Poker
I don’t play poker but I have a couple of friends that do. I recently asked them what resources they’d recommend for people wanting to get into it, and thought I’d share their advice.
- For “limit” play the best book is “The Theory of Poker” by David Sklansky.
- For the more popular “no-limit” you need “The Theory of Poker Applied to No-Limit“, also by David Sklansky.
MIT has a video series called “How to win at Texas Hold ‘Em”:
- Depending on the type of game you wish to play, further resources may be more relevant. The best forum, and one used by many of the top professionals to discuss play is 2p2: www.twoplustwo.com.
- Some excellent beginner’s resources are available at Upswingpoker.com
- More courses and community discussion are at: https://www.runitonce.com
- And for more advanced players: https://www.youtube.com/user/thepokerbank
Poker player Annie Duke uses the representative heuristic to her advantage. She often encounters opponents who make assumptions about her ability because she is a woman. She categorized her male opponents into three groups, based on how they treated her – the flirting chauvinist (who she’d be nice to, and distract); the disrespectful chauvinist (who underestimated her, so she’d be able to bluff); and the angry chauvinist (who would do anything to avoid being beaten by a women, so her response was to be patient and wait for them to become reckless).
There’s a specific match that Annie played where her opponent, Phil Hellmuth, provided the best example of the attribution bias I am aware of. In it, he “attributes all of Annie’s wins to luck, all of his own to skill” – and yet I can no longer find a URL to the video.