Party Poker Blog

I sure get some interesting emails sometimes. This is from an old, old friend of mine.

I'm not sure what to tell him - any ideas? I guess I need to get on the phone with him and find out what he's really looking for, per se.

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Subject: Humans: the predictably unpredictable species

Wondering if I could pick your brain regarding real-time adversarial reasoning, both online and in the flesh. Given your background, you seem the most qualified person to ask.

Either on the phone, online or face-to-face you've been through quite a bit of adversarial dodge-ball over the years. So I'll cut straight to the point; if you have time I'd be most interested to know the in and out of how you go about flushing out the intentionality of your 'opponents' while at the same time obfuscating your intentions or at least try to come off as helpful/harmless. I know I'm asking a lot, but most literature on game theory doesn't portend anticipation of adversarial/deceptive tactics and/or intentions. So I was hoping you could think about it a bit and maybe write back or call with some insights.

How do you get a person talking (in the game)?
What do you look for? Personality types? Roles? Insecurities? Over-confidence?
From an initial read on their 'posturing' can you placate them with rote gestures or is it catch-as-catch-can for the most part?

Like folding a winning hand, shifting play styles, dealing with the 'low chip-holder' brand and recognizing when someone else if playing deceptively (which I would assume is fairly often). I guess I'm mostly asking how to be predictive of others while remaining unpredictable yourself. If you can give it some thought and get back with me it'd be in your debt. There just isn't much out there on adversarial (me or you) game theory (beyond the, yawn, prisoner's dilemma). To some degree it's all adversarial, but not to the point of deception and exploitation.

If your plate is full, just tell me to bugger off; no hard feelings. Maybe you could recommend some good books, articles, movies, etc. at least.

Take it easy.. ~s