[quadT]

I have the utmost respect for Mr. Sklansky. His books have turned around my poker game. I now consistently make money in 20/40 holdem. I am also an derivatives trader at a hedgefund. Prior to this I was a vice president at wall street's most respect institution. That said, I could say with a high degree with confidence, that if Mr. Sklansky started a hedgefund right now, he would require a high degree of luck to outperform other hedgefunds or the mkt. The same amount of luck that Stan Drukenmiller or Paul Tudor Jones (2 of the most famous hedgefund managers) would need to make the final 3 tables at the World Series. After learning the business for 5 years+, would he then be able to outperform? He'd have a chance. Probably in the ball park of Stan and PTJ's probabilities of taking it down in a WS event. But like anything complex in life...you cannot just walk into a hedgefund and think you will knock the cover off the ball...unless you are extremely lucky.

"smarts" and "intelligence" certainly help in investing, but in no way guarantee success in the markets. I doubt Stan Drunkenmiller or Paul Tudor Jones scored higher than David Sklansky on the SATs....but I bet I would destroy Johnnie Chan or TJ Cloutier on any standarized test.

"Anyways, I'd imagine that the most intelligent of poker players would have entered the markets a long time ago if their talents could so easily translate, the rewards are just magnitudes greater than anything that can be consistently achieved at the card table."

No question that you can make more money on wall street than in poker, when you compare the upper, middle and lower tiers. for example, the best poker player in the world, makes how much a year? There were over 10 fund managers that made 500mm+ last year (not in options or stock...just pure cash). I doubt there was a single poker player that made north of 50mm. Your average veteran wall st. sales-trader makes anywhere from 400k-800k. Your average veteran poker player does not make that much. I'm not talking about good or particularly talented, i'm talking about no-named average middle of the road type of guy that is never on espn, nor has any management responsibility on wall st. Your average right out of college glorified secretary 22-yea rold pimpled faced kick takes down around 100k. the buttom rung in poker lose that much!