Managing Partner at Dragonfly. Effective Altruist. Airbnb, Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase) alum. Writer. Former poker pro. Donate 33% of my income to charity.
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I was in a coffeeshop a few weeks ago browsing the internet, when I came across this article by Glen Whitman called “The Two Things.” In it, he recounts the story of the Two Things.
A few years ago, I was chatting with a stranger in a bar. When I told him I was an economist, he said, “Ah. So… what are the Two Things about economics?”
“Huh?” I cleverly replied.
“You know, the Two Things. For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important.”
“Oh,” I said. “Okay, here are the Two Things about economics. One: Incentives matter. Two: There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Ever since that evening, I’ve been playing the Two Things game. Whenever I meet someone who belongs to a different profession (i.e., a profession I haven’t played this game with), or who knows something about a subject I’m unfamiliar with, I pose the Two Things question.
He then goes on to compile some interesting “Two Things” that people have come up with about their respective fields. Many of them were poignant, insightful, and a few of them were quite amusing.
The Two Things about English Literature:
- The text is really about writing.
- Writing is really about sex. -Marya
The Two Things about World Conquest:
- Divide and Conquer.
- Never invade Russia in the winter. -Tim Lee
So I thought to myself—well, I’m supposed to be an expert on poker. What are its Two Things? To work well, they’re supposed to be two principles of thought from which you could potentially derive all of poker theory. Every piece of strategy should boil down to these two principles. I thought about it for some time, and decided, if I were to try to simplify all of poker play and theory into two principles, it’d be these:
The Two Things about Poker:
Every piece of information narrows down handranges
People are bad at being random
You could surely invent other “Two Things” about more specific subjects such as live poker, tournaments, heads up, variance etc. This was just my first take on it. If any of you guys have ideas as to what you think are the Two Things about poker, leave a comment—I’d love to read them.
Until next time,
Today, I’ve got a special treat: I recorded a preview of the audiobook! Hear a great section from the book, “Tilt: the Customer is Always Right,” which teaches how to play optimally against a tilting player. Of course, you also get to enjoy my chocolatey voice in its full aural deliciousness. It’s okay, it’s not weird that you like it. It just makes you more of a man. [video] Hope...
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What’s the secret to playing pocket jacks? This is probably one of the most common questions in poker, and yet no one seems to have come up with a satisfactory answer to the question. Here, I’m going to examine why that is, and give you my own take on the answer. [video] If you guys enjoy this format, please leave a comment and let me know! Or if you have...
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