Online Poker

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week or so, you would have read about the thrilling battles going on over at Full Tilt Poker on an almost daily basis. Isildur1 and Patrik Antonius have been clashing heads ever since they created the biggest pot in online poker history - and then beat it.

These high stake cash games have obviously got some people thinking about just how good poker professionals are at reading other people's playing style - even through the Internet.

The New Jersey Business News has written a great article on how a university lecturer believes that the best people to take up trading jobs on Wall Street are the professionals over at online poker sites such as Full Tilt Poker.

Brandon Adams, a teacher of Behavioral Finance at Harvard's Department of Economics, believes that players like Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey would be right at home in the trading hub of the United States.

"They've essentially been the survivors in the system," said Adams, a frequenter of online poker sites. "Anyone smart enough and disciplined enough to survive that system is probably going to do very well in the trading world."

That sentiment seems to be shared amongst several business professionals. Aaron Brown, a risk manager who is also a former poker pro, had this to say on the matter:

"Someone who has made a successful living as a poker player for a few years would more likely be a good trader than someone who hasn't. They know to push when they have the edge and they know how not to bust, and that's a tough combination to find."

Perhaps the most famous Wall Street executive, who is now a professional poker player, is Steven Begleiter, a competitor at this year's World Series of Poker Main Event final table. Begleiter earned $1.6 million this month with his sixth-place finish.

What are your thoughts on the way that poker can transfer to everyday life? Have your say by leaving a comment below.

- TheDoctor