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Carlos and Andrew go all in on strategy, discussing how to adapt to new rules and variants (like the new GG Poker final table rules) and how to play from the small blind versus limpers.
Our earlier episode, recorded live in Cherokee NC, was Episode 314.
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Thanks Andrew and Carlos for an entertaining podcast, episode 367. Enjoyed it, as always!
Your description of the new final table seat change rules is somewhat analogous to the way we play Kris Kringle (i.e. Secret Santa) in our family, and given it’s the Christmas season I thought I’d write in and explain.
Everyone coming to Christmas lunch buys a present (maximum value 20 Ozzie dollars), wraps it, and draws a random number (1 to 12 say). Person 1 chooses a gift at random and opens it. Person 2 can take person 1’s gift, or choose a new present. Person 3 can choose either an already open gift, or open a new one, and so on. Person 12 is like the player with the largest stack, and has 11 gifts to choose from (or he can take a gamble on the last unopened gift). Some years we play that after all the gifts are open we go back to person 1 to make one final swap if they so choose – in that case person 1 is ‘in position’.
Some years we play that there can only be one gift exchange per round, but if the actuaries and software engineers in the family have their way there can be multiple swaps in a round. If someone takes your gift you can take someone else’s gift instead of an unopened one (with the only proviso you can’t select a gift that has already been taken away from you in a particular round, else we have an infinite loop).
So what is the optimum strategy in the Xmas game of Kris Kringle? Naturally I mean a pure version of the game where everyone judges the relative value of the gifts the same: in practice the 10 year old nephew is going for the toy; uncle Bob will go for the bottle of liqueur. Obviously, unless you’re the last to act, you shouldn’t go for the best gift.
If you’re person number m, you should swap for the nth worst gift, if you get the chance, and you’ve come out ahead if n>m and no one takes it away from you. It’s quite a complicated GTO puzzle what n is as a function of m!
I actually think the poker seat selection problem is even more challenging though: you can seat yourself to the maniac’s left but he later gets moved to your left. The value of the seat isn’t constant.
Similar to poker players calling at showdown, just because they want closure, we find that the family is more likely to take an unwrapped gift than do a swap, than is probably ‘optimal’. (Or maybe most are just keener to get on to the next game than a competitive approach would require!).
Anyway, hope you both have a restful festive season and do keep up the good work.
Mike
Sydney, Australia