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Profile of Pat Holland

Biography

The interview granted to Pat Holland by the Red Joker is unique for two reasons. The first reason is its formal structure. Anyone who has ever gambled, anyone who has ever invested, anyone who has ever lived has met the Red Joker. Some of us have learned his rules better than others. But this is the only occasion, as far as we know, that the Red Joker has verbally spelled out those rules, and the mathematical logic behind them. The second reason is that the Red Joker does not point out similarities between the gambling world and the investment world. Many books and websites do that. The Red Joker maintains that the gambling world IS the investment world, the investment world IS the gambling world, and that the rules that apply in one automatically apply in the other. He does not remark, 'Goodness, I'd be as well off playing poker as trying to make sense of the stock market,' or 'Here I am trying to pick the winner of the Grand National and it feels just like last year, when I was trying to find a profitable buy-to-let property,' or "'I'd have been better off putting my money in the bank than betting on that horse at those odds.' He does not see similarities. He sees gambling as investing and investing as gambling. Any difference is quantitative, not qualitative. Why Pat Holland? Why not Warren Buffett or Amarillo Slim? Perhaps because those people and all like them are too involved in their chosen fields. The Red Joker may have felt that his points could best be absorbed by somebody who has done a lot of gambling (without ever taking it seriously) and studied a lot of mathematics (without ever thinking it was the be-all and end-all of life) and a moderate amount of investing (without ever taking that too seriously, either.) He may also have wanted a fresh voice to articulate what went wrong. After all, if his 35 rules had been adhered to by the world's investors over the past ten years, nobody would be wondering what went wrong. It wouldn't have gone wrong. Oh, and he may also have been influenced by Pat Holland' reading list.

Books by Pat Holland


Cover of Red Joker Rules Red Joker Rules

More on this book at the Global Investor Bookshop

Cover of Red Joker Rules Red Joker Rules

More on this book at the Global Investor Bookshop

Book Recommendations

Cover of All In: Poker Night Lessons for Winning Big at Your Career All In: Poker Night Lessons for Winning Big at Your Career
Whether you're a casual player or a No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em champion, apply your poker skills to the world of business - and gain the edge that will h... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Cover of Bobby Baldwin's Winning Poker Secrets Bobby Baldwin's Winning Poker Secrets
New edition - now back in print! Interspersed with important lessons on what makes a great player tick, this is the fascinating account of 1978 World ... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Cover of Getting the Best of it! Getting the Best of it!
Getting the Best of It contains six sections discussing probability, poker, blackjack, other casino games, sports betting, and general gambling concep... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Cover of No Limit Texas Hold 'em, 2nd Edition No Limit Texas Hold 'em, 2nd Edition
All of a sudden, poker is everywhere. Card rooms are bursting at the seams, home games are springing up in living rooms across the country, tournamen... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Strategy in Poker, Business, & War Reissue
Looking at the thread of opposition and conflict that runs through human relationships, from the striking of a bargain to the clash of war, the author... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Cover of The Education of a Poker Player The Education of a Poker Player
This classic book is out on its own, not only as a poker playing manual but also as an exposure of the cynical reality behind the American dream. A ma... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Cover of The Essays of Warren Buffett The Essays of Warren Buffett
Experienced readers of Warren Buffett's letters to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. have gained an enormously valuable informal education. ... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Cover of The Midas Touch The Midas Touch
Second edition featuring a brand new foreword. If you had put $10,000 in Buffett's original investing partnership at its inception in 1956, you wou... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Cover of The Poker Face of Wall Street The Poker Face of Wall Street

Praise for The Poker Face of Wall Street


"Playing high–level poker, trading options, marketing bonds, and being a professor of f... Read more at the GI Bookshop
Cover of The Snowball The Snowball
Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Prize 2008 The Snowball is the first and will be the only biography o... Read more at the GI Bookshop


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