What crypto investors can learn from poker players
The last few years have seen an ever changing landscape of both poker and cryptocurrency. In 2011 the poker world was shocked to its core with the events of ‘Black Friday’ when the US government shutdown Fulltilt poker and stopped US citizens from playing poker online - leading to many top prod having to move countries to continue working (there is a load of information in this if you Google ‘Black Friday poker’.
This led some players to invest in other areas and some have become early investors and adopters of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Popular poker players such as Brian Rast, Scott Seiver, Fedor Holz and Doug Polk have all expressed interest in cryptocurrency. Doug Polk has long had a Youtube poker channel where he analyses poker hands and has recently started a cryptocurrency Youtube channel - within just over a month he now has more subscribers than his poker chanel. This is extreme growth when you note his poker channel has been running for about 4 years! So what is it that attracts poker players to crypto and what can crypto investors learn from this?
Risk
Poker players are used to risking large sums of money with unexpected returns. The largest poker tournament in the world (in terms of buy in) is the $1,000,000 big one for one drop. Let that sink in - one million dollars for a poker tournament! Obviously at this High level it is mainly tournament pros and veterans (and the odd billionaire recreational player just playing for fun). So although most of these players are exceptional and can all win they understand the risks involved. Some players of set their risk by selling ‘action’ where investors can stake part of their buy in.
Similarly with investing in crypto there are huge risks and nothing is certain. Poker players are more adept to understanding this and taking calculated risks. This could mean taking a ‘gamble’ on a certain coin that they know could make massive gains or just as easily fall to nothing.
Volatility
It is no secret that the crypto market is highly volatile - sometimes going up 10 - 20 % or more in a single day. I think this is where a lot of new investors go wrong - they know that market is volatile but they dont hold on through the storm. If you believe in the tech and team behind a certain coin then you should be able to ride the storm (if you look at Bitcoin it has dropped (crashed) a few times but it always seems to come back stronger - this suggests that the tech is strong and something that most people trust and believe has long term value.
Poker players have a great understanding of volatility - some poker pros will play for a year to 18 months without winning (go on a downswing) and then run hot and seem to win everything. This is because they understand volatility and know that over the long run they have an edge over the field. One of the best examples of this is the story of poker pro Jason Mercier - he has over $18 million in life earnings according to his HendonMob profile but has spoken publicly twice about downswing (once losing 2 million in a single year!). However he believed in his strategy and stuck to it and alas in 2016 he had one of the best years of his career winning 2 WSOP bracelets (and second in another event) and winning WSOP player of the year.
I think by having a better understanding of the volatility in the market and embracing and accepting it (like poker players do) crypto investors will be more likely to be invested for a long period.
Bankroll management
Because poker players understand risk and volatility they protect themselves with their ‘bankroll management’. This means they only have a small portion of their money invested in any one game - if they experience a bad beat they won't lose all their money.
Crypto investors should think in a similar manner. This means spreading there risk over multiple coins (rather than saying have there whole portfolio invested in Bitcoin) - if Bitcoin crashed you would lose all your money. Similarly having multiple investments elsewhere such as the stock market, house market and money in cash. That way even if the whole crypto market did crash they wouldn't be devastated.
Thanks for reading i hope you enjoyed!
Sources - http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/
In the long view you rarely regret what you’ve done, but almost always what you‘ve not done...
that‘s true!
True. Hindsight is the best right
So true! you need to know when to capitalize at the best possible time and when to move onto new ventures. Sort of similar to the risk and reward system that poker players use to gain an edge on the competition.
eah this is so true with poker I think the best people in their prime keep playing to long while others overtake them and get better
“It's not about the cards you're dealt, but how you play the hand.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
sings - you got a know when to hold em. know when to fold em know when to walk away know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.
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Verry nice
Thanks
Poker also teaches you that it is not the short that matters. You have to look at the bigger picture. Your one year graph is the one that matters not the one from the day when all your opponents hit their 2 outers on the river.
Lol if your on Pokerstars 2 outters happen more often than not! But yes I tend to agree you need to look long term (unless your a day trader but that doesnt sound too nice!)
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