Poker can help players develop invaluable life skills such as risk analysis and strategic decision making. Plus, playing gives participants an opportunity to form lasting connections.
Join Tyler and Annie as they explore topics like:
Daniel Negreanu
Daniel Negreanu is an award-winning professional poker player, boasting six World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour championship titles. In addition, he has appeared in various television programs like High Stakes Poker (all seven seasons) and the Big Game (2 episodes).
COWEN: When young people come to you expressing an interest in becoming top poker players, what signs would you use as indicators that they have the necessary talent and temperament?
Establishing your DC’s motivations for playing poker can be an excellent way to start a dialogue. A shared interest is always great, but finding more things in common will allow for faster bonding; perhaps they wear their favorite team’s jersey or have their own fashion sense that distinguishes them at the table? Discussing such topics is surefire way of breaking the ice quickly and creating lasting bonds with one another.
Chris Moneymaker
Moneymaker’s victory at the World Series of Poker Main Event stands out as one of the greatest stories ever told in poker. An accountant by day and part-time online poker player by night, Moneymaker qualified for the tournament through winning an $86 satellite tournament on PokerStars before going on to claim victory and scoop $2.5 Million as prize money.
Moneymaker quickly established himself as one of the key figures in poker after his victory, penning a book chronicling his journey and continuing to play tournament poker and make charitable donations.
Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari and Gus Hansen all received significant exposure due to his win at the World Series of Poker Main Event broadcasts on ESPN. Furthermore, Hansen believes that poker has grown increasingly popular due to state-by-state legalized gambling expansion and increased TV coverage of tournaments; yet still believes there’s much room for its growth in terms of popularity.
Phil Ivey
Phil Ivey has won ten World Series of Poker bracelets and appeared at nine World Poker Tour final tables, becoming an icon in poker lore as one of its greatest players ever.
Soon after he started playing Poker at 23 he quickly rose to become one of the best-known names in gaming. His knack for assessing risks and making calculated calls earned him the nickname ‘The Phenom’.
COWEN: What makes you most satisfied about poker, winning or the process itself?
At its best, poker is at its most exciting when you analyze an opponent’s behavior and make the appropriate call. I compare this experience to being in a boardroom or negotiation table trying to negotiate the best deal with limited information available – that patience and consistency make great poker players.
Annie Duke
Annie Duke made headlines after an impressive poker career that she decided to put all her energies toward charity work and writing books about critical thinking and decision-making, such as How I Decide and Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts.
She provides lectures on subjects ranging from decision fitness, emotional control and productive decision groups, sunk cost analysis and accepting uncertainty to her signature energetic and personable presentation style that has attracted audiences such as sales forces at Gaylord Resorts, Pandora Radio, Tremor Video and International Academy of Trial Lawyers as well as numerous YPO/EO groups across the United States.
In the early 2000s she was embroiled in two of the biggest cheating scandals to rock online poker involving her brother Howard Lederer and Ultimate Bet. However, she persevered through and helped launch Epic Poker League which has since disbanded.
