Perkins' Hedge Fund Has Enjoyed Tremendous Multi-Year Run

Published on August 4th, 2017 12:11 pm EST

If you follow the poker world at all, chances are that you have heard the name Bill Perkins.

Perkins, who is a mainstay at high roller tournaments across the world, has developed a reputation for his outlandish prop bets.

Who can forget the $600,000 Los Angeles to Las Vegas bike bet with Dan Bilzerian? The weight loss/gain prop bet with Matt and Jaime Staples? The lunge prop bet with Antonio Esfandiari that got Esfandiari disqualified from a major tournament?

Perkins has the money to fund these outrageous prop bets because he is an incredibly successful natural gas trader. This is how he made his money, and this is how he continues to make the bulk of his money.

In today's Wall Street Journal, Perkins' crazy lifestyle and outrageous results were highlighted.

Perkins, who runs Skylar Capital Management LP, likes to make outsized bets on commodities. True to his gambling nature, Perkins likes to use margin, which means that his fund is borrowing money to make bets.

When this works out, things are great. When this don't work out, the entire fund is in danger.

The Wall Street Journal points out that Skylar Capital Management LP fell by roughly 50% in 2014. This type of drawdown is usually almost impossible for hedge funds to bounce back from.

Perkins, however, was undeterred, and over the next two years, the fund would first double and then triple its money.

According to the WSJ, Perkins' fund now has over $100 million under management.

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Perkins clearly enjoys the gamble and loves figuring out probabilities and making money from his analysis.

Sometimes it pays off (his hedge fund returns in 2014 and 2015) and sometimes it doesn't (the Dan Bilzerian bike bet, where Perkins didn't plan for certain strategies), but one thing is for sure - Perkins loves to gamble and has no plans of ever changing.

Source: WSJ.com - Bill Perkins Is the 'Last Cowboy' Betting on Volatile Gas Markets