Podcasts Education Self-Improvement Conversations with Tyler Annie Duke on Poker, Probabilities, and How We Make Decisions

Annie Duke on Poker, Probabilities, and How We Make Decisions

Published: July 1, 2020, noon

For Annie Duke, the poker table is a perfect laboratory to study human decision-making\u200a\u2014\u200aincluding her own. \u201cIt really exposes you to the way that you\u2019re thinking,\u201d she says, \u201chow hard it is to avoid decision traps, even when you\u2019re perfectly well aware that those decision traps exist. And how easy it is for like your mind to slip into those traps.\u201d She\u2019s spent a lot of time studying human cognition at the poker table and off it\u200a\u2014\u200aher best-known academic article is about psycholinguistics and her forthcoming book is titled How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices.

Annie joined Tyler to explore how payoffs aren\u2019t always monetary, the benefits and costs of probabilistic thinking, the \u201cmagical thinking\u201d behind why people buy fire insurance but usually don\u2019t get prenups, the psychology behind betting on shark migrations, how her most famous linguistics paper took on Steven Pinker, how public policy would change if only the top 500 poker players voted, why she wasn\u2019t surprised to lose Celebrity Apprentice to Joan Rivers, whether Trump has a tell, the number one trait of top poker players, and more.

Read a\xa0full transcript\xa0enhanced with helpful links, or watch the\xa0full video.

Recorded June 24th, 2020

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