The Biggest Bluff

One of the most important lessons of poker strategy, intimately connected to self-assessment, is this: sometimes, it’s the hands you don’t play that win you the title. We remember the hero calls. What about the hero folds? What you don’t do rather than what you do—that can be greatness. The art of letting go can be the truly strong one. Acknowledgi

often skew the randomness so that

It turns out that students who were in the “lucky” seats were consistently

“Less certainty. More inquiry.”

if you want to improve your odds, understand probabilities; if you want a sure thing, rig the deck.

some chips in the middle: he has made the

How much time and emotional energy we’d save if we simply learned to ask ourselves why they acted as they did, rather than judge, make presumptions, and react.

Remember: objective reality doesn’t actually matter. Subjective perception, and your ability to tune into it accurately, is key to the win.

The relationship between our awareness of chance and our skill is a U‑curve. No skill: chance looms high. Relatively high skill: chance recedes. Expert level: you once again see your shortcomings and realize that no matter your skill level, chance has a strong role to play. In poker and in life, the learning pattern is identical.