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."