109: Edward Thorp – The Man Who Beat the Dealer, and Later, Beat the Market

I’m not sure how to best say this, but Edward Thorp, is kind of a big deal… Not only in the world of financial markets, but he’s also a household name amongst the gambling scene. He’s the man who beat the dealer, and later, beat the market. It was during the late-50’s and early-60’s, when Ed, a math genius and professor at MIT, took on the challenge of discovering a way to get an edge playing gambling games such as blackjack, roulette and baccarat. Long story short; Ed won—and he’s now considered the father of card counting. From there, the next obvious move for Ed was to take on financial markets—which he also did with a great degree of success. His first hedge fund, Princeton Newport Partners, achieved an annualized return of 19.1% (before fees) over a 19-year period, with 227 of 230 months being profitable—the worst monthly loss being less than 1%. Ed’s most recent book, A Man For All Markets, is now available on Amazon. -- Sponsored by TradeStation.com – The online broker for professional market monitoring tools, an award-winning platform and low trading costs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices