How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
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How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
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Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#2It's ironic that von Neumann said that poker isn't susceptible to computation while a few decades later, the game theory that he invented was used to create poker bots that are provably (within epsilon) unbeatable.
Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#3There are many, many life lessons I have drawn from my youth spent playing poker semi-professionally. Perhaps the most consistently useful one was that, as mentioned in the article, one's performance should not be assessed purely on the outcome.
In poker, you can play perfectly and still lose. That is true in almost every field of life. Or, to give it more nuance, you can play exceptionally well and only win a little, whereas someone has had greater luck can play relatively poorly and win a lot.
Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#4It's ironic that von Neumann said that poker isn't susceptible to computation while a few decades later, the game theory that he invented was used to create poker bots that are provably (within epsilon) unbeatable.
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Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#5It's ironic that von Neumann said that poker isn't susceptible to computation while a few decades later, the game theory that he invented was used to create poker bots that are provably (within epsilon) unbeatable.
This is what I thought as well. The article highlights some differences in game structure and how that impacts strategies, but the whole cut off between perfect information and imperfect information seems fetched since in both cases it's humans responding to stimuli and computers being able to do that more effectively. And what I took away from poker in the early '00s was that even bluffing is optimization albeit under uncertainty. Counting the outs etc. to make informed bluffs, not random ones. Well it got me a year of tuition but it was boring as hell playing six screen no fold'em holdem. What was more interesting looking back was the building of databases of hands to spot regular fishes at tables and waiting for a seat there.
Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#6An anecdote: I play a “home” online poker game with friends every Friday since quarantine started. It has been a great way to have some weekend fun and hangout (we zoom while we play). I love the “all-in” moments when you see the odds displayed for each hand and there’s still at least a turn/river left to watch. Watching the odds play out and seeing the occasional 3% chance win is so fun. I’d love to see odds annotations on more things, maybe it would be a cool AR feature.
Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#7I had a game that made me better at life once.
Back in the 90's, I played a game called Command & Conquer. And if I used all my resources, I could attack an enemy base and defeat it. But on one game, I didn't leave enough resources behind to survive a counter attack. I replayed it over and over each time, to my surprise, making the same mistake. I finally forced myself to have more of a backup.
And I realized that I was living my life that way. I had very little in the way of backup. In my mind, it took away from whatever I was trying to do. "Why have savings? That money could be spent on my project!" It was a good lesson and I owe it to that moment, in that game.
Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#8I'm not really sure why they chose Among Us as an alternative to poker. Sure, it has a little chance and unknown information, but among us is really more of a social study to see how easily people can be swayed into voting people off.
In my experience if I talk confidently and get the first word in it's pretty easy to cast aside suspicion. In fact, one meta strategy is to kill someone, then report the body yourself and immediately accuse someone else. I've done this when someone witnessed me killing someone, and I actually got -them- voted off. It's all good and fun but I did feel rather scummy for a bit after. :)
Another strategy is to follow someone for a bit in the beginning, such that if you were the imposter you could've killed them, leading them to trust you. Then in voting sessions that person will likely vouch for you.
Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#9The advantage of games is that you can combine unbiased evaluation, the opportunity of a short cycle and minimal cost (mostly time).
Most superior mammals are learning by playing for a reason.
Re: How poker and a spaceship imposter game make you better at life
#10An anecdote: I play a “home” online poker game with friends every Friday since quarantine started. It has been a great way to have some weekend fun and hangout (we zoom while we play). I love the “all-in” moments when you see the odds displayed for each hand and there’s still at least a turn/river left to watch. Watching the odds play out and seeing the occasional 3% chance win is so fun. I’d love to see odds annotat…
What do you use to play?