There were two aspects of the poker chapter that I found most interesting. One was the psychology (which was also applicable in the chess chapter) - saying everyone will occasionally "tilt" (never heard that before) - playing when they shouldn't, when they are tired or frustrated, etc. - not playing at their best. In the chess chapter, Silver talked about Kasperov being intimidated when the computer did a move he didn't understand. It turns out the computer was making a random move, but Kasperov thought the computer must be capable of thinking really far ahead. Was it a Jets player who recently said that when they are playing their best, the Jets are the best team in the NFL? A totally pointless thing to say, since no team plays at their absolute best all the time.
I also liked the graph in the poker chapter that showed effort/study vs. results. At first, just a little bit of studying and tips will help someone do much better (this is also true in chess). But once you're pretty good, it takes a LOT of work to improve just a little. I totally see this in chess. I studied the basics, and let my husband spend some time teaching me things, but now, for me to get better, it would take some serious effort, and I'm just not willing to put that much time into it.
