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How Billionaires Bet Against America — and Won

Marlon Weems
The Journeyman.
Published in
10 min readJan 8, 2025
Sergey Nazarov/Getty Images

Most people are unaware of the extent to which the gambling mindset — the attraction to poker in particular — is embedded into Wall Street trading culture. During the ten-week training period at Susquehanna International Group, for example, neophytes spend an inordinate amount of time, not honing their trading skills, but playing poker, according to The Wall Street Journal:

Young traders who join the trading giant Susquehanna International spend at least 100 hours playing cards during a 10-week training program. When the stock market closes at 4 p.m., they often head straight from the trading floor to a dedicated poker room at the firm’s headquarters in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Jeff Yass, Susquehanna’s co-founder, sometimes joins in, scrutinizing hands new hires play and gauging how effectively they bluff. Thousands of employees, from traders to technologists, participate in the firm’s annual poker tournament. At least three have notched wins at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

No money changes hands in Susquehanna’s games, where employees often serve as volunteer dealers. Skill at the poker table translates to respect from colleagues and bosses. It also, according to the company’s top brass, improves performance on the trading floor.

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The Journeyman.
The Journeyman.

Published in The Journeyman.

The Journeyman. is published by Marlon Weems, a former Wall Street trader, capital markets subject matter expert. His writing covers themes at the intersection of politics, the economy, and racial inequality.c

Marlon Weems
Marlon Weems

Written by Marlon Weems

Storyteller. I write about American culture and growing up Black in the South.

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