Real World  |  MAR 2006

Trading And Poker Parallels by Don Bright with Darren Clifford

Stocks & Commodities V. 24:3 (44-45): Trading And Poker Parallels by Don Bright with Darren Clifford Risk? Yes. Reward? Of course. But the similarities go deeper. A couple of months ago, I was asked about the similarities between stock trading and what seems to be the new national pastime, poker. Las Vegas is home to some of the world’s best poker players, and Bright Trading is headquartered in Las Vegas. It just so happens that some of the world’s best poker players are also Bright traders. My brother, Bob, made his first fortune playing blackjack back in the 1970s. He took that money and bought a seat on an exchange to start trading options in 1978. Over the last couple of decades, we have always played poker at our family Christmas gatherings (everyone should have a family tradition, right?). Now, for several years we have had a trader named Chris “Jesus” Ferguson in our organization, and I always thought it was neat to have a younger guy with an interesting appearance as part of our team. To prove that you can’t judge a book by its cover, Ferguson has a doctorate in computer sciences. Ray Bitar, our Los Angeles office manager for many years, teamed up with Ferguson and several top poker players to form a new business venture, Full Tilt Poker. Bitar is now the CEO of Tiltware LLC, in what has become one of the most popular online poker sites among serious players.

by Don Bright with Darren Clifford