Bob Hamman is considered to be one of the best bridge players in the world. He runs a very interesting company called SCA Promotions.
Wikipedia Page:
Company Site:
http://www.scapromotions.com/
http://www.scapromotions.com/
Warren Buffett is a fan of Bob Hamman. Buffett and Ajit Jain (the genius who runs BRK's super-catastrophe insurance operation) often do things similar to what Bob does. Here is what Buffett wrote in this connection in his 1995 letter:
"Ajit Jain is the guiding genius of our super-cat business and writes important non-cat business as well. In insurance, the term "catastrophe" is applied to an event, such as a hurricane or earthquake, that causes a great many insured losses. The other deals Ajit enters into usually cover only a single large loss. A simplified description of three transactions from last year will illustrate both what I mean and Ajit's versatility. We insured: (1) The life of Mike Tyson for a sum that is large initially and that, fight-by-fight, gradually declines to zero over the next few years; (2) Lloyd's against more than 225 of its "names" dying during the year; and (3) The launch, and a year of orbit, of two Chinese satellites. Happily, both satellites are orbiting, the Lloyd's folk avoided abnormal mortality, and if Mike Tyson looked any healthier, no one would get in the ring with him."
"Ajit Jain is the guiding genius of our super-cat business and writes important non-cat business as well. In insurance, the term "catastrophe" is applied to an event, such as a hurricane or earthquake, that causes a great many insured losses. The other deals Ajit enters into usually cover only a single large loss. A simplified description of three transactions from last year will illustrate both what I mean and Ajit's versatility. We insured: (1) The life of Mike Tyson for a sum that is large initially and that, fight-by-fight, gradually declines to zero over the next few years; (2) Lloyd's against more than 225 of its "names" dying during the year; and (3) The launch, and a year of orbit, of two Chinese satellites. Happily, both satellites are orbiting, the Lloyd's folk avoided abnormal mortality, and if Mike Tyson looked any healthier, no one would get in the ring with him."
You can view a very interesting video of Bob in which explains what he does i.e. how he sets odds in a risky situation. You can view this video from:
The Bob Hamman video can be seen by clicking the link titled "Risky Business"
The video may play only if you have an older version of Real Player installed on your comp. You can get an older version - the Real Player 8 from
1 comment:
Hi Sir,
A wrong place to post this comment.
I am very much interested in Buffett and Bear Stearns. You may be possibly discussing this in the class. But as a person who cannot acess your lectures, I would like to know about your opinions.
This also would be a first hand experience for me to see how the legendary Buffett thinks.
Regards and all the best....
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