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Learn Stock Trading From Playing Poker

Picking good stocks is only the first step to become a consistently profitable trader. Those of you that track the performances of stock picks I post on http://www.cisiova.com/analysis.asp know that it is impossible to determine if a stock is good without a good exiting strategy. And for most traders, exit strategy is the hardest part. Many people say that to trade profitably you need to develop the right mentality.

Unfortunately, such winning mentality can only be developed through experience. However, there is a short cut to get through the learning curve without throwing thousands of dollars in the process. This short cut is playing POKER.

Yes you heard me right. Apparently, playing poker has a lot of similarities with investing in stocks. First of all, they both deal with money, uncertainties, and a keen judgment of potential risk and reward. In this article I will explain the similarities and differences between stock trading and poker. But before proceeding, make sure you know the rules of Texas Holdem and fluent with the terminologies.

Think of stock picking as looking for good hands to play. In Texas Holdem, you can look at the two hole cards and decide whether you can play the hand or not. Similarly, you can analyze the stock before entering a position. Fortunately for you traders, no one will raise pre-flop, so you just pay the commission. Remember to exit the position you also need to pay the commission, which implies that the cost of entering a position is two times the commission. Good poker players only play good hands, so you should do thorough researches before entering a position. One good thing about trading is that you do not have to wait for good stocks like poker players wait for good hands, you can find good stocks on stock picking websites or using screeners to find them yourself.

Once you call the blinds in poker, you get to see the flops and two more cards. Think of these cards as the performance of your stock after you enter the position. In poker, the flop can make a good hand, a medium hand, or a bad hand (by helping your opponents). In trading, you can observe the potential of the stock as well, and you should objectively judge the downside and upside potential of the stock. In poker, there are times that you have a good hand, and your opponent have a better hand, and you know you are beat. These are the times where your mentality matters the most. An experienced poker player will fold his hand regardless of the amount of money he has put into the pot.

As a trader, at times that you think the upside potential fails to actualize, you should sell the stock regardless of how much you have lost. On the other hand, when a good poker player knows he has the winning hand, despite the possibility of losing at the river, he would bet aggressively, without fearing the small losing possibility. In trading, this translates to if the stock goes up and manifests higher upside potential, you should not fear that you will lose your recent winnings. Therefore the winning mentality is to ride when the stock is going up, and sell when the stock is losing its heat. This discipline is easily said than done. So many times I have heard people lost all their money because they hold on to losing positions (due to hope) and sell winning positions too early (due to fear).

By playing poker, you would get the chance to master your emotions, learning not to hope when you are beat, and not to fear when you are favorable to win. You want to lose small and win big, not the opposite.

Now go practice. This mentality only develops with experience.

Learn Stock Trading From Playing Poker / Submitted By: Zheng Fang

About Zheng Fang
Zheng Fang is the creator of Advance Stock Pattern Scanner of http://www.cisiova.com and you can find more of his articles at: http://www.cisiova.com/blogs/optimalportfolio/

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3 Great Christmas Party Ideas

It’s a time of good cheer for one and all, but if you have a large family Christmas can be quite expensive. You can try to get everyone a small gift for Christmas, but with prices these days you may still end up with a large bill. Try introducing the Secret Santa game to your family and at the party everyone can give one bigger gift to the person they picked. Or you can make up the Santa Grab bag. Where everyone buys one gift and puts it into a common bag for people to remove gifts at random.

Though this can lead to an excessive number of gift cards in the grab bag. You may wish to reserve the grab bag game as a way of giving little gifts such as are found in the Christmas stocking.

Set up a crafts table for the children to stay entertained while adults sit around talking after Christmas dinner. Some simple craft ideas are making a construction paper Santa or kids can make up pine cone bird feeders as a special Christmas gift for the wildlife. You’d need pine cones, peanut butter and birdseed, coat the pine cone in peanut butter and roll it in the birdseed until it’s entirely coated. These can be set up in trees or before coating them in peanut butter you can tie a string around the ends of them to hang on a branch or hook.

Sometimes the effort of the traditional Christmas dinner can be too much. To stay out of the kitchen and in with the party ask people to each bring something for dinner. You can call it “Potluck Christmas” and guests can bring things like That way you only need to worry about the main entrée and guests can make sure they bring something they like. So get planning and giveFeature Articles, eat and be merry this Christmas.

3 Great Christmas Party Ideas  / Gail Leino

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gail Leino is known throughout the web world as Mrs. Party. She has become the internet’s leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies with clever themes. Her simple party planning approach demostrates how to use proper manners while teaching etiquette with organizational skills. She shares lots of interesting fun facts. Christmas Party games, menus, recipes, coloring pages, activities, etc. to help complete your event.

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10th Anniversary Celebration

A 10th wedding anniversary is a milestone to be celebrated. Theme parties of any topic can be used such as a costume party, a casino night or a pig roast. Traditionally 10 years is marked by paper, but there are more fun things to use to celebrate.

For invitations, make copies of the bridal pictures and include it when mailing. See who has changed the most in the wedding party or who has moved the farthest away. Some people don’t change much in ten years, but others you can’t even recognize. Invitations can be wedding bell shaped, in hearts or any picture to match your chosen theme.

A party supply store will have balloons, streamers, confetti and wall hangings to match any and every theme. If you are having dinner or serving snacks, plates, cups, napkins and tablecloths can also be found to coordinate. Blow up a giant picture of the bride and groom, either from when they were dating or when they were children and hang on the walls. Have the guests use it as a guestbook to sign their best wishes or to relive their favorite wedding memory.

Game playing may be limited if you are having a formal dinner. If it is a fun theme party event, play memory games like who can remember the exact vows and recite them. Have a competition as to who can write the most memories down in five minutes – such as what color the dresses were, who was the DJ, who caught the bouquet and so on.

For entertainment, have the same DJ provide dinner and or dancing music. Get the wedding movie onto a DVD and show it from a laptop screen.

Set up a picture taking area and get each guest with the anniversary couple. Send it with a card after the party to thank them for their gift or to express your gratefulness that they shared in your day. Takes lots of pictures and make a scrapbook. Save it all to use for the 25th anniversary party!

10th Anniversary Celebration / Gail Leino

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gail Leino is known throughout the web world as Mrs. Party. She has become the internet’s leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies with clever themes. Her simple party planning approach demostrates how to use proper manners while teaching etiquette with organizational skills. She shares lots of interesting fun facts. 10th Anniversary Party Ideas with a huge selection of Anniversary gifts.

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