A couple of nights ago, the Poker Shrink forwarded an email from Dan Michalski. It said “46 searches for ‘amy calistri scam’ have brought people to Pokerati this month. Did she write about a scam or is she in one?”

I also got emails from Oliver Tse saying he has been seeing an ad with my picture on a lot of the investment sites he surfs. Lou Krieger recently wrote me because he received an email promotion for my Stock of the Month newsletter. All I can say Lou is that you must be on an investing email list somewhere.

I always thought I was the empress of self-promotion. But as it turns out, when it comes to promotion, I can’t hold a candle to the marketing team at StreetAuthority. Even I’ve surfed investment sites, only to see my face staring back at me. It’s a little unnerving.

Of course this isn’t the first time the investment Amy Calistri and the poker Amy Calistri have bumped into each other. We are, in fact, the same person — and always have been. Although, I was an investor long before I started playing poker. And I was an investment writer before I was published in poker.

The first (and only) poker book I’ve written was Mike Matusow: Check-Raising the Devil, which I co-wrote with Mike Matusow (obviously) and Tim Lavalli. But the first book I intended to write was a book about poker and investing. I was going to call it “Investing is all in the Cards.” The first time I met Lou Krieger I asked him whether he was interesting in co-writing it with me. We never wrote the book, but it started a friendship that is still going strong after all these years. Eventually my friend Aaron Brown took up the mantle with his book The Poker Face of Wall Street.

To complicate matters, the very first chapter of a book I had published was in James Galbraith’s Inequality and Industrial Change: A Global View. But that might be a third Amy Calistri — and a whole other, although intertwined, story.

Teaser Alert:
A new “poker Amy meets investment Amy” story came about just last week — involved Jennifer Tilly — and is detailed at the end of this post.

When I discovered poker, I liked it for the very same reasons I liked investing. They are both exercises in risk vs. return. Whether you are betting into a pot or investing in a security, you want to be sure you have a high probability of getting paid off.

I applaud each and every person who searched “amy calistri scam.” Where your money is concerned, you can’t be too careful. I assure you, all I do is write an investment newsletter. But even when a newsletter is legit, you should also be sure that it will meet your investing needs and style. For instance, if you’re looking for a newsletter that will help you day trade, I’m not it.

Unlike the fast-talking pundits on CNBC, I don’t recommend 45 investments in the span of a five minute television segment. In fact, if I had a television show, it would probably be called “Slow Money.” I cover just one investment idea a month. And I never have more than 12 investments in my portfolio at a time, so I can follow each one carefully.

And unlike some of the talking heads on TV, I have skin in the game. My company initially put up $50,000 for my portfolio — and recently upped it to $100,000. In poker parlance, it’s like playing with a backer. So I sweat every pick every day — just like every other investor who put their hard-earned money on the line.

I’m happy to say that my picks have done very well and outperformed the market. BUT, since I launched my letter in April, I’ve also had a very cooperative market. The real test of my newsletter is whether I can protect those juicy gains in a less-forgiving market.

Like poker, investing is an exercise in variance. You will make money and you will lose it. Everyone always dreams about making a big score. But the real trick to staying in the game — whether it’s poker or investing — is responsibly managing your bankroll and minimizing your losses.

Teaser Unveiled:

Last week I called the Shrink and asked, “What do Jennifer Tilly and I have in common?”

In a deadpan response, he said, “I hope you’re not going to tell me you slept with Phil Laak.”

Confounding the confusion of the two Amys is the fact that, up until now, StreetAuthority has been using my poker promotion photos. Last week they decided that new photos for the editorial staff were long overdue. They brought in a photographer and make-up artist to facilitate the job.

When I went upstairs, I was greeted by Rochelle from rae cosmetics — a stunning blond wearing a black fedora (here’s a video clip of her). She immediately asked, “Where’s your hat?” (I had left it downstairs). I asked her how she knew about the hat. She said, “Oh I know all about you. I love poker. I did Jennifer Tilly and Annie Duke’s make-up just last week.”

Sure enough, Jennifer, Annie and Joe Reitman were in town for a charity poker event. And if they were just half as pleased about their make-up as I was — they were thrilled. I was really happy Rochelle hung out with me during the photo shoot. We talked a lot about poker, which kept me from freaking out about having a gazillion pictures taken. And I loved that Doyle was her favorite player. It’s nice when newer players have an appreciation for the old guard. I also highly recommed Jerry Hughes at Artist Studio 12, who was my patient and entertaining photographer — although he didn’t know diddly about poker.

So if you found this website because you were searching for “Amy Calistri scam,” congratulations. Whether you are subscribing to an investment newsletter or making a decision to invest in a security, what you read should only be the starting point for your own research and due diligence. No one is going to watch out for your money better than you do.

I’ve had a good run with my picks. But every good poker player knows you have to be on the lookout for the times when the cards turn against you. It’s great to make money at the table and in the market. But it’s just as important to protect yourself against losses. Isildur1 won $3 million off Durrr. But a week later he had donated $2.5 million back to Patrik Antonius. In the investment world, I want to avoid playing Patrik.