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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (7008)	9/25/1999 6:55:00 AM
From: Bruce Brown	Respond to of 54805

Shorting is, by design, a short term strategy, and paraphrasing the authors, you might as well go to Las Vegas (or Monte Carlo in your case). A trip to Monte Carlo for the weekend......that's a nice thought. It wouldn't be for the gambling though as other things would keep me occupied. My one time experience with gambling (outside of the occasional lotto ticket), was a weekend skiing trip up at Lake Tahoe. After surveying the games available, I decided to spend hours at the roulette table making diverse bets on black, red, odd, even and various numbers thinking that the system was in my favor by controlling the size and spread of bets. I was there for hours. Various gals came and went to run the table. All kinds of gamblers passed through the game while I was there, but I just keep my method and watched while I slowly, ever so slowly built up a nice return over the hours. I was there with a buddy and he kept us well quenched with beverages and the occasional snack. Finally, after hours of 'work', I decided to cash out my earnings once I had reached enough to pay for the entire weekend and the speeding ticket I had received from the Chips patrolman on the way up the hill from San Francisco to Tahoe. I was such a novice, I had no idea you were supposed to tip the game 'hostess' - in spite of losing or winning. I was so focused on my diverse bets and playing the game that I didn't even see that all the other people who came and went at the table were tipping out when they left. Even the crazies that would come through and toss $1000 on one number, lose and tip the hostess before walking off to the next table alluded me as to their etiquette. Anyway, my buddy informed me of all the gambling etiquette as well as the 'seeds and plants' that hop from table to table and how I should really have tipped out a percentage of my winnings because that was common courtesy. He begged me to run back and tip the hostess. I had to laugh once I surveyed the overall clientele, the endless line of bad restaurants, the watered down drinks and the whole concept in general. I shrugged it all off and went back to my room for a good night's sleep to prepare for Squaw Valley's slopes the next day. I've never repeated or had a desire to enter a gambling institution since. So, you can see that shorting or taking big bets on one number is not a method I would ever use in the stock market. I'm well aware of the etiquette of the investing world and what the shorting, sell-side, short term mentality of the market is. I continue to shrug it all off and go about my method of diverse investing which of course includes the gorilla game and king angles. I was cautious to just come out and say 'shorting is not part of the Gorilla Game' because I realize that some people can do it very well. Or at least they claim they can do it well. I don't know. I didn't want to be so bold and point that out to Freeus, I believe it was. However, I'm glad that you did. It hasn't been a part of my game and I don't ever see it being a part of it. Not being a long time member of this board, I wasn't sure what the etiquette was in terms of people who pass through and bring up the word 'short'. I'll have to check my manuals to see where the Gods talk about it. <g> I just focus on the long term and hope to make enough to pay for a few more weekends of skiing. It wasn't my intent to make this post into 'why I like GG investing'. Simply pointing out that it fits my style and was drawn to it naturally. The shorting/sell-side mentality doesn't fit my style. I'm glad to hear confirmation that it doesn't fit GG in general as well. BB