Comments on: Relative Happiness, Part 1 (Long, Hopefully Worth the Read) https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2009/09/relative-happiness-part-1-long-hopefully-worth-the-read/ Weekly poker podcast hosted by Andrew Brokos and Nate Meyvis featuring interviews with famous and behind-the-scenes figures from the poker world as well as an in-depth poker strategy segment. Wed, 30 Dec 2009 07:40:07 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: bruechips https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2009/09/relative-happiness-part-1-long-hopefully-worth-the-read/#comment-3884 Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:09:15 +0000 http://www.thinkingpoker.net/?p=3340#comment-3884 Andrew –
The game you’re referring to is called ‘The Ultimatum Game’ and there is a vaaaast literature on it. I mean I’m talking about hundreds of experiments that are variations on this game. If you’re interested, I can direct you to the most important ones. There are also variants called ‘The Dictator Game’ and ‘The Trust Game’ that study similar issues. ‘Behavioral Game Theory’ by Colin Camerer is a good introduction if you want a primer.

]]> By: calmer bookish https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2009/09/relative-happiness-part-1-long-hopefully-worth-the-read/#comment-3883 Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:57:19 +0000 http://www.thinkingpoker.net/?p=3340#comment-3883 “he said what about los angeles?
she said we never really made it that far west.
We scored big in denver and we thought it might be best
to go hang around in the upper midwest.

He said what about new orleans?
she said i don’t think you understand what that means,
all those hangers on, the girls lifting up their shirts when the cameras come on,
We were tryna stay away from those kind of scenes”

-the hold steady

Fun times! Happy travels!

]]> By: Dan Morehead https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2009/09/relative-happiness-part-1-long-hopefully-worth-the-read/#comment-3882 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:30:03 +0000 http://www.thinkingpoker.net/?p=3340#comment-3882 I appreciate these discussions. That you can reason through them, sometimes using poker/game theory as a light, with candor and honesty has much, I’d suggest, to do with the capacity to be a winning player and generally avoiding being a degen. Thanks for sharing. Hope the road is kind and life-giving.

]]> By: todd https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2009/09/relative-happiness-part-1-long-hopefully-worth-the-read/#comment-3881 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:21:44 +0000 http://www.thinkingpoker.net/?p=3340#comment-3881 I wish the car buying process didn’t have to be so terrible.

*Patiently waiting for Part 2*

]]> By: foucault https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2009/09/relative-happiness-part-1-long-hopefully-worth-the-read/#comment-3879 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:05:58 +0000 http://www.thinkingpoker.net/?p=3340#comment-3879 In reply to bruechips.

Interesting to hear that finding, brue, though it doesn’t surprise me at all. I was actually reminded of another very interesting study I heard about. One player was told he had $10 to distribute among himself and an unseen partner however he chose. If the partner accepted his offer, they both got to keep the money. If the partner refused the offer they both got nothing.

Most people offered a roughly even split, either 5/5 or 6/4, which is obviously sub-optimal. The partner has no reason to refuse a 9/1 split, since there’s no opportunity to make a second offer or anything, so it would seem that the first player’s interests are maximized by offering a split that gives the second player the minimum.

However, players offered such deals tended to refuse them. In other words, a player offered a $9/$1 split turned down a free dollar, with no opportunity for negotiating a better deal or anything, simply because he was angry about an “unfair” offer from an unseen comrade.

When we chose to walk out of the dealership rather than negotiate from a position of weakness, we probably saved ourselves about $200 over the price we could have gotten on the spot. Considering the time and cost required to get a Zipcar for the next day, drive back down to the dealership (a drive made far worse by the traffic from Ted Kennedy’s funeral), and spend another day without a car during a time when we badly needed one, we probably would have been better off sucking it up and paying the extra $200. And I knew that at the time- but I was very angry and just couldn’t bring myself to give in so easily.

It was kind of the equivalent of a spite call in poker- a call that you recognize to be -EV but that you make anyway because you just can’t stand the idea of being bluffed or you really want a shot at busting a guy who’s been pissing you off.

As of now we don’t plan to get as far west as California, but I very much appreciate the offer and would love the chance to meet you in person. I have no idea what our plans are post-December, but there’s certainly a chance that they will involve some time in California, and I’ll be sure to let you know if they do.

]]> By: bruechips https://www.thinkingpoker.net/2009/09/relative-happiness-part-1-long-hopefully-worth-the-read/#comment-3877 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:01:42 +0000 http://www.thinkingpoker.net/?p=3340#comment-3877 It’s a common finding in economics experiments that people don’t lie or betray in games nearly as much as would be optimal, and therefore people are in general more trusting than they should be. Obviously this gets exploited by the part of the population that doesn’t give a damn (e.g., car salespeople).

On a happier note, if you guys swing by San Diego on your trip, let me know – I’ve even got an extra bedroom!

-bruechips

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