Jadrian and Matt recorded their final episode from the JET SET conference - this one with Eric Dunaway from Wabash College. During the conference, we learned that Eric teaches a really interesting class on poker at Wabash, and he was gracious enough to sit down with us for a half hour to talk about his class and poker more broadly. He has some fascinating insights on how we can use poker to teach economics. We bet we love you’ll love it!
In this episode, we discuss:
Eric’s course on poker that he teaches at Wabash
How to get students to take poker seriously when you can’t make them gamble
How game theory and probability theory came from poker
How all of life’s big decisions are like poker
And a whole lot more!
Catch up on some old episodes:
You can also listen to us on Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, and Apple Podcasts. If one of these is your go-to podcast service, be sure to rate us and subscribe!
Watch this episode on YouTube:
Some show notes:
This is one of the rare shows where none of us have drinks because we’re recording during the lunch break at the conference. Our drink of choice for that moment in time was just some water. The episode is completely about the intersection of poker and economics, but you may be like Jadrian who knows close to nothing about poker. If that’s you, check out this video on the most popular game, Texas Holdem:
Throughout the episode, we learn about how poker can be used to teach us a lot of interesting skills. One of the big corollaries between life and poker is that we regularly make decisions without complete information. Being able to connect the assumptions we often place on our models through a lens of real life makes the course much more applicable beyond how to become a better poker player. One of Eric’s favorite lessons from the course is:
You can do everything right and still lose.
Eric discusses the setup of his class, which focuses on economics concepts but includes playing poker every other week. It’s important to get better at playing poker, but it’s also important to make sure students are learning economics as well. One fun segment of the show asked Eric & Matt to create a “Mount Rushmore of Poker” of Hall of Fame poker players.
Matt & Eric also discuss a book they both liked - The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova. Maria is a psychologist by training and got into poker with lessons from one of the best in the world, Erik Seidel - and shares her adventures playing $10,000 poker tournaments.
Did we miss a concept that would have been cool to cover or perhaps you have your own “Top 4” of poker players? Let us know by leaving a comment!
This week’s pop culture references:
Eric brings up what is one of - if not the - most popular poker movies of all time - Rounders. If you haven’t seen it yet be sure to check it out. Here is a clip from the law school professor’s poker game:
Share this post