Poker is War

I'm reading a really interesting non-poker book during some of my downtime on vacation. The book is One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer, by Nathaniel Fick, and it describes how Fick went through officer candidate school and beyond, and then really learned about leading men during the second Gulf war, when he was given a recon platoon to lead against the Iraqi Army.

So what's this have to do with poker? Not much, really, but something caught my eye today when I read about the training they did in Kuwait during the run up to hostilities. To hone their skills and reactions to different scenarios, the platoon drilled using a method called OODA, which stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. The method was developed by an Air Force colonel to help address unexpected strategic and tactical situations during battle. It's still used in the military, but it's been adopted by business and civic leaders as well.

Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

Sound familiar?

Observe = Read. Orient = Estimate. Decide = Decide. Act = Implement.

OODA = REDi.

I've (re)invented a technique for analyzing war situations. Oh, and poker, too. Kind of.

All-in for now...

-Bug