Dan Weston: Poker, data analysis and decision-making in cricket

Sports Content Strategy with MrRichardClarke: Exploring sports content, journalism, digital and social media

The use of data in the analysis of sporting performance is well-known but not yet universally employed.

Many teams say they are going all ‘Moneyball’ but few truly follow it through. Often, decision-making is still emotional, made without evidence and based on the eye rather than the numbers.

Poker has become viewed as a Petri-dish for strategic thinking based on probability which, if applied correctly, can provide long-term success.

Dan Weston is a former professional gambler and poker player. He was also one of the UK’s top slot-machine players in his young days.

Now, he is applying his shrewd statistical knowledge to cricket as recruitment analyst of Leicestershire CC and the Birmingham Phoenix.

In this podcast, he discusses his career, his current work and the move towards game theory.

TOPICS

His role at Leicestershire

Dan’s Table of Justice

Using poker as a ‘thinking process’

The trend for ex-pro gamblers to run Premier League football clubs… and run them well

“Poker is a long-term skill game but short-term luck game.’

Proving the case for giving him a role at a cricket club

How his content helped this process

Taking the emotion out of decision-making

The importance of accountability

The myth of ‘the eye’

How to build a squad

Dealing with Drafts

Why fans and the media need to fully understand an evidence-based strategy

LINKS