Decision Science

Th e Dopamine Power Diet—In Search of the “All-In” Button "I' ll take things that I know for $1,000 Alex! NLH has the short-term effect of windfalls of buckets of luck. That generates a roller coaster ride of greed, invincibility and fantasy ---a flood of dopamine that signals to our bodies that something good has happened. It’s not the win, but the suggestion of it that generates pleasure in the brain, rewards anticipation. Now, for the first time, you can actually get inside the black box, when your game crashes with Neuroeconomics--making "emotional" decisions and their economic sigificance. Brain scientists , who with Hotel Anyware's help, will be the writing the new Super System and (behavioral)Theory of Poker. Chapter One Teaser: AN I for an I , 'See it with your mind's eye.' is so pre Twin Towers 9/11. Reif shows us that our mind is our eye.What we think is what we see, and what we see directs how we act. Not only does the authors mak...

Live At The Bike OVER AND OUT! ---The Bicycle Casino Tonight With Jamie Gold, 2006 WSOP Champion. "Since you didn't write a book yet," I told him, "the only thing I can imitate about your game is the Blueberries". (He ate them constantly during the World Series, and credits them with his win--because they are a super "brain food" Leaving Las Vegan I bought 4 pints of Blueberries, before I went to play poker and channeled Jamie! I had no idea he would be playing last night so it was a "meaningful coincidence" or was I Being Fooled By Randomness again....the architecture of my own brain that thinks things are happening by chance when they are actually happening by design. I got to talk story with The Oracle, Jamie Gold , and yes he does possess Christ-like healing powers. I could care less if I ever played cash games again. The chip swings are too huge. Just Like I left Las Vegan , and started eating egg whites again (that's chick...

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you want! Brick walls are there for a reason - they let us prove how badly we want things. Play the Hand that you're dealt. I wish I had said these things, but Randy Pausch, did; the Carnegie Mellon Prof who died two weeks ago at 47 to cancer. Here's his last lecture, made famous by You tube: (His last words are 76 minutes long! so even if you watch just a bit of it, you'll be inspired) Here are the "Cliff Notes" Always have fun Dream big Ask for what you want Dare to take a risk Look for the best in everybody Make time for what matters Let kids be themselves "How do you get people to help you? By telling the truth. Being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term." * "Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself. How do I make a concrete example of that? See, yesterday was my wife...

Your Brain on Poker Your Brain On Poker and Decision Your bankroll increases when the LEFT brain gets good at telling the RIGHT brain what to do. How does it help to know that you're literally "of two minds"? The Limbic RIGHT and Analytic LEFT. "My brain made me re-buy!" The one lives in the United States of unconsciousness —on insta-call and auto-pilot. The other lives in Singapore, a happy dictatorship of rules and reason. So what should our nervous system do? Analysis is Paralysis Think Long. Think Wrong. The money-making potential of this idea in your game should not be underestimated. Your bankroll increases when the left brain gets good at telling the right brain what to do. If you can name your demon, you have a chance to banish it. What motivates you to call or fold, or go all in—fear, or disgust? What inspires you—the desire to gain something new and exciting—or maybe you just have the st...

The Power of NEW-Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, verses The Power of NOW--Staying in the Moment is poker mastery. There are four basic stages that a player must pass through to achieve poker mastery: 1. Beginner's Passion "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's there are few." Shunryu Suzuki 2. The Student Emerges "He is now forced to admit that he is at the mercy of e veryone who is stronger, more nimble and more practiced than he." Eugen Herrigel 3. Expert Level is Achieved "He who has a hundred miles to walk should reckon ninety as half the journey" Japanese Proverb 4. Poker, One Hand at a Time "If one really wishes to be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an 'artless art' growing out of the Uncon scious" Daisetz T. Suzuki "When the teacher is ready the student appears...

You can always tell poker players, but you can’t tell them much. Poker is not a game of cards played with money—It is a game of money played with cards. It is about M-O-N-E-Y., but too much respect for money makes you a bad no limit player. High Stakes Poker is not about winning, it is a game about excelling, and making good decisions. More than that, it is not the winning, but the losing, that makes a winner in No Limit Holdem. Whether your decision is good or bad depends on how you make it, not on the outcome. Bad beats happen, and they usually happen from making correct decisions. Anyone can get lucky once 100% of the time. That's poker. The Secret is about the law of attraction and results—the secret of high stakes poker is the complete opposite! The way to get better is to think about process not results—focus on better decision making and ignoring short term results. Everyday Players enjoy the risk associated with winning; and are for the most part, risk averse--they d...

Comment | Copy This In ABC by the book holdem--A is for Aces---- Poker is a game of maximizing wins (when you have the best hand) and minimizing loss (when you don't have the best hand). In the last hundred hours of play I have had pocket aces 25+ times, and they held up about 80% of the time. This is really a rare incredible run. Although against a random hand, they do tend to hold up more. In the long term, I look at the profitability of my pocket aces rather than the number of times they win or lose. To maximize profit with them, I make a conscious effort to minimize my losses when I am clearly going to lose a showdown. Going all-in preflop is a good strategy. It takes the guess work out of post flop play---but it doesn't minimize losses. At the end of the day, it's all about how many chips are coming back to your stack. The more you put in pre-flop, the more you should get out of the pot when it's all said and done. Sometimes, I like my opponent...