There hasn’t really been an update from Danny or myself for a while. Obviously, that has a lot to do with the fact that Full Tilt and Poker Stars doesn’t allow US players anymore. And because most of our poker is played online, there isn’t really much to update about. Luckily with EPT Madrid and the WSOP coming up, you’ll get some poker related updates soon enough.

A lot of players, in light of recent developments, are already trying to figure out where to move and how. However, I’m taking a different approach. 5 days before “Black Friday” my friend, who does futures trading, was talking about how he’d like to teach me how to trade, but thought I wouldn’t be interested because poker was going well. I literally said this exact phrase to him, “Well, online poker isn’t going to last forever.” Foreshadowing anyone? (That being said, I do think there will be either regulated state or federal poker by the end of the year). I already was putting some time into trading before all this crap happened, so once I realized I had to move to play on Stars and Tilt again, I decided to put all my time into learning how to trade instead of flying to Thailand. I started trading for real money a few days ago, trading 1-2 contracts on the Russel 2000. If I had to make a poker equivalent to it, it’s like grinding 100nl. So far I’m down about $250.

It’s exciting and interesting learning something new like this. While poker and trading aren’t the same thing, I see many parallels. First and foremost, both trading and poker are games where you play against other people. Secondly, both are games with fundamental principles that you can use to figure out how to make the right move. And lastly, in both you are trying to make as many profitable bets as possible so you may win the most in the long run. All these things are expressed wildly different ways but, in essence, are the same. That being said, I could be wrong about this given I’m still a relative newbie.

I’m going to use this blog journal about trading and, when I can, write about the tournaments I’m in. Next stop is EPT Madrid, which starts in less than a week. Hopefully EPT Madrid can be the start of a great summer tourney run.