have completed the first half of achieving the number one reason we play poker seriously or professionally to begin with: To better yourself as a person and your lifestyle.
By having great success and thus profits, you are able to set yourself up for the second half of the goal to experience and sustain an elevated style of life. In the second part of achieving the goal, you have to rely on help yet again. The backer is now gone, and you have to rely on a new mentor, the advisor.
Now the tables have turned: You are now the backer and the advisor is now the player. You put your money into their hands and invest in them to enable you to get the best return on your money. They take a small fee for their services and again, both parties (hopefully) profit from the relationship. Once you have established a well diversified portfolio that renders great returns, you will be well on your way to fulfilling the idea of bettering yourself as a person and your lifestyle. This is achieved through financial security, or satisfied states of mind that allow you to feel safe and secure for the future to come.
As you can see, there is an extremely close relationship between poker and investing. To play this game professionally, you must take part in both and in two strides. You must once be the player and once the investor. I hope these thoughts find you well and I look forward to the long road ahead of making part two a reality.
-Billy Kopp
Tags: advisor, backer, bankroll, bankroll management, Billy Kopp, Investments, Poker Poker Poker
