My first due diligence field trip was to see Radioactive Rick’s Moore Lake uranium project in Saskatchewan. If memory serves, the project was then part of JNR Resources, now Skyharbour Resources. The trip was organized by the legendary Lukas Lundin.

There wasn’t much geology to see apart from what was in the drill core, so business was concluded quickly. But most of my fellow analysts on the trip were happy because there was plenty of fishing… and alcohol.

This is relevant.

I got to work on my laptop while everyone else went fishing. That might have been the first time I got fresh guidance to my readers before others did, but it certainly wasn’t the last.

The sportsmen came back, we had a great dinner, and then everyone sat down to a game of Texas hold ‘em. I had only played five-card stud before, so I tried to bow out. They insisted and I didn’t want to offend my host, so I joined the game. We all bought in with $20 for 20 toothpicks, to be used as chips.

Long story short, I may be one of the world’s worst poker players—but they’d been drinking all day while I had not, so I did rather well.

The first time I doubled my toothpicks to 40, I cashed out 20 and recovered my initial stake. When I had another 40 toothpicks, I did the same thing—and again on the next 40. At this point, I had tripled my $20 to $60–safely in my wallet—and I still had 20-some toothpicks in front of me.

Then my luck turned and I quickly lost all my remaining toothpicks. Instead of buying back in, I bowed out of the game and left the table.

Over the next year, several brokers and analysts asked me how I enjoyed spending their money. Come to think of it, this may be part of why I’m so unpopular in Vancouver…

The point of the story, however, is obvious: I took profits on the way up and walked out of the room with a fistful of dollars.

I might have made more money had I stayed fully long and made bigger bets with a larger pile of toothpicks—but I wasn’t an experienced player and others were, so I played it safe.

Had I stayed fully long until the point when my luck turned, I might have lost everything.

I can’t say this experience shaped my entire investing career, but it was memorable and instructive.

I recently explained in public interviews that I am now about 80% in cash, having taken profits on the way up. Many have been outspoken in their criticism of my decision, but not all.

While I might be an inexperienced poker player, I am no spring chicken in resource and mining stocks.

Moving to cash isn’t me taking my ball away and going home. It’s a key step in the “buy low, sell high” formula. Sure, I’m happy to have locked in some big wins, reducing my risk in these uncertain times. But the main thing is having the cash ready to deploy with gusto into whatever goes on sale next.

Oil, copper, gold, silver, uranium… there are arguments why all of my favorite minerals could go sharply higher or lower in the near term. I don’t know which it will be, but I do know that I’ll be ready to pounce on whichever one it is.

I hope you will be as well.

P.S. Learn more about my thoughts and when I’m ready to deploy my cash by subscribing to our free, no-hype, no-spam newsletter:The Digest.