Poker and giving: REG-Fest on the WSOP

I signed up for REG in time to win poker training on the WSOP with German high-rollers Phil Grussiem and Igor Kurganov. REG, which stands for "Raising for Effective Giving" is a non-profit that Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree, Phil and Igor founded. REG encourages poker players to pledge 2% in their gross earnings to one of the best charities within the world, using the critical thinking they apply in poker to maximise impact.

Phil, Liv, and Igor (photo courtesy: Daniel Meyrom)

Poker and effective giving fit together in a couple of ways in which compelled me to sign up for REG.

1. Visualizing

Three REG members won the WSOP poker training, including my friend, Alexis Gilbard. Igor talked to us about how he visually narrows his range during a hand like with Equilab (a program we were being silly with to investigate a hand, see screenshot.) He sees combos disappear as others crystallize, bearing in mind quicker and clearer decision making. I LIKE the speculation of thinking more efficiently in poker by visualizing a spread in preference to using math and words to figure things out. Within the first game I studied, chess, watching the pieces move around to your brain isn't just a technique to get good, it is the only solution to get good.

When I first started teaching chess to mathematician and WSOP bracelet winner Bill Chen poker, his mind approached chess more like a kid than an adult. In a global where eight year olds make national master and adults find it very difficult to enhance significantly, that could be a compliment. As opposed to using language to explain moves, Bill moved the pieces around in his head.

Philosopher & writer Peter Singer uses visualization in forming one of the crucial theoretical framework behind effective giving. Singer presents ethical thought experiments combining mobility and inequality. AN ORDINARY Singer visual is "you simply bought $200 jeans, you notice a kid drowning in a lake, would you ruin your jeans to be able to save the kid"? Singer then argues that $200 can be utilized at any time to avoid wasting lives, as a result of effective charities in areas where a dollar goes far. There are counters to Singer's logic, but his persuasion is determined by imagination.

2. Time is Money

I spend about three months per annum in Saint Louis, the capital of chess in America. The benefactor and president of the club, Rex Sinquefield, developed the primary index fund. Rex may be my chess student, so in between rook endings, I've had a possibility to invite him for some basic financial advice. Luckily, his wisdom was not too complicated: Put money into the market after which neglect it, don't attempt to beat the market.

Every hour I save from reading about investing online may well be used to truly generate income in stuff that I DO KNOW more about. Although I theoretically lost some small amount from not investing perfectly, I'd likely make it back with the additional time I'd must work.

Similarly, REG and the concept that of effective giving means that you can "stand at the shoulders of giants", and entrust in research on effective giving. The theory is to avoid wasting time to do what you do best (poker perhaps?) so that you have more cash to spend and provides anyway. As Phil tweeted:

3. Freedom

Give Directly is the top ranked charity at the rigorous non-profit evaluation site, Give Well, and likewise a top pick of REG. I first heard about Give Directly on NPR, where I learned that so far, giving money on to those in most need has provided more value at the dollar than providing or building something more specific (like schools or wells). I DISCOVERED this surprising and galvanizing.

Poker players are sometimes interested in the sport as a result of free lifestyle. But till I heard of Give Directly, it never occurred to me that freedom generally is a tenet of donating.

4. Multi-Tabling

Liv, Igor and Phil's impact reaches beyond their very own personal donations, that's a guideline of REG: "WITH A PURPOSE TO get the top impact per amount of cash donated, it can be crucial to seem for methods to move "meta"...By motivating many others to donate as well, you will multiply the impact of one's personal donations."

As Daniel Negreanu talked about in a contemporary blog post, this public approach counters old school manners to offer quietly.

After busting the principle Event, I bumped into Igor and told him a couple of hand that I played differently due to the lesson. Though I lost the hand, I USED TO BE still happy about my decisions in it, that I USED TO BE progressing on the end of a tricky summer. As he went off to the following meeting or tournament, proudly wearing his REG patch, he said: "THAT IS THE spirit."

Jen Shahade is PokerStars' Mind Sports Ambassador

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