This 3.5-year-old article describes Jon Finkel, who was once one of the best Magic: The Gathering players in the world. He was introduced to the game at a fairly early age and seemed to have developed a passion for it that very few people in the world could match. Indeed, it seems that Finkel turned Magic into a science and was relentless in analyzing his mistakes in order to improve his game.
I also used to play Magic a lot—I even came in 3rd place in a local tournament one time. Despite playing more than most people, I still did not approach it with quite the same amount of passion or seriousness as Finkel, and I eventually stopped playing to pursue other interests (and to save some money). But I think I developed some skills in a small way, such as improving my ability to pay attention to the details, gaining an understanding of how to weigh odds, and inadvertently learning about game theory.
What’s most interesting about Finkel is that he now is a partner in a hedge fund and I think the skills he developed as a Magic player have most likely helped give him an edge. When asked in an online forum about the links between Magic/gambling and the hedge fund, Finkel responded, “It’s a pretty natural progression really. They’re all advantage games that require logical thinking, discipline, and a willingness to take risks.”
I believe Finkel is correct. I also think everyone who is interested in improving their “game” should take Finkel’s advice to heart:
- Divorce your sense of self from your play. The key is to examine what you’ve done, in an unbiased way and critically, but not make yourself feel bad emotionally or crappy. Obviously, this is easier said than done.
- With anything in the world, find people who are better than you, but don’t forget the people who aren’t as good as you. Michael Jordan had a lot to learn from Phil Jackson, but he also had a lot to learn from Steve Kerr about shooting jump shots.
- Accept that if you want to be really good at something, you will need to do a lot of work. You look at people who are really good at Magic, they did it a real, real, real lot of times. They cared about it a lot, and they studied it a lot.
Doug, this is spot on. When I was a kid, my friends & I spent a lot of time at the local hobby shop and I was one of the first people in our city to start playing Magic. The skills one develops as a player absolutely translate to the world of business and investing. Magic was a good game because it incorporated deep strategic and tactical elements, and though luck played a role from match to match, over the long run, skill would always triumph. Just like investing in the markets.
It’s not just Magic, though. I think it’s games in general. One of my favorite studies in this space was all the work Nick Yee did years ago on World of Warcraft, and how people were using the lessons they learned as a guild officer in their real life roles as middle-managers. Again, I could just be biased because I’ve spent my entire life playing games of every sort. But I think the experience we get from playing games is absolutely relevant and helpful. At least if you look for it.
Today I co-manage a hedge fund and write a weekly newsletter. There’s not a day that goes by where some element or lesson I learned as a game-player isn’t incorporated in the actions I actually perform.
Hope you don’t mind if I steal this idea and expand on it. I want to do a bigger newsletter about the relevant lessons I’ve learned from playing games.