Market lessons and a touch of mixology from a World Series of Poker winner.

Greetings from San Francisco, where temps are in the mid-60s. Nothing beats the summer heat like a cool ocean breeze.

Today is the first day of the Taipan Global Opportunities Summit. Wish you were here. (For those of you who are here, I look forward to meeting you over the next two days.)

I’m also deeply appreciative of all the e-mails you sent in response to Friday’s Taipan Daily piece, “Life Is a Driveway.” There were some great comments and questions in there -- some directly related to the topic and some on other subjects.

I’ll reach into the “mail bag” and respond to a sampling of those shortly. As indicated before, I can’t respond to all, but will keep on top of them as best I can. In the meantime, keep those comments and questions coming: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Here at Taipan Daily, we’ve been a little heavy on the grim news lately. So today I thought I’d lighten things up a bit with a true story that happened over the weekend.

As regular readers know, your humble editor enjoys a good game of poker now and then. (Okay, maybe a little more often than that. But only on weekends.) This past Saturday night, I had the privelege of playing a few hours of No Limit Hold ‘Em with a bona fide poker champion.

He didn’t look like a “big fish” when he sat down at the table. No flash, no attitude, no sunglasses or swagger. But some of the old hands at the table recognized him right away. The player to my left -- a gentleman who’d been in the game since before I was born -- leaned over and whispered in my ear.

“You know who that fella is? His name is Brad something. He won the World Series of Poker quite a few years ago. He was a dealer for a few years, right here in Reno. I’m sure that’s him.”

And sure enough it was. A polite inquiry confirmed that it was Brad Daugherty, the WSOP main event champion from 1991. That was a landmark year for the World Series -- the first time the grand prize was over a million dollars. (This year’s main event winner, to be determined in November, will take home $9.1 million.)

Someone asked Brad if he got recognized much. Though he lives in Las Vegas, it doesn’t happen all that often, he said. He told a funny story about playing in Binion’s Horseshoe, where all the World Series winners have a banner and photo in a gallery on the wall.

At one point he was sitting right in front of the winners’ gallery, with his own banner just over his shoulder. A player across the table kept squinting at Brad intently -- in full view of his photo on the wall, mind you -- and finally spoke up.

“Don’t I know you from somewhere? Gosh your face looks familiar.”

“Gee, I dunno. Maybe we’ve played together before...”

Brad handled his cards just as I imagined a champion would. He was casual and easy going, showing no need to be flashy or to try and run over the table. He didn’t get involved in a lot of pots... but when he did get involved, he played very strong. Most of the time he was content to sit back. But when it came time to act, he had a very heavy hand with the chips.

And sure enough, his stack grew steadily larger as the night progressed.

That’s the way to play it in markets, too (in my humble opinion). Don’t mess around with marginal situations; be sure of your business before you act. But when you are sure -- when you know the position and the opportunity and the timing is right -- be bold and strong. Cultivate the courage of your convictions through hard work and sharp analysis, and then put that courage to work.

I’m sad to say I didn’t get any of Brad’s chips. But then again, he didn’t get any of mine either. We did share a toast, though, with a drink I’d never had before.

At one point the table conversation turned to party drinks, and Brad suggested a new one. He called it the “Pineapple Bomber” and swore it was delicious. On the strength of his endorsement, I decided to have one with him.

And he was right, too. That drink was damn good! To make it you mix equal parts pineapple juice, Amaretto and Southern Comfort on the rocks. If you don’t mind your tipple a little on the sweet side, you’ll love it.

Tell me what you think if you give the “Pineapple Bomber” a try: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Warm Regards,

JL