Ideas worth spreading

3 lessons on decision-making from a poker champion

3,772,783 views |

Liv Boeree |

TED2018

• April 2018

Is it better to be lucky or good? Should we trust our gut feelings or rely on probabilities and careful analysis when making important decisions? In this quick talk, professional poker player Liv Boeree shares three strategies she's learned from the game and how we can apply them to real life.

Is it better to be lucky or good? Should we trust our gut feelings or rely on probabilities and careful analysis when making important decisions? In this quick talk, professional poker player Liv Boeree shares three strategies she's learned from the game and how we can apply them to real life.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Check out Liv Boeree's website.

Learn more about Raising for Effective Giving, a charity co-founded by Liv Boeree.

About the speaker

Liv Boeree

Science communicator, games specialist

See speaker profile

Liv Boeree investigates how we make better decisions in an uncertain world.

Liv Boeree | TEDxManchester, 2018 | Watch

"A number speaks a thousand words"

This talk takes a deeper dive into quantification and probabilistic thinking. I explore the upsides of viewing life through a statistical lens and discuss some of the classic (and potentially deadly) estimation mistakes we make on a daily basis.

Eliezer Yudkowsky | Machine Intelligence Research Institute, 2017 | Book

How to Actually Change Your Mind

The best book on modern rationality I’ve ever read. It's technically a compilation of essays from LessWrong.com (also worth checking out), and it explores every bizarre nook and cranny of our belief-building systems.

Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner | Crown, 2015 | Book

Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction

This fantastic book explores what it takes to be a top forecaster. Prediction skills are essential for anyone trying to make good decisions (both on and off the poker table), and this book is crammed full of valuable habits and techniques.

Julia Galef | TEDxPSU 2016 | Watch

"Why you think you're right -- even if you're wrong"

This talk beautifully explores the concept of "motivated reasoning" — a mistake that befalls all of us from time to time (and tends to be very costly at the poker table!)

Scott Alexander | Slate Star Codex, 2014 | Article

"Meditations on Moloch"

This isn’t directly related to this talk, but it is one of the best pieces of writing I’ve ever seen on the internet and I want more people to read it!

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Check out Liv Boeree's website.

Learn more about Raising for Effective Giving, a charity co-founded by Liv Boeree.