SK[ Who is Steve Kuhn ]
Steve Kuhn spent his career on trading desks.4th & Smart is his idea.
He traded mortgage-backed securities and convertible bonds at Cargill, Citadel, Goldman Sachs and Pine River Capital Management, where he was a partner and head of fixed income trading. He left Pine River in 2016 to focus on philanthropy.
- ► Education
- Harvard, BA in Economics with Honors, 1991
- ► Trading
- Mortgage-backed securities and convertible bonds
- ► Poker
- Won Poker Night on Wall Street, 2013
► Steve Kuhn
Harvard '91gtofootball.com
01[ The career ]
Harvard, then four trading firms.
Mortgage bonds and convertible bonds are both priced on embedded options. A homeowner can pay the mortgage off early. A convertible holder can trade the bond in for stock. The price of the bond depends on what those choices are worth.
01► 1991
Harvard
BA in Economics, with Honors
1991
► Class year
02► Mortgage desk
Cargill
Head of mortgage-backed securities trading
MBS
► Mortgage-backed securities
03► 1999-2002
Citadel Investment Group
Japanese convertible bond trader, Chicago
3 yrs
► Years at Citadel
04► 2002-2007
Goldman Sachs
Vice president and portfolio manager
Based in New York and Beijing, on a team that managed about $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities.
$40B
► MBS managed by his team
05► 2008-2016
Pine River Capital Management
Partner, head of fixed income trading
Joined in 2008, made partner in 2009, and was lead portfolio manager of the fixed income fund. The firm managed about $14 billion. He left in 2016 to focus on philanthropy.
$14B
► Managed by the firm
02[ Poker Night on Wall Street ]
In 2013 he won a charity poker tournament on Bloomberg TV.
Poker Night on Wall Street raises money for charity. The 2013 event was a six-handed, $50,000 buy-in tournament taped at the Borgata. David Einhorn and Jim Chanos were in the field.
- $50K
- ► Buy-in
- 6-max
- ► Six players a table
- Borgata
- ► Taped in Atlantic City
► At the table
If you only bet big with your best hands, a good player folds every time you bet big. Strong players mix it up. The same bet shows up with strong hands and weak ones, often enough that the other player can't make money by guessing. Game theorists call that a mixed strategy.
► On fourth down
A punt team that always punts is the predictable player. The defense sends out its return unit and pays nothing for it. 4th & Smart puts one unit on the field that can punt or run offense, and the defense has to pick personnel first. A return unit cannot stop our offense. A defense set to stop our offense gives us a clean punt.
► Ten fourth downs, one lookP = punt · G = go
- P01
- G02
- P03
- P04
- G05
- P06
- G07
- G08
- P09
- G10
Every snap starts from the same punt shell. The defense learns which one it got after it has already sent out its personnel.
“Poker players call this game-theory-optimal play. You mix your actions so the opponent cannot profit by guessing.”
► On Sundays
Steve is a Minnesota Vikings fan.
[ Talk to Steve ]
Want to run the unit by your staff?
Steve can walk coaches, coordinators and front offices through the unit, the read, and the numbers.