Raise Your Game

Mathematical Magic: Tricks to Stump Your Friends

Gaming

Mathematical Magic: 3 Tricks to Stump Your Friends

April 17, 2019 by Todd

Much of the content of this blog has focused on games and gambling, and an underlying theme in many of the posts has been the mathematics that underlie decisions or approaches to play. There is another area where mathematics comes up in clever but unexpected ways: magic. (And no, this...

Poker

Poker Tournament Tips for New Players

February 7, 2019 by Rob

In anticipation of SIG’s annual firm-wide No Limit Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament, we asked some of our experienced poker players what advice they would give to new players. Here are their answers: Blinds Don’t underestimate the importance of picking up the blinds. When it is folded to you in late...

Serena Williams’s probability of winning the US Open

Sports

Williams vs. Osaka – A Cool Calculation

January 10, 2019 by Mike

Emotions were high in Flushing Meadows when Serena Williams protested the umpire’s decisions during the 2018 US Open Finals against Naomi Osaka. It would become one of the hottest topics on social media in the days and weeks that followed, with millions of people around the world debating issues ranging...

how to quantify Marcus Smart's value as a defensive player

Sports

How Do We Quantify the Value of a Defensive Basketball Player?

October 24, 2018 by Stephen

After a close Game 7 loss to LeBron and the Cavs, a frustrated Marcus Smart ranted about his upcoming free agency. “To be honest, I’m worth more than $12-14 million, just for the things I do on the court that don’t show up on the stat sheet,” he said. “You...

Sports

Strategy in Baseball – A Look at Pitch Count

August 23, 2018 by Alex M.

One of the simplest applications of game theory and strategy to sports is pitch selection in baseball. On every single play, the pitcher has dozens of possibilities in his arsenal. For example, Arizona Diamondbacks’ star Zack Greinke has five main pitches: two types of fastballs (four seam and two seam),...

Sports

NHL Draft Pick Probability

June 4, 2018 by Ned

Getting the top pick in the NHL draft is a big deal for NHL teams and fans. Each year the league holds a lottery to determine the order teams receive draft picks. To discourage teams from purposely losing to guarantee the top pick, all 15 teams that didn’t make the...

Gaming

Balanced Play in Social Deduction Board Games

April 6, 2018 by Rob

You’ve been carefully observing the actions of the players around you, knowing full-well that they might not be who they claim. No, you’re not a character in John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” or stuck at a speed-dating event. You are playing “The Resistance: Avalon,” a social deduction board game. Players in...

Sports

Soccer Formations and Matchups – A Strategic Look at the World’s Favorite Sport

March 8, 2018 by Sarah

For most people, soccer was introduced by their parents as a way to exhaust their kids and make some friends in the process. For me, soccer has been a part of my life since I was four years old (and yes my parents put me in the sport for the...

Sports

Olympic Curling – A Turn-Based Strategy Game

February 22, 2018 by Todd

I regularly go 47 months in a row without thinking about curling even once, and then I spend a month fascinated by the sport. I don’t think I am alone in this. The Winter Olympics provides the only venue for me to watch curling (I think; I really haven’t looked),...

Sports

Sports Science and Data Analytics Presentation by Dr. Sam Robertson

January 31, 2018 by Rob

Thanks to increased computational power and improvements in data collection technologies, sports analytics researchers are now able to ask questions (and get answers) they were not able to in the past. The beneficiaries of these new technologies will be teams and individuals who are intellectually curious enough to ask these...