Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts
Published:2018
Pages:288
ISBN:9780735216358
Categories:
Business & Economics / Decision-Making & Problem SolvingPsychology / Cognitive Psychology & CognitionBusiness & Economics / Strategic Planning

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

by Annie Duke

BookTribes Community Rating

4.0
/ 5.0from 1 reader

Want to see how readers with YOUR taste rate this book?

Rate 3 books to find your tribe

Rate This Book

How would you rate this book?

💬 Discussions

Sign Up to Discuss
Loading discussions...

Buy This Book

As an Amazon Associate, BookTribes may earn a small commission from purchases. This never influences our recommendations or rankings. These links help support the site at no extra cost to you.

About This Book

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Poker champion turned business consultant Annie Duke teaches you how to get comfortable with uncertainty and make better decisions as a result in “the ultimate guide to thinking about risk” (Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit).
 
“A big favorite among investors these days.”—The New York Times

“Outstanding.”—Jason Zweig, The Wall Street Journal

In Super Bowl XLIX, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made one of the most controversial calls in football history: With 26 seconds remaining, and trailing by four at the Patriots' one-yard line, he called for a pass instead of a hand off to his star running back. The pass was intercepted and the Seahawks lost. Critics called it the dumbest play in history. But was the call really that bad? Or did Carroll actually make a great move that was ruined by bad luck?

Even the best decision doesn't yield the best outcome every time. There's always an element of luck that you can't control, and there is always information that is hidden from view. So the key to long-term success (and avoiding worrying yourself to death) is to think in bets: How sure am I? What are the possible ways things could turn out? What decision has the highest odds of success? Did I land in the unlucky 10% on the strategy that works 90% of the time? Or is my success attributable to dumb luck rather than great decision making?

Annie Duke, a former World Series of Poker champion turned business consultant, draws on examples from business, sports, politics, and (of course) poker to share tools anyone can use to embrace uncertainty and make better decisions. For most people, it's difficult to say "I'm not sure" in a world that values and, even, rewards the appearance of certainty. But professional poker players are comfortable with the fact that great decisions don't always lead to great outcomes and bad decisions don't always lead to bad outcomes.

By shifting your thinking from a need for certainty to a goal of accurately assessing what you know and what you don't, you'll be less vulnerable to reactive emotions, knee-jerk biases, and destructive habits in your decision making. You'll become more confident, calm, compassionate and successful in the long run.