IQ/Poker/David Sklansky

[wins_pot]

Like Howard Lederer, I am a competitive chess player turned poker player. When I'm honest with myself, I know that one of the reasons I made this switch is intellectual insecurity (turns out that this is not an uncommon trait among 2+2ers). I know I'm pretty smart (I'm a Phd student at Harvard), but I resent it when I have to admit to myself that someone else is unarguably smarter than I am. In chess, I had to do this quite often. In poker, I pretty much never have to do it, becuase variance befriends my ego -- I can attribute my good results to skill and my bad results to chance. I've talked with David Sklansky a few times and he strikes me as one of the more intellectually insecure people I've ever met. He's very smart -- but he is several levels below a first-rate talent such as Chris Ferguson. Poker is a game that allows people like David to believe that he is, in fact, a first-rate talent. I can't fault him for it -- I'm attracted to the game for the same reason. -wins_pot