If you were worried that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and planned to fund your retirement with poker winnings, today turned out to be a bad day for you. While we here at Dealbreaker generally endorse keeping all of your money in poker, keeping all of your money in Full Tilt Poker was not the correct way to do so. Insofar as it now looks like you’ll only get back at best fifteen cents on the dollar. From the US Attorney’s complaint today:
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poker
Someone must be wearing his lucky sweatshirt. Continue reading »
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Hedge Funds
Hedge Fund Manager Didn’t Know You’re Not Supposed To Gamble And Lose Investor Money To Tobey Maguire, Paris Hilton’s Sex Tape Partner, Et Al
By Bess Levin
You’re a hedge fund manager running a Ponzi scheme in Los Angeles. You’re pretty into poker and attend bi-weekly games with various actors who, as it unfortunately turns out, aren’t half bad at cards. The buy-in’s $100,000 but you don’t have the cash. What do you do? If you’re Brad Ruderman you use some client funds to cover it, as well as the money you lose to Spiderman and Co. Continue reading »
If you’re going to commit financial fraud, you probably don’t want to find yourself sitting at a table across from David Einhorn, who will know what you’re up to and share it with the world. Similarly, if you’ve never played poker and have only ever had a 15 minute tutorial on the game, you probably should avoid playing with the Greenlight Capital founder, whose vastly superior skills will demonstrate just how much you suck. As I like to live on the edge, yesterday in an undisclosed location, I choose not to heed the wisdom of the latter. Over several hands, Einhorn and I discussed the new edition of his 2008 book, “Fooling Some Of The People, All Of The Time.”
The latest version includes an epilogue, and concludes the story of Allied and Einhorn’s years of trying to get other people to listen when he said something was up. As we now know, Allied’s shares collapsed, Greenlight collected $35 million, and the hedge fund made another big (and correct) call on a bank called Lehman Brothers, whose failure was, according to Einhorn, “the Allied story all over again,” just on a bigger scale, with more resounding consequences. Even after the last crisis, which should have been a wake-up call, Einhorn doesn’t think we’ve changed much and if anything, the reforms passed only “encourage poor behavior and will likely foster an even bigger crisis.” He and I chatted about that exciting event, Quantitative Easing, Steve Eisman’s illicit pleasure of choice and more, plus poker tips for people who really, really need them.**
BL: You mentioned an unexpected and tremendous response from readers of the book the first time around. What’s the craziest piece of fan mail you’ve gotten- has anyone sent you their undergarments in the mail?
DE: [laughs] No, do you think they should?
BL: Sure.
DE: You’re hysterical.
BL: I mean, people do that. Musicians, rock stars get sent that sort of stuff. You’re like a rock star…of investing.
DE: Well, the thing is, my following [for the most part] is with 20 to 35 year old men. So, you know. I definitely don’t want their undergarments. Continue reading »
Former Jets Wide Receiver-cum-Morgan Stanely Financial Adviser Wayne Chrebet Survives Securities Licensing Exams, Wife To Tell Tale
By Bess Levin
After his 2005 career-ending concussion, Wayne Chrebet knew he needed some diversion to stay busy. He invested in racehorses, opened a restaurant in Hempstead, NY called “Bar Social,” and picked up boxing. Still, though, he felt like something was missing. Wayne needed some occupational passion in his life, and he also needed to avoid his wife, who was considering murdering him.
“She told me, ‘You’ve got to get out of the house or we’re going to get divorced,’” Mr. Chrebet said. “We got to the point during those first couple years where we were going to 10 a.m. movies and stuff. And we were like, ‘This is stupid.’ We’d just look at each other.”
Before he was forced to retire from football, he’d taken a liking to managing his own money, become a “self-professed CNBC junkie” and dabbled in advising his teammates in how to maximize their coin. So he figured, maybe I should get a job on Wall Street? And as luck would have it, he’d recently killed Morgan Stanley VP Ed Moldaver during a couple poker games at the local country club. Moldaver was so impressed with Chrebs that he offered him a gig, where he currently works on a 6-man wealth management team, mostly “meeting with potential clients and determining whether his group is a good fit for them” while leaving the stock and bond picking to “the professionals.” He loves the new career and takes it “very seriously,” though it’s not just dicking around and at times can be brutal. In fact, he almost didn’t even make it. Continue reading »
“Greetings Dealbreaker,
I am a senior in college in need of some advice. I’m hoping your readership can help me out.”
Last night was Bill Ackman and Whitney Tilson’s big poker tournament to benefit their charity, REACH, which gives inner-city high school students academic support and scholarships for passing AP exams. Some of the kids were there to tell their stories, which was adorable, and the event raised money for a great cause, which is nice. Humanity and whatnot. But enough about that. Who won big (prizes — and would’ve taken home cash were the evening not about the children)? Continue reading »
Just an FYI: there are only ten seats left for tomorrow night’s tournament (benefiting Bill Ackman and Whitney Tilson’s Rewarding Achievement (REACH) program, which gives inner-city high school students academic support and scholarships for passing AP exams). Continue reading »
Are you a money manager currently ripping off your clients or considering doing so in the near future? Are you of the opinion that, if caught, you wouldn’t do so well in the big house? Then here’s a free one: convince the judge you have a gambling addiction and he just might let you a) avoid time downtown and b) let you pay off your debts to society via card games. Continue reading »
Do you have plans on August 11? Do you fancy yourself a poker player? A really good poker player? Do you think you could beat David Einhorn, even if he’s wearing his lucky sweatshirt? Do you think it would not be so awkward that the two of you could then enjoy a meal together and talk shop after which he picks up the tab? (Go with me on this as I think I might have something you’ll be interested in.) Continue reading »
BTW, for anyone looking for the actual reason why Susquehanna International Group is allegedly the best firm to work at, the answer may involve the fact that they pretty much just let everyone play poker all day (“poker pervades the culture of SIG”). Something to think about.
