The Brunson Transform

Warning: The first few paragraphs of this column may seem a bit geeky or nerdy. Stick with me - it will make sense shortly.
Mathematicians, physicists, and engineers often find themselves facing very knotty mathematical problems. They're complex and difficult to solve, and yet, for whatever reason, solved they must be.

A few centuries ago, various mathematicians realized that they could sometimes translate (or "transform") the problem they were trying to solve into a completely different "domain," and suddenly the problem would be far easier to sovle. To give you an example of this, consider logarithms. Before the advent of the electronic calculator, multiplying and dividing numbers was hard (and time-consuming). But there are these wonderful things called logarithms, with the feature that:
log(a) + log(b) = log(a x b)

So, if you needed to multiply two very large numbers, you could simply take the logarithm of each number (there were huge books published showing you the logarithms of numbers), add them together, and then take the inverse logarithm (also in those books) and you'd know the result of multiplying the two large numbers. This, by the way, is how slide rules work. If you don't know what a slide rule is, ask your grandfather.

So, in this case, the problem was transformed from the multiplication domain to the addition domain (and in the process made far simpler). Going to much more complex problems, functions such as the Laplace and Fourier transforms allow scientists to (relatively) simply solve problems that are virtually intractable in their original form.

With that background, I now introduce a brand-new transform that I hope will be equally valuable. While not as mathematically rigorous as the Fourier Transform, it is invaluable in understanding many real-world problems. In short, we restate the problem in a poker setting, not only allowing us to concisely understand the problem itself, but often giving a hint at its solution.

In the science world, such a transform is generally named after the person who invented it. I can't take credit for the invention of they "real world of poker world" transform; it's been around for a very long time. So, if we're going to give a name, we should nod toward a legend of the game. I suggest " The Brunson Transform"

Examples:
You are teaching your younger brother to drive. He is driving around town with you in the passenger seat. At some point, he comes to a yellow light. He first speeds up, but then at the last minute loses his nerve and stops (rather suddenly), throwing you against your seat belt's shoulder strap. You could go into a mini-lecture about dealing with yellow lights: in short, maintain your speed and pass through them, or immediately begin braking so that you stop smoothly. But your brother is a poker player, so you say, "Raise or fold, Mike - calling is not OK." [This usage is from a personal communication with my friend Patri Friedman.]

You are a college student, and are considering going to a party hosted by a neighboring dormitory. But the party is on a Wednesday night, and you have an important exam on Thursday morning. You carefully review the situation. The band at the party is reputed to be excellent, and there's a reasonable chance that the girl in your economics class whom you're hoping to get to know will be there. On the other hand, your grade in the econ class has slipped a bit and you want to nail the exam. And there will be plenty of opportunities to chat up the young lady. You weigh the reward and the risk, and decide that you're not getting the right price.

In fact, a famous professor at Harvard Law School, Charles Neeson, has created a society at Harvard that is attempting to teach youngsters poker, specifically so they can apply poker skills to real-world problems. Professor Neeson wants to teach the Brunson Transform to young people, hoping that they will make better real-world decisions, having modeled those decisions as poker problems.

Of course, anytime you use a transform to restate a problem, you must ensure that the transform process is accurate, apt, and appropriate. For instance, suppose that you have been dating a woman for a couple of years, and finally she sits down to have "the talk" with you. Basically, she is telling you that it is time to make a commitment in the relationship or end it altogether. There are many things you could say to her at that point. What I do not suggest you say is, "So, you're saying that you're all in, and I need to call or fold?"

Lee Jones is an executive host for the European Poker Tour, and the author of the best-selling book Winning Low Limit Hold'em.