Wall Street and Its Poker Face

Let me just quickly say that today was one heck of a day for the markets... even the energy sector participated in today's rally. Tommorow will be an important day, as the portfolio's fifth largest position, Constellation Brands (STZ) announces its earnings. We should hopefully start hearing about the synergistic benefits resulting from the Vincor acquisition. Anyway, I will be up bright and early for the news.

On a different note, I recently finished The Poker Face of Wall Street by Aaron Brown. While the book does talk about poker and some concepts of the game, it is not a book about poker. Instead, this book is about risk (in gambling and other financial forms), and why, with proper management, it should be embraced. The book also covered a lot of history behind gambling and its importance in the development of today's financial industry. It's definitely an interesting read, and although I grasped only a portion of what Aaron tried to convey, I learned quite a bit. If you're looking for a book on poker, skip this one. But, if you want to convince someone why gambling is good for you, this is your book.

I know Norwegian Alex reads this blog only for the poker highlights, and since the title of this post does contain the word poker, I might as well write a bit about my latest session. So, anyway, last night I played my usual low-limit ($6/12) poker at Bay101. Right off the bat I was hurt in a nasty flush over flush hand. I had 97d in the big blind, and I turned a flush, only to be check-raised on the river by the small blind who was holding the Q-high flush.

So after a few more hands, I pick up QQ. This is just weird, because in my previous session I got a ton of pocket queens. Unfortunately for me, we see the flop 7 handed, and I check-fold the A-high flop. A few more orbits of nothing, and things started to turn around. I picked up a few good hands, and made the most of my cards. I played really solidly throughout the night, but there were a few spots where I felt I played like a sucker.

Here's a hand where I felt I played poorly... I have AJh and I open-raise it in early position. There are two cold-callers, and the blinds fold. Flop comes Qh Jx Tx. I bet, the next guy folds, and the other guy raises. I call, and the turn brings another T (not a heart). I am pretty sure this guy's got a good hand, and I'm quite sure if I bet here I'm going to get popped. So, the sane person probably check-folds here. I ended up check-calling, and since I'm a luckbox, I spiked the J. I lead on the river and get called by AK who had flopped the nuts. So ya, I'm a runner-runner rat.

As you can tell, luck trumped skill this session. Anyway, I finished up a whopping 50 bets in less than 5 hours. I think some of that luck came from Rowr via an SMS text message. Rumor has it that her luck has been responsible in part for over $1MM in poker winnings. Maybe she can bottle her luck and auction it off on eBay.