The Pokershrink took this picture of Chris Fargis in January 2006. Fargis was on his way to winning the Triple Draw Lowball event at the WSOP Circuit at the Grand in Tunica. For the win, he pocketed $22 grand.

Through 2006, Fargis amassed over $137K in recorded live tournament events. As mostly an online player, that was the just tip of the iceberg.

In the picture, Fargis’ T-Shirt says “Why Work?” But by January 2007, poker had become a drag for Chris and he was looking for something different. In this post, he asked his blog readers for ideas. As you can see, Dr. Pauly suggested opening a bar in Brooklyn called the “Triple Draw.” Since Fargis obviously excelled at risk vs. return decisions, I suggested investment. In his subsequent post, he said he planned to pursue investment/trading as a possible career. Over the years, I lost track of Chris Fargis and his plan — that is until I read this article in the LA Times. Entitled “Trading Firms Put Their Money on Poker Experts,” the article profiles Chris — in his current trading career — and discusses the skill overlap between online poker players and high-speed traders.

I found it funny that I recommended investing to Fargis in 2007. A year later, I would take my own advice and head back to the investment world.

I sill like when my poker and investment worlds collide — as they did recently. I spoke at The MoneyShow in Vegas a few weeks ago. It was a ton of fun. As an investment writer, I don’t get a lot of face-to-face with readers or the people who share my passion for investing. Walking into the MS for the first time reminded me a little of walking into my first major poker tournament.

In both poker and investing, you put your own money on the line each and every day. And it’s not enough to learn poker or learn to invest. You have to keep learning and growing — because the game constantly changes. There’s something invigorating about a group of people dedicated to honing their craft. I felt that walking into the Gold Strike ballroom back in January 2002. I felt that energy again, walking into Caesars ballroom for the MoneyShow.

My other goal for Vegas was to get my brother to play something other than low limit stud. Matty loves to go to Vegas to play poker, but the Mirage stopped spreading the last of the low limit stud games out there. So I’m happy to report that Matty successfully negotiated his first live sessions in both limit hold’em and Omaha hi/lo. And even though he played O8 like a total maniac, he outperformed his omaholic sister. Well done, grasshopper.