Online gaming and poker skills - must haves for wannabe traders?

"Beat the Dealer" is Edward Thorpe's well known book on gambling (I'm uncertain if this is TheBramble's The Mathematics of Gambling" under another title?). I have not read it but I think it is still available in reprint.
 
Don't know the exact ins an outs of the story as a friend read this in a newspaper recently. A young woman makes £125,000 a year gambling for a few hours daily on the internet, playing poker etc.

Very similar concept to trading financial markets I guess......
 
jtrader said:
A young woman makes £125,000 a year gambling for a few hours daily on the internet, playing poker etc.
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Yes indeed. She plays poker at Ladbroke's. A young maths graduate, lives in Belfast. I think actually she made £2,000+ for a few weeks and the media rather "extrapolated" the story. But I know someone just outside London (also a young woman) who has been making a steady £1,000 per week for more than a year the same way.
 
Yes, online only. Hold'em. The overwhleming majority of online games are hold'em, these days.
 
I'd like to put in applause for 'Zen and The Art of Poker' by Larry Phillips. I was most interested in the part where he talks about using inaction as a weapon.
JO
 
Just out of curiosity Roberto, do you know if either woman pays taxes on their winnings.

Assuming that this is their main/only income, I believe that the usual ruling on gambling and taxes is different.

A bit like the argument on spreadbetting for a living.
 
The Beyonder said:
Just out of curiosity Roberto, do you know if either woman pays taxes on their winnings
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I don't know; no. It is indeed the same argument revisited. Clearly and definitely taxable if it's their sole income. And loads of case-law to back it up. Open and shut, I'm afraid. My own poker skills are not likely to make this a problem, you understand :(
 
Hi Roberto

I'm surprised you're so definite that it is taxable.

Arguments on different threads on this site would suggest otherwise. Some positive it is, others equally passionate it isn't (not going to start that whole debate again though).

Except to say that when I started trading I spreadbetted. I contacted the IR to ascertain the tax situation, and they themselves didn't know, in fact the guy I spoke to didn't even know what spreadbetting was!!

However, I moved onto direct access before I got a definitive answer, so never got to the bottom of it.

My own poker skills are not likely to make this a problem, you understand
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lol, wasn't planning to do it myself either. But I remember speaking to my doctor once about what i did, and he said one of his patients gambles for a living. Goes out to Vegas for about 3 mths per year, can't remember what he plays, but makes enough to live off the other 9 mths.

Thx for reply.
 
The Beyonder said:
I'm surprised you're so definite that it is taxable. Arguments on different threads on this site would suggest otherwise.
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I know, I know ...

In the last couple of years I've discussed it in great detail with two specialist accountants and two members of the tax inspectorate. Spread-betting is indeed a very grey area. I can't believe that anyone pays income tax on it yet. Regarding all other forms of gambling, if they are your sole income, you have to pay income tax on them: it's as simple as that. The theory that because there's a gaming levy at source, they are necessarily tax-free is just plain wrong! There's a mountain of case-law on the subject and any _specialist_ accountant or lawyer won't have 5 seconds' hesitation confirming it (and any non-specialist one will probably be just as surprised as most of the people who post their own views and theories here!). :)
 
Thorpe runs a 300 million dollar hedge fund out of Orange county CA . He used to manage billions then scaled back . He returns around 10-15% a year every year and has 100 million $ waiting list for assett allocation . His system was arbitrage orginally going long on the warrant i think and shorting the stock something like that back in the 80's . Now he pairs trade almost looking for stock that have certain features. He wrote a book on arb's system which is on amazon if you look hard enough .. Clever guy .
 
Actually, Edward Thorp freely distributes all of his books (Beat the Dealer, Beat the Market, The Mathematics of Gambling, et.al.), and many other interesting publications on his website, URL: http://edwardothorp.com/

Click on the Publications and Wilmott Articles links. Lots of great information there, now I just need to figure out how to adapt it to options trading (educated opinions on that would be appreciated). Cheers - Rand :)
 
neilcharlton said:
Thorpe runs a 300 million dollar hedge fund out of Orange county CA . He used to manage billions then scaled back . He returns around 10-15% a year every year and has 100 million $ waiting list for assett allocation . His system was arbitrage orginally going long on the warrant i think and shorting the stock something like that back in the 80's . Now he pairs trade almost looking for stock that have certain features. He wrote a book on arb's system which is on amazon if you look hard enough .. Clever guy .
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Is that the guy who set up the MIT blackjack team with Andy Bloch etc.

Making 10% per year, after fees I assume, gets you all that money thrown at you?
 
Definately a relationship between skills needed for poker and trading...being calm, choosing right time to act etc...
 
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