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What poker teaches you—especially as an engineer—is this:
The goal isn’t to win every hand.
It’s to make better decisions over time.
That’s the real crossover.
I’ve been playing card games for as long as I can remember.
Poker, to me, is a kind of simulation—of human behavior, incentives, and the choices you make under pressure.
If you want to level up your game (even if you’re not going pro), here are the books and resources that have helped me think more strategically.
I recently placed 3rd at a casino night for our professional organization (always fun celebrating Asian American community and business ). I ended the night as chip leader with $1000+ in chips—stayed away from craps and roulette (the OGs still crushed those tables 😂), and yes… I really did have pocket aces and went all in. I love this game.
Here are some of the poker books I’ve found most useful—from fundamentals to decision-making frameworks:
Doyle Brunson’s Super System 1 & 2.
Widely considered the Bibles of poker. RIP to Doyle who passed away not too long ago
Little Green Book: Lessons and Teachings in No Limit Texas Hold’em by Phil Gordon (World Poker Tour Coach)
I had the privilege of sharing an online poker table with Phil who gave me great tips that helped me win the next time I played online with my poker club and in-person at dxdy. He even offered to send me an autographed copy of his book!
Poker: The Real Deal - also by Phil Gordon and Jonathan Grotenstein if you want something easier to read as a beginner.
Limit Hold ‘em Poker for Advanced Players by David Sklansky - also an essential read, anything by David is pretty solid.
Hold’em Wisdom for All Players by Daniel Negreanu
Decide to Play Great Poker by Annie Duke & John Vorhaus
More books by Annie Duke
Her books are awesome reads with a psychological perspective that is unique compared to most other books that focus merely on quantitative analysis or Game Theory Optimal (GTO), but still focused on sound judgment and process of decision-making.
If you’re more interested in decision-making than just poker mechanics, Annie Duke’s books are some of the best:
Modern Poker Theory: Building an unbeatable strategy based on GTO principles by Michael Acevedo
How to Be a Poker Player: The Philosophy of Poker by Haseeb Qureshi - He is super nice to meet in person btw, also a crypto investor.
Me fangirling Haseeb at a web3 conference last year at my alma mater, UC Berkeley
Here are some good ones for beginners and advanced folks.
Watch Kid Poker himself, Daniel Negreanu and ‘the long considered Tiger Woods of Poker,” Phil Ivey.
Super nice guy I’ve connected with I would totally hire when I had more time. It’s great watching all his poker tips online and BTS (yes he posts on LinkedIn!).
Study the game. Respect the game. The table will show you the difference.
The reason all of these books matter isn’t just to improve how you play poker.
It’s that they train you to think in probabilities, not certainties.
To separate decision quality from outcomes.
To make moves based on incomplete information.
That’s the same mental model you use when:
Once you start thinking this way, it’s hard to turn it off.
As you can see from my anime otaku swag (deck and lanyard), Kakegurui is one of my all time favorite anime, which was adopted into the live action Netflix Series “The Bet,” which is also worth watching.
Poker is a game.
So is life.
The difference is—most people don’t realize they’re playing.
In the next post, I’ll break down how GameAI, the simulated multiverse, and poker all connect—and what that means for how we make decisions in the real world.
Poker doesn’t just change how you play cards—it changes how you approach decisions more broadly.
That carries over directly into how you build, ship, and work.
On the productivity side, one of the most useful resources I’ve come across is Alex Chiou’s approach to building side projects.
I really enjoyed this course I took awhile back by Alex Chiou (co-founder of Taro - YC-backed company), “Build Side Projects With 500k+ Users: Shipping & Growing.”
His biggest takeaway:
“Done is better than perfect.”
Or more bluntly:
“Perfect is the enemy of done.”
As someone who tends to overbuild, this reframed how I think about shipping.
“Move fast and break things.” -Facebook/Meta motto
Alex has built a whopping number of side projects with tons of users over the years (30 apps for fun, 3 with 500K users and 5+ with 100K users).
His approach to measuring productivity over short timeframes helped me see exactly where I was getting stuck—mainly in overbuilding and overthinking.
I realized I’d been optimizing for perfection instead of iteration. Moving faster—even if things break—is often the better strategy.
Watch the course here.
Get 20% off when you sign up with my referral code.
If you’re curious how GameAI, the simulated metaverse, and poker all connect for better real-world decisions, subscribe so you don’t miss the next post.
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About Me
Erin Jerri Malonzo Pañgilinan is a software engineer and computational designer. She is the lead author of the O’Reilly Media book Creating Augmented and Virtual Realities: Theory and Practice for Next-Generation Spatial Computing, which debuted as the #1 book in Amazon’s Game Programming and has been translated into Chinese and Korean with distribution in more than 42 countries.
She was previously a fellow in the University of San Francisco (USF) Data Institute’s Deep Learning Program (2017–2018) and the inaugural Data Ethics cohort (2020) through fast.ai.
She is currently working on new books and software applications exploring the intersection of AI, spatial computing/XR, and web3.
Erin earned her BA from the University of California, Berkeley and is a proud Silicon Valley native born and raised.
Outside of her professional work, Erin has spent over 15 years as a dedicated community organizer and advocate. She co-founded 2 non-profit organizations, FASTER - Filipinx American in STEAM - Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics, ARVR Academy focused on women and underrepresented communities in immersive technology, and has served on the board of Silicon Valley Iceskating Association (SVISA).
In her spare time, Erin enjoys poker, video games, baking, watching anime, performing spoken word poetry, and engaging in the elements of hip hop.
