A real-life underdog tale of one man turning the tables on the casinos
and Wall Street without selling his soul to the devil
All around the world, the words "Wall Street" conjure up a powerful
image. For some, it is the center of America's capitalist system and the
engine of its economic growth. For others, it is the home of rapacious
bankers and reckless traders whose greed would lead to a global
financial crisis. For an Indian-born blackjack player, Wall Street
represented something else entirely -- a chance for him to play in the
largest casino in the world.
Kamal Gupta's improbable journey, from a wide-eyed Indian immigrant to
an ultimate insider in the rarefied world of investment banks and hedge
funds, is a uniquely American story. Nowhere else would it have been
possible for a scrawny computer scientist to enter the world of high
finance solely on the basis of his gambling abilities. After spending
seven years creating an investment methodology, Gupta went on an
incredible run, generating an unprecedented 103 consecutive months of
positive returns while managing money at large hedge funds. His success
did not go unnoticed, and he found himself under constant pressure to
take bigger risks to make even more money. He refused and always played
it right, knowing that there was such a thing as "enough" money,
something very few, if any, of his Wall Street peers understood.
Much like Maria Konnikova's bestseller, The Biggest Bluff, Play It
Right isn't so much about money as it is about the human condition and
beating the odds, whether at a casino, on Wall Street, or in life
itself.
