For Annie Duke, the poker table is a perfect laboratory to study human decision-making — including her own. “It really exposes you to the way that you’re thinking,” she says, “how hard it is to avoid decision traps, even when you’re perfectly well aware that those decision traps exist. And how easy it is for like your mind to slip into those traps.” She’s spent a lot of time studying human cognition at the poker table and off it — her 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’t always monetary, the benefits and costs of probabilistic thinking, the “magical thinking” behind why people buy fire insurance but usually don’t 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’t surprised to lose Celebrity Apprentice to Joan Rivers, whether Trump has a tell, the number one trait of top poker players, and more.
Follow us on Twitter and IG: @cowenconvos
Email: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Follow Annie on Twitter
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Newsletter
Coleman Hughes on Colorblindness, Jazz, and Identity
Peter Thiel on Political Theology
Jonathan Haidt on Adjusting to Smartphones and Social Media
Fareed Zakaria on the Age of Revolutions, the Power of Ideas, and the Rewards of Intellectual Curiosity
Marilynne Robinson on Biblical Interpretation, Calvinist Thought, and Religion in America
Marc Andreessen on AI and Dynamism
Marc Rowan on Financial Market Evolution and University Governance
Masaaki Suzuki on Interpreting Bach
Ami Vitale on Photojournalism and Wildlife Conservation
Rebecca F. Kuang on National Literatures, Book Publishing, and History in Fiction
Patrick McKenzie on Navigating Complex Systems
Conversations with Tyler 2023 Retrospective
Fuchsia Dunlop on the Story of Chinese Food
John Gray on Pessimism, Liberalism, and Theism
Jennifer Burns on Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand
Brian Koppelman on TV, Movies, and Appreciating Art
Githae Githinji on Life in Kenya
Harriet Karimi Muriithi on Life in Kenya
Stephen Jennings on Building New Cities
Jacob Mikanowski on Eastern Europe
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall
The No-Frills Teacher Podcast
Heal, Survive & Thrive!
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast