May 6, 2019· 31 min

How A Poker Pro 'Reads' His Opponents

Orality
Model
88%
Highly oral (epic poetry, sermons, hip-hop)

Speaker Breakdown

HostTracy Alloway(626 words)
M:29%
HostJoe Weisenthal(1,580 words)
M:94%
GuestZachary Elwood(3,621 words)
M:28%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic46%
totally, obviously, very
Engagement80%
you, our, your
Memory Aids100%
listen, so, okay
Repetition100%
know (123x), like (61x), poker (55x)
Parallelism93%
So have you heard the story ab..., And I'm Tracy Alloway...., But go on....
Sound Patterns66%
41 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"
Formulaic Phrases6%
you know what, i mean

Literate Indicators

Hedging10%
could, maybe, may
Passive Voice7%
were when, being inspired, be tied
Abstract Nouns15%
investment, prescription, medication
Subordination10%
because, since, until
Sentence Length51%
Avg: 17.6 words/sentence
Word Complexity45%
investment, analyze, anticipate
Academic Markers0%
Impersonal Style20%
497 personal pronouns found
Descriptive Style100%
automatically, family, recently

Description

Whenever poker is depicted on a TV show or in a movie there's a lot of emphasis placed on the art and science of reading the physical cues that players give off accidentally when attempting to conceal the motivations behind their bets. Poker pros call these "tells." Even though tells are overrated as a source of significant alpha at a poker table (and their significance is diminished even more when playing online) they can still be important. On this week's podcast, we speak to Zachary Elwood, a former pro poker player who has authored multiple books on tells and how to read them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.