Reading Your Opponents: Day Trading and Poker

On the poker table, every action has a meaning behind it. Everything your opponent says and does has a deeper meaning to it, whether they are aware of it or not. How they handle their chips, place their bets and drink their water all adds up to create a formula that you must solve. You see, poker is a game of incomplete information, so you must take in all the information provided by your opponents to create a winning and profitable strategy.

The best poker players, the ones who last on the circuit for years, are the ones who are best at analyzing this information and creating reads on their opponents. Players like Daniel Negreanu, the all-time money winner in tournament poker history, have made a living off picking up on the patterns and tells of their opponents. When he sits down at a poker table, Daniel Negreanu is completely focused and prepared. He comes to the table well rested and always makes sure to work out and eat a healthy meal prior to competition. He creates outcome and process goals and remains focused on those, no matter what happens on the felt. He has a strategy laid out for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc of the tournament. He knows what position and chip stack he must be in at each interval in order to win the tournament. He has complete control over the table and his opponents, using his experience and skill to figure out the playing and betting habits of his opponents. He is able to use table talk to determine the strength of an opponent’s hand and is an expert at reading their comments and reactions.

How many times have we seen Negreanu on ESPN talking an opponent through a hand only to finally come to the correct decision? It seems like whenever he is engaging another player, he is the one to come out on top. Why? He has the skills and experience. He has been there and done that. Nobody is going to come to the table and fool Negreanu with their betting habits or playing style. It was last night Day #6 of the 2015 WSOP - had between Daniel and 2 others. Daniel wound up folding to the raises of the twoothers. When thew hand was over the loser said to the winner "oh you must of had the Queen" and Daniel said NO he played it like he had Pocket Pair of Sevens'(77) - and the winner said "No, I don't have the Queen but Daniel knew what I had" and that is what he had pair of sevens. How he knows that is like the "RAINMAIN". You can try to beat him all you want, but you better believe Daniel has already created a strategy to combat that! In the end, this is also how winning day traders profit long term. They sit down at their computer to trade and when they start their session, they enter into a zone of laser like focus. They already know their process goals that are going to lead them to the outcome, they already know their game plan, they have already taken hundreds of pages of notes in their journal. They know what to look for and focus their selective attention on their areas of focus and completely tune out all the background noise and numbers. They are masters of Level 2, just like ProTrader Mike. They can immediately recognize ‘No Intention to Buy Bids’ and know which way the market makers are trying to bring the stock. If a signal scrolls by on the Level 2, you better believe they saw it and have already figured out how they will play the stock when the time is right. Think about how many times ProTrader Mike calls out a signal that he saw in Level 2 that the common trader, who has not taken MOJO U, would completely miss! It is every day!

Do you see the signal right here to sell in the level 2? That's what I am talking about....

Being able to read Level 2 "the tape" put you on a completely different playing field than your opponents. They are not even playing the same game, because they are not seeing the same signals. They can’t read their opponents, because they don’t know how! They are stuck guessing, while ProTrader Mike is leading the MOJO Team to perfectly scale in and out of these stocks! It’s like a rookie first time poker play sitting down to face Negreanu at the Main Event. Sure, you had the $10k to buy in, but will the rookie have the experience to hang with Negreanu?

Think about it. Negreanu is walking up to the table with clear intentions. He has journaled his process and outcome goals. He knows the exact amount of chips he wants to end the day with and what he will have to do to get there. He knows exactly what his opponents are thinking when they are raising in early position and he knows when they are trying to steal in late position. You can’t fool him with slick talk, you will only give him a better idea of your intentions. You can’t combat his experience and mindset, you can only hope to get lucky! Similar to how a rookie day trader will have no chance to emulate the success they would have at MOJO by trading with themselves. They will not get the same results as a MOJO ProTrader who has already journaled their trading goals and laid out clear intentions with process and outcome goals to back them up. They will not have the experience of a mentor like ProTrader Mike on their side and they will not be able to read Level 2 like an expert, because they will not have the education from MOJO U. The rookie trader will be manipulated and eaten alive, falling victim to experienced sharks who know how to maneuver the waters. So, if you want to play with the big dogs on the poker table or in the day trading field, you better come to the game prepared. You can’t walk into the Main Event at the World Series of Poker and try to learn the rules of the game on the fly. You will be sent home broke on the next flight! Just as you can’t expect to become a big time day trader without obtaining the knowledge and skills necessary to beat the market. Daniel Negreanu, like ProTrader Mike, has put in over 20+ years of experience playing at the highest level. This high level of experience and expertise allows them to compete and dominate on the highest level.