So shifting gears from investing, here's an interesting video about poker, written by none other than Phil Galfond, about an interesting variation of poker called Pot Limit Omaha (PLO). So far, this is head and shoulders above and beyond anything else written on the subject. In PLO, instead of having 2 hole cards like in No Limit, all players start out with 4 hole cards, but must use 2 of the 4 hole cards (so a board with 4 suited hearts would not complete a flush for you if you only held 1 heart in your hand). Among our friends, there's one guy (let's call him "Mr. Celtics") who really plays PLO at casinos, so in our home games, Mr. Celtics is more positive EV than Jaws in the 100 meter Freestyle event.
I don't know Phil personally or have ever played against him, but think he has always helpful insight on poker. In his ability to articulate clearly with a strong chain of logic, Galfond is similar to Warren Buffett or Peter Lynch; anyone can really follow why he advises a certain action in a certain situation. If you search his other videos on YouTube, you'll see in many situations he makes incredible calls because he's able to think through why his opponent would make a specific bet. He's also a pretty straight up guy, many times being open about trust in gambling. In one post, he alluded to the fact that most pro poker players you see on TV have less wealth than what you would think (which is confirmed by friends who have played professionally).
Onto the juicy analysis, throughout the video, Phil advocates "balance", a very elegant and rich word when it comes to poker. As a player, you want your opponents to be afraid that you are capable of making a wide range of plays and bluffs. Also, there is a good discussion on dangerous boards and hands which are can be dominated, hence resulting in winning small pots and losing huge ones (in trading lingo, "short tail" trades). Personally, I found it helped for my No Limit game.
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