In early 2017, Kit Cooper interview World Series of Poker champion Annie Duke. During the interview, Annie spoke of a number of exciting topics that would be covered in her then-forthcoming book ‘Thinking In Bets’ and these included the way during job interviews she provoked the job candidates to show their true selves so that she could read their “tells.” As mean as that may sound, interviewing candidates is something that Annie really enjoys especially because she believes that to peek into people’s souls you have to make them uncomfortable.
Her stellar recruiting skills aside, Annie’s brilliant book was released earlier this year and it is worth the wait. Well, she has, of course, had a decent number of well-received books over the years but ‘Thinking In Bets’ changed things up, more so because it was her debut into the broader business strategy genre.
What It Is All About
This piece is completely spoiler free so you need not worry about that. But just to get you even more excited I will be giving you a sneak peek into what makes the book a worthwhile read not just for poker players and gamblers but also for any being that is interested in life and business. Life and business – everything revolves around these two concepts these days anyway.
Annie’s approach offers a well-crafted and reasonable balance between memorable real-world analogies as well as some pretty in-depth behavioural science studies. Yes, that is right. Annie is a University of Pennsylvania psychology graduate and combined with her professional poker playing experience her takes on decision analysis are somewhat mind-blowing.
In the book’s introduction, she notes that “…a bet really is: a decision about an unknown future.”
Some of the Best Takeaways
Unlike in chess where there is no hidden aspect and very little luck plays a role in the final outcome, each and every poker hand is an imitation of real life. Case in point, resources have to be committed in one way or the other before some specific information is revealed or becomes known. Even as additional cards are dealt, the information revealed does not really suffice and not one player can claim to be absolutely in control of everything, not until the hand is complete. An even better explanation would be the fact that players do not show their card when they fold and this directly implies that the information is never completely known.
Okay, that’s it. No more spoilers. Happy reading!