Bringing down The House on the Gold Coast

January 4, 2014 / By Nick Radge / Trading Psychology

Many years ago (pre-children) Trish and I took a holiday to the Gold Coast. After setting ourselves up in a nice apartment overlooking the beach for a week of sun and R&R, we decided to make a trip to Jupiters Casino for dinner at one of the mid-tier eateries and enjoy a bit of razzle-dazzle.

After dinner the tables beckoned and let’s face it, so long as I refrained from using wierd hand gestures there wasn’t a great leap from the trading floor to the casino table – both are noisy, encourage punters and distribute wealth from one party to another.

And I, of course, had a system.

On that first night (now you know where this is going) the system did well. We not only paid for dinner but the airline tickets.

The following evening we made the same pilgrimage, ate at the same restaurant and visited the same table. This time we paid for the full holiday and then some.

The system was on fire.

On the third night (now it’s getting sad) we were welcomed back to the casino but this time we ate at the best restaurant and then returned to the same table.

People starting taking notice. We were doing the opposite of everyone else. We got a few strange looks. We even got approached by other punters.

“What are you doing?” they’d ask.

“I have a system”. Impressive.

We went 6 nights in a row. We won every night. Other punters started copying us. Even the croupiers eyed us off.

We were consistent winners. Six nights in a row. We had no life but we had a ‘system’.

But here’s the thing – every night the casino let us back in. We were not met at the door by a 6’6″ 150kg bruiser with, “Sorry Mr & Mrs Radge. You can’t come in tonight.”

The casino allows anyone and everyone to play. Winners. Losers. Radges. Even the Packers get a go.

Why?

Because they, The House, have an edge. A clearly defined mathematical edge.

They don’t bother to pick and choose who plays. Rather, their core business is to exploit The House’s edge and to do that they must accept all-comers and then allow the cards to fall where they may (pun intended).

And the winner is The House. They’re big, rich and glamorous.

Yet the irony is when we trade or invest our own money we do the opposite. We focus on selecting stocks. The next hot stock. The next hot sector. The next winner. We only want the good ones to come through the door and prefer the bad ones to stay outside.

And how do we fare? Refer HERE for the answer.

So when you trade, instead of trying to pick the next big winner or avoid the next dreaded loser, take the casino route and become The House.

Find an edge. Then exploit it.