Sure the meme got him to 40m+ worth of GME but he would have still come out nicely whether it was blown into the massive meme or not. My understanding is that he bought in at a $4 price so GME rallying 10x is still a massive win. The meme took him above and beyond. I think we stand to learn something from him, speaking as an amateur here of course.

I disagree with this. He made his position on Gamestop known a year ago and people on WSB laughed at him for it. I wasn't until the stock rose to $20 and he posted that he made 11 million on calls and people realized a short squeeze was possible that it turned into a meme.

Right. And to the GP’s point, would it have happened without the meme squeeze (the small growth potential) - yes.

I considered GME calls in December where it was hanging out in the $17 range. Ryan Cohen and the Chewey cohort added to a positive outlook given new leadership. Similarly, there was bullish sentiment that the next gen console sales would manifest at April earnings. People thought by April earnings it could go to 40.

So yeah, buying that early with those two growth prospects was sensible.

The squeeze became the second part of operation, but the first was a sensible position based on modest assumptions. In fact, it was truly crazy of the hedge funds to think GameStop would be out of business this soon with ps5/xbx just launching.

I don't care for performance. As you pointed out, performance can be due to luck. I am looking for interesting view points.