LIFE

 

It was the last weekend of 2014. I opened my eyes, laid back a bit in bed because of the freezing winter, had 2 pieces of toast with a glass of milk tea, packed the gym gear, I left home. Reached Roppongi Hills, 10 mins for the bus to come, I had a full bag of dirty shirts to drop to the cleaning. That day was chilly.

LOUIS VUITTON was right in front of me, there was also a new BMW displayed. Suddenly I heard a loud engine passing behind. It was a sharp red Lamborghini.

I believe there is a much bigger mission in life.

ポーカー＆ビジネス戦略

2013年の夏頃でしたね。同僚とビジネスアイデアの雑談したら、「ザッポス伝説」という本をお勧めされました。最初は軽い気持ちで読んでみましたが、結局殿堂入りになりました。英語版はCEO本人が書いたのでお勧めです。

Tony Hsieh（トニー・シェイ）はハーバード大学卒で、スタートアップした会社を数百万ドルでマイクロソフトに売却して、ザッポスのCEOになりました。詳しい話はここでスキップしますが、結構面白くて読んでみてください。彼に影響され、ポーカー研究し始めました。ビジネス戦略をかけて、ポーカーのあまり知られていない一面をシェアしたいと思います。

Poker & Business Strategy

I am indulged in Poker (Texas Hold ’em) recently. Winning chips is great, but the most exciting part falls into the strategy of getting you there. the process to win chips is really interesting which requires competencies like math, strategy, psychology, and communication.

Playing poker is indeed very similar to running a business (4Ps, SWOT, PESTEL, etc). Your poker game actually starts from picking a table to play (the market you decide to compete), your playing style should be calibrated according to the bet position you are, and you must be able to gain information and read “tells” from your opponents to determine if they are bluffing. You also need to decide how much to bet so to optimize your profit from the pot.

“Stay open. Who knows? Lightning could strike.”

Before Sunrise

One day in the winter of 2010, I was reading a Porsche magazine in a book store in Roppongi Hills @ Tokyo. “I want it!” I thought. Looking at the price, even a second-hand, it costs a lot (well, of course).

“Why there are so many Porsche running around the Roppongi area?”, I doubted. It is likely that those people run their own business, good investors, or they just used up their life long savings to get one – I don’t want to do that, it is not cool to sacrifice the whole life style for that. Yet, I’m not a good investor, nor even close to an amateur. At last, I decided to invest on myself – go get an MBA!

Just because it is cool.