Razors: For Decision Making
Dogfooding Your Poker Strategy
Just like in startups, the best poker players test their own strategies in real time—adapting, learning, and refining their approach with every hand played, embracing a fail fast, fail forward mentality to quickly adjust and improve.
Applying Razors in Poker
In decision-making, a "razor" is a principle or heuristic that helps simplify complex decisions by cutting through unnecessary details and focusing on key factors. In poker, applying razors can enhance strategic thinking:
- Occam's Razor: The simplest explanation is usually the correct one—if an opponent plays like they have a strong hand, they probably do.
- Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence—some players aren’t bluffing geniuses, they just don’t know what they’re doing.
- Ed's Razor: Never be afraid to fold a good hand to a better player—sometimes, the best move is knowing when to let go.
Modern Razors for Decision Making & Poker
Iterate or Die: The relentless pursuit of innovation.
Zero to One Thinking: Playing to win, not just to compete.
Fail Forward: The art of rapid experimentation.
First Principles Only: Rethinking poker from the ground up.
Think Different: The psychology of high-stakes strategy.
Exponential Growth: Scaling your game like a startup.
Maverick Mindset: Breaking rules, making moves.
Risk is a Feature, Not a Bug: Mastering uncertainty.
Disrupt or Be Disrupted: The future of poker strategy.
Don’t Play the Hand, Play the Player: Understanding human OS.
Moonshot Thinking: Betting big, winning bigger.
The Poker Singularity: Where AI meets human instinct.
Master the Meta: Seeing what others miss.
Skin in the Game: High-stakes lessons from tech titans.
The Next Move is Yours: Thinking ten steps ahead.
Asymmetric Bets: When small risks lead to massive wins.
Play to Win, Not to Look Smart.
The Bluff Economy: Trust, deception, and market forces.
From First Mover to Monopoly: Controlling the game.
Hard Things Are Worth Doing: The grit of a champion.
Poker-Inspired Quotes from Thought Leaders
Jensen Huang: "Smart players focus on the right hands."
Elon Musk: "When the pot is big enough, you go all-in, even if the odds aren't in your favor."
Sheryl Sandberg: "A quick fold is better than a perfect bluff."
Tim Cook: "Let your instincts guide your bets."
Susan Wojcicki: "Play smart, win the pot, and enjoy the game."
Marc Andreessen: "Strategy is eating the table."
Satya Nadella: "Empathy makes you a better reader of the table."