On Wall Street, many of the biggest traders and fund managers love playing poker. And they're good at it, too.
Pro poker player Phil Hellmuth, who has won thirteen bracelets at the World Series of Poker, explained that there are a lot similarities between the card game and trading the markets.
When it comes to the market, you have traders managing money in a forum with a lot of other people around them. Just like in poker, the traders are betting against other traders and betting on or against certain stocks.
"It's very similar. You're sitting down and you're playing against other players and you're betting on your cards versus their cards. I also think traders, sometimes they're notorious. When they're on tilt, they over-bet a little. Same thing in poker."
Last night, hundreds of Wall Street traders, bankers and analysts gathered in the Prince George Ballroom in Manhattan's Flatiron District to play their favorite game for charity.
The Aces & Angels "Salute the Troops Wall Street Poker Showdown" raised funds for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Wall Street Warfighters Foundation and the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. Hellmuth was the host for the evening.
Firms in attendance included Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Drexel Hamilton, Greenlight Capital, Pine River Capital, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, SAC Capital Advisors, Sanford C Bernstein & Co., Magnitude Capital and others. We also met many financial services professionals who served in the military.
The winner got a seat in the World Series of Poker tournament this summer in Las Vegas.
If you missed the event, we've included highlights and photos of those who were in attendance.
Goldman Sachs vice president Jon Puckhaber (left) and Goldman Sachs managing director John Knorring. (Also, we love the beard. It looks like Lloyd Blankfein really started a facial hair movement.)
Goldman Sachs managing director Dinkar Bhatia (left) and Goldman Sachs managing director/ former Marine Major Owen West
(Left to Right) Former Marine Staff Sergeant John P. Jones; Goldman Sachs associate/ Army National Guard Staff Sergeant Eric Ceglowski; and Goldman's Owen West. Sergeant Ceglowski is headed to Afghanistan next month.
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