guys be warned: i received odd IMs from captzeebo asking me about my dog's name... very suspicious stuff.

either it's a hacker taken over that AIM or he was smokin on some hard ish

Common security question is First pet's name etc, doesn't look good.

zeebo was hacke da while ago. same guy tried chatting w/me on all his hacked accounts CONSECUTIVELY. like, i'd block one account, he'd come back w/the other

the hacked accounts were:
captZeebo
fslexcduck
joetall
fullflush888

very creative aim names

I think I'd like to begin investing some money, but have no idea really how to start. Financial advisers don't really interest me, since I assume anyone who's talking to me (instead of managing millions) is prolly a clown anyway.

I'm thinking I'd want to invest a few thousand per month, and something relatively safe. Not CD/money market safe, but part of the reason I'd do this is to sleep better so rather not be sweating it daily. Pretty much all my money is some way related to poker and I'd like to change that.

Any ideas where I should start?

vanguard.com

Dan,

Look into mutual funds. You get guys who are managing millions, since you are pooling with many other people. Also, a little research will show that potentially any risk profile, any holding term, any specific investment area or topic, are viable. Last time I went looking, the Vanguard funds were the go-to for intro investors. They are fairly diversified, transparent, low to no yield (they might all be no yield, actually). Vanguard is also not a fly-by-night company or anything, and is one of the main companies that major companies offer as their retirement savings accounts, due to reputation, and stability.

Anyway, that's just my opinion. I haven't looked closely at this stuff in a while, and haven't been a licensed broker in even longer. I'm sure you are in for a few dozen posts telling you to start by reading a dozen books, forums (includig BFI here), etc. So good luck. The hardest part of starting investing is not trying to get full information, since there is infinite stuff out there, and most of it is conflictory and/or crap.

You can have the most successful investor of all time manage your money by buying Berkshire Hathaway stock.

cool java app a 2+2'r created that easily simulates variance based on winrate, std dev, and # of hands

http://www.pokervariancesimulator.fr/

bbv thread re: it here

oh to live a life with a standard deviation of 0

if he could throw a taxation of winnings function every Xhands that could quickly become the most depressing thing ive ever seen.

On the note of random investing questions.

I have like 50-100k in losses from the stock market downswing, idk how much.

This is tax-free money, as I understand the law, i.e. i can off-set it with up to 50-100k whenever (+3k/yr whenever or something like that)

So....Is there anyway I can basically do a 50k stock market "flip" Even if it was slightly -ev it would be +EV because its tax free. I'm very anal and like to know everything in what I'm doing when I invest...and don't wanna deal with that....so i really just want to basically flip a coin with the tax-free overlay, ldo.

I know I sound kinda dumb, but some of you are really smart and surely know what I'm talking about/trying to do.

Ya, the guy is trying the scam on Facebook too, I made a thread about it.

P.S. What Do You Know, Deutschland?

stealthmunk,

Your understanding of the situation is *correct*. However, I would shy away from flipping since losing the flip means your deficit is now 50k (or 100k) larger than it was. Of course, that just means you will have more tax-free overlay propositions!

The other downside, as you have mentioned, you can only only deduct 3k/year (this amount should varies as it adjusts for inflation). Thus, it will take you quite a while to deduct a large deficit.

EDIT: One other thing I forgot to mention. If your portfolio shows that you are down $X but if you haven't sell any of stocks, you cannot deduct the losses since technically, you haven't realize those losses yet. So, let's say you have 50K in deficit but you haven't sold those stocks yet and "won" 50k from another stock(s), you are required to pay the taxes on the 50k. So make sure you sell your ****ty stocks (mutual funds/index funds) to recognize your losses so both transaction can cancel each other out.

i don't have a portfolio, i'm not currently invested in anything...i was just curious if there was a way to do a quick "coinflip" ish thing in the market which would turn out to be very +EV considering the tax overlay?

Another way to phrase it,

is there anyway to do a quick win or lose 50k in the stock market? I know that there is no such thing as a win 50k profitably...but i'm willing to hope that "I can have a 46-49% chance of winning a quick 50k (or losing my entire investment) because it would be a tax-free 50k.

Ah ok.

Go buy options! It's like PLO on steroids.

will look into it when i'm not lazy and wake up before 4pm one day.

i ran pretty hot in this apt, fwiw.

hey guys, this is my first post on this site and i was directed here by a suggestion from a friend of mine and wanted to know the opinion of some of the guys here who live in Vegas.

i started playing at 16, first at tournament poker $5-$10 buy ins with friends to turning 18 and I started to play 4-5 tables NLH9max 1/2.
I taught myself to play and the only holdem book I have read is both Harrington on Holdem tournaments when I was 19. I do attribute the learning of the game to my play online which has let me see 200-400k+ (rough calculation) hands than I would not of if i wasnt introduced to online poker. so that is what I mainly did on pokerstars as well playing live at a local charity event that came to the surrounding suburbs of where I lived, since I was under 21 and you only had to be 18. I would make enough money to live without having a job for almost 2 years. after I turned 21 in October of this year and since then I have turned mainly to 2/5 and 5/10 NLH at the many casinos here in around Illinois and have been making a nice profit every 3.0/5.0 games out of just under 200 sessions.

I recently decided to lower the amount of poker I played on a daily basis to have a brian refresh, and focus on college and just to get a calm and relaxed feeling over me.

The last 2 months I been playing a lot more, and been to Las Vegas four times, and considering the option of moving there (possibly purchasing a home) and join the tournament/live game circuit. my BR dedicated to only poker is very safe to try this experiment out and I really am interested in some of you who have or are doing this now. thanks 4 the opinions..

Start here: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6211

A lot depends on your tax situation and what your goals are. What are you investing this money for? What is your time horizon? What is your risk tolerance? Makes a big difference if this is a 10+ year time horizon and is 'retirement' vs 2-5 years for 'downpayment/cash for buying up entire real estate zip codes'

If you file as a pro, it usually won't make much sense to open a regular brokerage account when you can contribute ~$45k to a SEP-IRA (benefits: can deduct contributions and have tax-deferred growth; downsides: 10% penalty if you withdrawal before age 59.5)

After you figure out which account type is right, your time horizon and your risk tolerance I would definitely second the vanguard recommendation. Your time horizon and risk tolerance will drive asset allocation (X% equities(stocks), Y% fixed income (bonds) and Z% cash)

Simplistic example: Long-term time horizon for 20+years 'retirement' and 'moderate aggressive' risk tolerance may be something like 70% equities, 25% bonds, 5% short term cash

Sample portfolio construction:

Equity exposure (X%):
20% US large cap
20% US large cap value
10% US small cap
10% US small cap value
10% Real estate stocks
20% International stocks
10% Emerging markets

Fixed income exposure (Y%):
30% short-term bonds (high quality)
30% intermediate-term bonds (high quality)
30% TIPS (treasury inflation protected securities)
10% High yield bonds

Cash/equivalents (Z%)

This should get you started but feel free to ask any questions.

Great post!

(I think... cause I didnt understand anything)

dontt do it go finish school!!!!

vegas sooooks to live in full time.

Maybe he lives in Toledo, Ohio?

Def finish school

Not even close

The only time i think poker is a option over finishing school is if your making over 500k a year playing poker

should also make sure u have a few bbv approved whips to ur name already too amiright?