What can poker teach you about decision-making under uncertainty? A lot, it turns out. This semester's Poker Class elective put probabilistic thinking, game theory, and cognitive biases to the test: hands-on, across live tournaments.

For the final session, we had the honor of welcoming Fedor Holz for an open Q&A. He started playing poker with school friends at 16, grinded through two years with no money, and by 22 was the world's #1 online poker player, before conquering live tournaments too.

Some takeaways that stuck with us:

♥️ It's not the most gifted who win, but those who select the smartest games. Play in pools that are too good for you, and you will lose.
♦️ Judge decisions by expected value, not outcome. Even at the very top, he lost money on 78% of days. Resilience is a trainable skill, built through deliberate self-reflection, journaling, mentoring.
♣️ His obsession: reading opponents' tells while giving nothing away, down to blinking rates and how people look at their cards.
♠️ Don't plateau. Most people are fine becoming decent, motivated by money. Growth is a different game.

Today, Fedor applies the same principles beyond the table: as a professional investor and as the backer of his community of poker players.

Thank you, Fedor, for the candid insights, and a big thank you to Samuel Valenzuela for organizing this elective!

#CDTM #DecisionMaking #Poker

Originally posted on LinkedIn · View the original post