Wallstreet Gamblers
Wallstreet Gamblers If a declining world economy is any indication that Wall Street loves to gamble, then you’re really not going to be too surprise about what they’ve been doing in terms of hiring new recruits to man the trading floor. In a recent LA Times article one firm in particular was featured as using Texas Hold ‘Em poker as a means of training new employees. Toro Trading was interviewing a young man who had never taken a class in finance, never had a job in the financial sector, but made his living for the past 6 years playing online poker in his apartment in New York. It was his skill on the felt that sealed the deal and got him the job. The reasons were simple for those of us who understand the game. Old Wallstreet is dying quickly. The new evolution of the stock market is looking for people who have a way with numbers, are quick thinking, and who aren’t afraid to take the gamble just a split second ahead of the competition. All of these skills are ones found in a seasoned poker online player. The firms are looking for people who are “good decision makers under uncertainty,” quoted the article. And, since we know poker to be a game of making those decisions based on the unknowns and reading them appropriately, it makes perfect sense that the skills so readily translate from the felt to the trading floor.